A powerful Democratic group throws its weight behind election reform

[aubiefifty 16,906]

A powerful Democratic group throws its weight behind election reform

Jon Ward·Chief National CorrespondentTue, January 31, 2023 at 4:00 AM CST

7–8 minutes

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A polling site in Warwick, R.I. (David Goldman/AP)

 

A new paper released Monday by an influential liberal think tank argues that changing how elections are held in the U.S. should be a top-tier issue.

“There is another equally fundamental issue that has, until recently, received only niche attention. That issue is electoral reform,” writes Alex Tausanovitch, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP).

Tausanovitch’s paper is noteworthy because of his elevation of the issue. He argues that America’s current way of running elections is corrosive to democracy. And he says the Democratic Party has been part of the problem.

“For the most part, instead of working together to solve the nation’s problems, the two major parties engage in an endless tug of war,” he writes. “In recent years, the core of each party has sometimes veered to ideological extremes.”

“It is incumbent on those who care about democracy — organizations, advocates, funders, and commentators — to make electoral reform a bigger part of their collective work,” Tausanovitch argues. “It is increasingly clear that electoral incentives are a big part of what is driving the dysfunction in American politics.”

The CAP paper does not endorse any one specific reform, but lists several as having promise, including ranked-choice voting, nonpartisan or open primaries such as the system adopted in Alaska recently, and multi-member congressional districts.

 

Voting in the midterm elections in Anchorage, Alaska, Nov. 2, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

 

CAP was launched in 2003 and is now headed by Patrick Gaspard, who was President Barack Obama’s White House director of political affairs before he was appointed as U.S. ambassador to South Africa. His predecessor, Neera Tanden, is now a top aide to President Biden.

The fact that a CAP scholar is encouraging consideration of abolishing party primaries, and of reforms that make it easier for third parties to grow, indicates that polarization and gridlock have produced populist anger at Washington that is pushing major institutions to rethink the status quo.

Proponents of electoral reform argue that it is the best way to fight political polarization and pressure lawmakers to better reflect the views of their constituents. The basic idea behind reform proposals is that a mere sliver of hyperpartisan voters hold too much power in many U.S. elections by deciding the winner of party primaries.

Primary voters tend to be much more ideologically rigid than the broader electorate of a given area. As a result, they usually reward more extreme candidates with their votes. And because so much of the country is either solidly Democratic or reliably Republican, those candidates often face little more than token opposition in general elections.

“This represents the increasingly widespread conclusion that our electoral system is fundamentally broken, and the increasing consensus that we need structural electoral reform to rebuild our creaky and dysfunctional system of republican democracy,” Lee Drutman, a leading voice in the reform movement who is affiliated with the New America Foundation and co-founded Fix Our House, said of the CAP paper.

 

Voters casting their ballots in Midlothian, Va., on Nov. 8. (Ryan M. Kelly/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Electoral reform is not a partisan issue, however, and has support on the right as well. Walter Olson, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, told Yahoo News that “election reform is an exciting area these days because new ideas are getting a hearing that are scrambling some of the old battle lines.”

Olson noted that recent bipartisan cooperation on updating the Electoral Count Act of 1887 shows that reforms aimed at protecting democracy are possible.

“The successful reform of the Electoral Count Act at the federal level has made people aware that cooperation across party and ideological divides can get real results in ways that benefit the country as a whole. I see Alex’s paper as very much in this spirit,” he said.

Kristin Eberhard, director of climate policy at the centrist Niskanen Center, said electoral reform should be a central focus of anyone interested in good government.

“You can’t solve money in politics if you continue to have extremist-driven primaries. You can't solve gerrymandering if you continue to elect all legislators from single-winner districts,” Eberhard told Yahoo News.

Ranked-choice voting is probably the best known of the reforms mentioned in the paper. This is the system in which voters rank their top choices, and as candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated, their supporters are reallocated to candidates who were ranked behind them. It is intended to reward candidates who appeal to broad swaths of voters rather than to a small but extreme minority, and to give voters more of a sense that their voice is being heard.

Ranked-choice voting has been adopted in statewide elections in Maine and Alaska, and 60 localities use it in some form, including New York City.

