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Resident calls for reform of campaign, election laws

Posted

As we all know we are in election season. Every day I receive numerous letters in the mail asking for more and am forced to watch dozens of negative ads over and over again. I would think we all hate this by now. I think there is a better way.

We all know to get elected it takes money. With the system we have now, the parties send out letters, emails, texts and phone calls asking for money. I give a $50 donation to my party and then I get more and more of these. I would think that all of the letters they send me would cut greatly into my small donation.

I want my party, Democratic, to win. But this gets so annoying and, worst of all, so corrupt. I am sure that the Republicans reading this get the same. I know that the big donors, billionaires, corporations, etc., give huge amounts of money depending on which way the political wind blows.

Once their candidate wins, the corruption begins. They get the votes for whatever they ask for, whether Republican or Democrat. A debt has to be paid. Also, once a person is elected, they have to spend much of their time trying to raise money for the next election instead of doing what we elected them to do.

They all hate it, too, but do what their party asks them to do. They should do the bidding of the masses, not the guys that gave you the most money. I am sure that the Republicans would reject this as a poll tax, but times have changed.

If every person of voting age had to give (mandatory), say $25 X 250,000,000 (number of voting age people), they would have $6.25 billion yearly to spend on all of the elections in this country. That is a pretty cheap way and affordable for all to end the graft we see each voting cycle.

That should be enough. No more negative ads.

Each ad and candidate should be vetted for truthfulness before the election. Voting should be about their qualifications, what they want to accomplish, instead of who they took money from and so on. So, vote for me.

Furthermore, we should have runoff elections (especially for state and federal) to find the two that get the most votes. Then they go head-to-head in the main election and by doing that way we get a true majority. 51% wins, not 40%.

Many times third parties have been manipulated to disrupt this process in the main elections. Something else that needs to go away is the Electoral College. The elected officials in this country should be elected by the majority of it’s populace.

Many of the voting laws concerning this were written long ago by white men only. Not women, and certainly not people of color. It is time for a change.

I believe that voting by mail should be the norm and mandatory. Now, if a person wants to vote, they may have to take a day off to do it. There is no voting holiday in this country as there is in some others. People aren’t always able to do that, especially this year where we have a health crisis. Many of the lower income people work two jobs as the norm and are very much underrepresented. There is no reason why people should have to risk their health to achieve their Constitutional right to vote.

The Republicans are doing their worst (as usual) to keep people from voting across the country. I believe it was the governor of Missouri told people during their primary, “If you don’t feel safe, don’t vote.” All the other red-state governors are doing the same.

The fight to get the right to vote was incredibly difficult for people of color, women and the people convicted of a crime that have paid their penance. Many brave people, like the late Rep. John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony, paid for that right with their lives, broken skulls and years upon years of persistence.

The ability to register and vote should be made easy but is still fought over by the oppressors for fear of losing their elected officials and ideology. Ballots should be standardized for state and federal voting instead of the confusing hodgepodge of ballots we deal with now.

Every ballot would have it’s own bar code and, most importantly, with mail-in ballots you have a paper trail in case some fraud is discovered.

Howie Verrill is a Surprise resident.

election, Verrill