Congratulations, you've been appointed to the Election reform committee.....

[LynneSin]

...what are the first three things you would enact to ensure fair & clean elections?

Mine?

#1) Find a new election system even if I have to go back to punch cards that ensures a paper trail. Then purchase enough machines so there is a ratio of 1 Machine/X number of people (yet to be determined) with the minimum of two machines per voting district.

#2) Reform the robocall. I have no problem with the use of Robocalls, but all Robocalls must identify the group behind the call in the first 30 seconds of the phone call and Robocalls cannot call anyone who is on the do-not-call list and who has not signed up their phone number to the campaign/party (ie - I'm on the DNC list but I used my number as a volunteer for several democratic campaigns so I'm fair game). Robocalls cannot spam a person, if someone hangs up there cannot be a redial back to that number for at least 24 hours

#3) Public financed elections. Let's get the corporation & lobbyist money out of the campaign. All candidates who meet the minimum criteria (yet to be determined) will be allotted so many minutes/month for campaign ads on TV, Radio and Newspaper

[hobbit709]

1. 4. No candidate may spend more

than what the job pays. Nor may it be spent by PACS not "under direct control"

[Skidmore]

2. #4) Take back part of the airwaves for the public and

set up 2-3 channels to broadcast political campaign speeches and ads on. The money for the operation should come from tax monies. We don't need no stinkin' fancy commercials with actors and a disingenuous pol grinning his/her approval at the end. We need those SOBs to get up there and talk to us like adults.

#5) Shorten the election season. No one can campaign before 90 days before the election and they had better have their message down pat by then. Eliminate the undending campaign.

[acmejack]

3. Just six Dollars!

Congress would only have to spend $6 per citizen per year to publicly fund each and every election for the House, the Senate and the White House. When you consider that "pork barrel" projects cost every one of us more than $200 last year alone, it’s no contest.

Think of it. With public funding, wealthy special interests and their hired lobbyists would no longer have a commanding influence over our politics and government. Instead of begging for campaign donations, candidates would spend their time communicating with voters. Once elected, our leaders would be free to focus on our nation's challenges rather than having to worry about financing their next campaign. And there's no doubt that more of our most able leaders would run for federal office when the ability to finance a campaign isn't such a daunting obstacle.

Americans for Campaign Reform is building a nonpartisan grassroots movement of citizens who support voluntary public funding and want Congress to act now. We can make this happen. Public funding is already working in Arizona and Maine, and was just passed by the Connecticut legislature.

As citizens we can complain about the corrosive influence of our election finance system, or we can do something about it. With your help, we can mobilize citizens across the country and put pressure on Congress to enact real reform.

http://www.just6dollars.org/

[riona]

4. #3 is vital

Money has a way of corrupting. Paper trails should be a no-brainer. I'd like to get rid of the Electoral College.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I'm a big fan of mechanical voting machines...

...they're virtually tamper-proof.

[Minnesota_Lib]

6. The first 30 seconds? Most people will have hung up long before then.

Most people hang up in the first 10 seconds of robo-calls, that is why the opening statement on these calls needs to ID the caller. "Hello, this call is sponsored by the Republican National Committee on behalf of Joe Blow for congress."

Of course, even this can be circumvented by creating bogus grassroots front groups with misleading names.

Ring--ring.

Voter Dan: "Hello"

Recording "Hello, this is the Committee for a Democratic Government calling with important information about Democratic candiate Jane Doe...<insert smears against Jane Doe here, but the potential voter has hung up by this time anyway>"

Click.

(one minute later) Ring--ring.

Voter Dan: "Hello?"

Recording "Hello, this is the Committee for a Democratic Government calling with important information about Democratic candiate Jane Doe...."

Click!

Voter Dan: "God damned Democrats won't give me a moment's peace! No way I'll vote for those assholes!"

Ring--ring

"Motherf#@&ers!!!!!"

And so on....

[BeFree]

7. It should start with...

...."this is a recorded political message".

You may hang up now, or press one to blow the machine at the other end into little pieces.

That'd take care of robocalls.

Which reminds me of one person I called on election eve. She told me Bill Clinton had just called and asked her for a date.

[Minnesota_Lib]

8. LOL