 

A clerk hands a ballot to a voter on Election Day in Lewiston, Maine, Nov. 8, 2022. Maine now uses a ranked-choice voting system for some of its election races. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

 

Alaska adopted a nonpartisan summer primary for the 2022 election, in which the top four vote getters advanced to the fall election. The general election is now decided by ranked choice.

Much of the attention in Alaska has gone to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican who defeated a Trump-endorsed opponent, and to the contest for the state’s one seat in the House of Representatives, which was won by Democrat Mary Peltola.

But the more interesting test of Alaska’s reform will be to see if it has a positive impact on the state Legislature, which was dubbed “America’s most dysfunctional legislative body” just two years ago.

There are signs of progress. Earlier this month in Juneau, “one of the longest-running battles for control of a legislative chamber ended Wednesday in remarkable harmony,” noted veteran political reporter Reid Wilson.

As Tausanovitch says in his paper: “It is still early to judge how the system will affect future elections, but it does seem to have ushered in a number of moderate candidates who align well with Alaska voters and who may have lost in a traditional partisan primary.”

Nationally, Tausanovitch concludes, “many voters — if not most — would prefer a government that is professional and responsive, in which politicians work together to solve the nation’s problems.”

“Unfortunately, however, that is not the government that America’s electoral rules incentivize politicians to deliver.”

[homersapien 11,446]

Thanks Fifty.  Very important subject.

(Presumably, all those "MAGA" Republicans who privately wish Trump was dead would be all over this. 😉)

[DKW 86 7,440]

Read about ranked choice voting. I think that it has promise. 

[AU9377 5,037]

There is some merit to ranked choice voting.  However, we have 50 state systems that form their own rules and no real way to have uniform rules without amending the Constitution.

[aubiefifty 16,906]

so guys what can we do to raise the IQ of our pols and make sure we are putting people in office that actually want to help the country? i am talking on the fed level here.

one is if you lie to get your position like the latest idiot this first one is very important. in the fed civilian work force you can be terminated immediately for lying on your job application. this was installed for a reason and politicians get off scott free. i mean this crap of electing some dummy like herschel is demeaning and dumbs down the government.

  if you have any kind of criminal record like domestic abuse or other violent crimes you should not be allowed to run for office. i mean do we want thieves and liars handling the work of the government? theft should be a disqualifier. swhy elect someone to the gov that steals?

  i think anyone that runs for office should be able to pass a basic test on the constitution and governing in general instead of just jumping in their and turning the gov into a side show or being so incompetent they disrupt our governing body. we should always have our best and brightest in office. always.

what yall got?

[DKW 86 7,440]

21 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

so guys what can we do to raise the IQ of our pols and make sure we are putting people in office that actually want to help the country? i am talking on the fed level here.

one is if you lie to get your position like the latest idiot this first one is very important. in the fed civilian work force you can be terminated immediately for lying on your job application. this was installed for a reason and politicians get off scot free. i mean this crap of electing some dummy like herschel is demeaning and dumbs down the government.

  if you have any kind of criminal record like domestic abuse or other violent crimes you should not be allowed to run for office. i mean do we want thieves and liars handling the work of the government? theft should be a disqualifier. why elect someone to the gov that steals?

  i think anyone that runs for office should be able to pass a basic test on the constitution and governing in general instead of just jumping in their and turning the gov into a side show or being so incompetent they disrupt our governing body. we should always have our best and brightest in office. always.

what yall got?

I think Washington DC is just about nepotism and incompetence. Name me one thing the Federal Govt does that the private sector doesnt do better and for far less money other than Defense.

We spend $18BN/year on classified document security and have completely failed to control classified docs at any level.
In Aurora CO, Congress approved a 370 bed hospital for $328M. We got a 189 bed hospital for $1.7BN. We had to keep the older obsolete hospital going just for the number of beds. No one get in any trouble for this. No one got fired. No one went to jail. This is truly the one thing the Federal Govt does very well is grifting the tax payer. Oh, and btw, the VA built the hospital and had to be sued to make it ADA Compliant. 

 

[icanthearyou 4,463]

6 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Name me one thing the Federal Govt does that the private sector doesnt do better and for far less money other than Defense.

How do you know this?  How can you tell when the government is intentionally sabotaged.

The greatest economic expansion in human history involved more government, not less.

