This series of papers proposes solutions to American governmental problems that could be addressed by a Constitutional Convention. Please refer to American Rebirth Paper No. 0 to understand additional context of this paper and subsequent papers. American Rebirth Paper No. 1 addressed problems with and proposed solutions to Federal elections. This paper addresses problems with and solutions to State elections.
Two problems identified for Federal elections are also problems at the State level. These include the following problems:
Two dominant political parties have emerged in American politics. Because it is often easier and more effective to demonize your opponent to gain and retain political power, political campaigns tend to steer away from honest policy debates. In particular, the Democrats, who know that they don’t have facts or history on their side to support their policy goals, resort to lying, name-calling and labeling, character assassination, and propaganda to demonize Republicans.
Politics is driven by money, generally to the benefit of large corporations and well-funded special interests, with the general public mostly ignored. Incumbency is rampant resulting in a feedback loop – money flows to the favored incumbents, they do the bidding of the well-heeled donors, and money flows once again to the incumbent. Going against this symbiotic relationship results in negative money flow for the candidate – the more you fight the system, the more money will be used against you.
The second problem has been of particular interest in less prominent elected state positions, such as Secretary of State, where rich donors can swing an election. For example, the Secretary of State for Colorado, Jena Griswold, received $200,000 from George Soros, a well-known liberal billionaire, for her election campaign. Soros has targeted Secretary of State positions for funding because Secretary of States have control over elections. Soros is not in favor of voter identification or signature verification requirements in elections. Without these two requirements, voter fraud and large-scale cheating are possible, as evidenced by the 2020 election.
In addition to the problems above, other problems at the State level include the following:
· Politics in States with large urban populations relative to the overall population tend to be driven by the urban population. For example, in the 2019 Governor election, New York City voters were 35 percent of the total. These voters overwhelmingly supported the Democrat candidate (Cuomo) – 83 percent voted for Cuomo. In contrast, for all other voters in New York State, only 50 percent voted for Cuomo.
· Other than Governor, elected positions in the State bureaucracy, such as Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, Attorney General, State Auditor, Superintendent of Education, and Commissioner of Public Lands, often receive little attention during the election. Voters often make their selections for these positions based on very little information about the candidate, with many resorting to simply voting for Democrat or Republican based on their usual affiliation. This problem tends to amplify the effect of large donations from individuals such as George Soros because it is difficult for candidates to raise donations for these lesser State positions.
As with American Rebirth Paper No. 1, the premise of this paper is that political parties have proven to be detrimental to government. Is there a way that political parties could be minimized? I believe they can be drastically reduced in power by changing the way we select the Governor and representatives.
American Rebirth Paper No. 1 described changes at the federal level. This Paper No. 2 will cover State elections, Paper No. 3. will cover county elections, and Paper No. 4 will address a fundamental question – would randomly selected representatives do a better job of governing than our current system of elections?
Some key features at the State level are as follows:
· All State governments will be composed of a Congress and a Senate, similar to the Federal level.
· Congressman, Senators, and the Governor serve concurrent four-year terms.
· Congressman are selected by lottery from a qualified list of entrants.
· Senators are selected by lottery from a qualified list of entrants.
· The Governor is selected by election using a process where all candidates (with no party affiliation listed on ballots) participate in a series of primaries followed by a final runoff for the top two candidates using an Electoral College process, where the number of electoral votes is based on the number of Congressman and Senators from each County. The number of Congressman is based on population (each County will have at least one Congressman), and each County has one Senator.
Additional details regarding this new method are as follows:
1. Congressman and Senators must meet minimum requirements to be eligible for the lottery. Minimum requirements, include but are not limited to:
a. Must be 18 years old.
b. Citizen of the United States and a resident in the voting district that would reprensent.
c. High school degree or equivalent.
d. Fluent in English.
e. Educated in United States history, particularly regarding its founding principles, the basic procedures and rules of the government, and civics. Candidates must pass a test on these subjects to qualify.
f. Must not have a criminal record that includes certain felonies, such as murder and other lesser crimes.
2. The Governor is selected using a series of run-off elections in the following manner:
a. Candidates must collect, and have certified, signatures from a minimum of 1/2 percent of the registered voters in the State by a published deadline that show support for the candidate. Voting roles are maintained at the federal level; each registered voter will be given a unique number, like a social security number, upon initial registration.
b. Certified candidates must file statement papers covering topics ranging from taxation, budget philosophy, business development, and education to other topics that may be relevant to current State concerns. These statement papers will be published to allow all voters easy access to the information.
c. A series of primaries are held in a manner similar to the Presidential primaries. The State is divided into regions with an equal number of counties in each region. For each primary, counties from each region are included in the voting. For example, a State could have four regions, each with 10 counties. If three primaries are held, three or four counties from each region would be included in each primary. The selected counties will rotate every four years so that over time each county will be included in the first, second, and third primary. Points are accumulated by each candidate based on the percentage of votes for the candidate and the number of electoral votes for each county. Candidates that do not achieve a minimum percentage of votes (such as 10 percent) will get no points.
d. Debates are held before and between primaries to directly hear from the candidates.
e. After the primaries are completed, the two candidates that have accumulated the most points will be elevated to a runoff election to be held on Election Day, which is also the day that lotteries are held to select Congressman and Senators as described above. The State Electoral College is used to select the Governor based on the vote totals in each County.
3. Other positions in the State Bureaucracy (Secretary of State, etc.) are filled by the Governor with review and consent by the Senate. The Governor must submit nominees to the Senate within 30 days of taking office, and the Senate must vote on accepting or rejecting the nominees with 30 days of the Governor’s submittal. Nominees are accepted with a simple majority. Until the new positions are filled, the current office holder remains in place. There are no term limits for these positions. The Governor, at his or her discretion, may chose to nominate a replacement for any reason at any time during the Governor’s term.