redistricting and election reform
Illogical electoral redistricting (ie. gerrymandering) corrupts the principle of “one person, one vote” and erodes our voice in the democratic process. Passing laws and electing leaders that seek to prohibit gerrymandering and also look to implement other election reforms is essential to our democracy.
Electoral redistricting based on race or ethnicity has long been prohibited but redistricting based on partisan politics has been allowed. Partisan redistricting creates state and federal districts that are controlled by one party, which makes the election results in those districts a foregone conclusion. For all practical purposes, the residents of those districts are disenfranchised. The dominant party's nominee - often handpicked by the party's leaders - has an unfair advantage. In addition, partisan redistricting often leads to the election of more extreme candidates because, with the general election result virtually pre-ordained, a candidate's main concern is winning the primary. Candidates are therefore forced to move further right of left to appease the party’s base, and primary winners are then stuck defending illogical positions going forward instead of being able to support common sense solutions that benefit the majority of Americans. Redistricting must be taken out of the hands of politicians.
Elections dominated by two parties do not reflect the diversity of opinions in the electorate, particularly those voters near the center of the political spectrum. Too often, the current system results in an "us vs. them" mentality or a vote for the "lesser of two evils". Consequently, it is vitally important that we facilitate electoral access to candidates outside the two major parties. Ballot access laws must be updated to give other parties a reasonable and straightforward way to run for office and participate in the democratic process.
In addition, elections should be conducted in a modern way that helps determine the electorate’s true choice for public office. There are many ways this goal can be achieved. An open primary system would allow voters to choose which party's primary they wanted to vote in whether or not they were a member of that party. A more progressive version of the open primary system is to have all primary candidates run against each other on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation. In this system, the top two vote-getters from the primary then proceed to the general election. Also, a measure such as the ranked choice voting system that has been instituted in Maine would allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference. In a ranked choice voting system, the voting tabulation proceeds in sequential rounds in which the last-place candidate of each round is eliminated. The remaining candidates continue to run against each other until one candidate receives a majority of the votes and is elected. There are numerous benefits to the types of elections described above but one of the biggest is that candidates are naturally more reasonable and compromising in their views in order to win broader support from the electorate.
Campaign finance reform is an essential part of restoring true democracy to American politics. We fully support an individual’s right to donate to whatever candidates or causes they believe in, but there need to be reasonable limits on amounts that individuals and corporations can donate to a candidate so that a small minority does not hijack the electoral process. In addition, more restrictions should be enacted to guard against tax-exempt outside groups (ie. Super PACs) from having an out-sized impact on elections. There should be full transparency into the activities and donations made by Super PACs and other tax-exempt organizations that are seeking to influence the political campaign process.
Another important step in reforming politics would be to institute term limits for all elected officials. The longer politicians stay in office the more beholden they become to special interests and large donors. In particular, elected officials that must run for office every two years are constantly campaigning and making calculations of how to vote on certain issues based on how it may impact their ability to win re-election instead of based on what is in the best interests of their constituents.
In order to improve our democratic process, we need to take the following steps:
Support policies and politicians that seek to prohibit partisan gerrymandering.
Assist with the formation of independent commissions to draw both congressional and state legislative district lines.
Reform election laws to provide reasonable and straightforward access to the electoral process to third parties.
Modernize election laws by utilizing innovative concepts such as open primaries and ranked choice voting.
Campaign finance reform, including reasonable limits on campaign donation amounts, and transparency into the activities and donations made by Super PACs.
Institute term limits for all municipal, state and federal elected officials.