This in nothing but a lie perpetuated by the Neo-liberals.

The very examples are,,, more reflective of private greed/government corruption than,,, government incompetence. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by icanthearyou

[homersapien 11,446]

On 2/1/2023 at 1:40 AM, AU9377 said:

There is some merit to ranked choice voting.  However, we have 50 state systems that form their own rules and no real way to have uniform rules without amending the Constitution.

Sooner the better.

Otherwise, it will ultimately be what ends this "experiment". 

[homersapien 11,446]

9 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

I think Washington DC is just about nepotism and incompetence. Name me one thing the Federal Govt does that the private sector doesnt do better and for far less money other than Defense.

Protect the environment. 

Safeguard our food supply. 

Develop public infrastructure.

Create public services.

Provide economic security and assistance.

Regulate markets and banking.

Establish a legal system and enforce the rule of law.

(Pretty much anything that doesn't lend itself to profitable transactions.)

Or to put it another way, how well would a country based on anarchy work?

[DKW 86 7,440]

8 hours ago, icanthearyou said:

How do you know this?  How can you tell when the government is intentionally sabotaged.

I dont know, ask someone that actually said this. I said they were incompetent.

The greatest economic expansion in human history involved more government, not less. 

This in nothing but a lie perpetuated by the Neo-liberals.

You think I am a NeoLib? Wow, we cant be friends anymore.

The very examples are,,, more reflective of private greed/government corruption than,,, government incompetence. 

So, $18BN for Classified Material Security that is a total failure is a private sector problem? Really?
Paying $1.7BN for a $328M Hospital is a private sector issue? Really?

I dont like the private sector either, and I know this is a Red Trope, but why can we not do better than this?

[DKW 86 7,440]

6 hours ago, homersapien said:

Protect the environment. Can also be done by a private firm for far less money.

Safeguard our food supply. Can also be done by a private firm for far less money.

Develop public infrastructure. Can also be done by a private firm for far less money.

Create public services. Can also be done by a private firm for far less money.

Provide economic security and assistance. Can also be done by a private firm for far less money.

Regulate markets and banking. The Federal Govt is a complete fail at this.

Establish a legal system and enforce the rule of law. Yes, if you like the Rule of Law to come with multiple tiers and inequality of outcomes.

 

[aubobo 7]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:11 AM, aubiefifty said:

so guys what can we do to raise the IQ of our pols and make sure we are putting people in office that actually want to help the country? i am talking on the fed level here.

I think expanding Congress, specifically the House of Representatives to a closer ratio (currently 1 Rep per ~750K voters) to the original founding (1:57K) would help in several ways.

1. It would water down the power of corporate interest.  Instead of spreading money around to influence 435 elections, 5,700 or so elections would "require influencing"
2. This would make representatives more accountable to their constituency.
3. From an Electoral College perspective, the influence of the 2 Senator vote becomes greatly diminished, preserving the "States Rights" aspect, but reducing that influence to one more aligned with the original math. This would mean the EC should be more in line with the "popular vote."

I'm sure there are other benefits (or even negatives) to this, but in either case I doubt it will happen as changing the makeup would ultimately reduce the power of each individual representative. And what politician has ever voluntarily reduced their influence?

[icanthearyou 4,463]

14 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

I dont like the private sector either, and I know this is a Red Trope, but why can we not do better than this?

Because our government is for sale.  The capitalists own the government.

We the people are ignorant as to politics, economics, power.

[icanthearyou 4,463]

15 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

 

And the more we privatize,,, the further we fall into debt.

Too much of the private sector profits are reflections of government debt.

Did you learn nothing from the financial crisis?

[AU9377 5,037]

10 hours ago, aubobo said:

I think expanding Congress, specifically the House of Representatives to a closer ratio (currently 1 Rep per ~750K voters) to the original founding (1:57K) would help in several ways.

1. It would water down the power of corporate interest.  Instead of spreading money around to influence 435 elections, 5,700 or so elections would "require influencing"
2. This would make representatives more accountable to their constituency.
3. From an Electoral College perspective, the influence of the 2 Senator vote becomes greatly diminished, preserving the "States Rights" aspect, but reducing that influence to one more aligned with the original math. This would mean the EC should be more in line with the "popular vote."

I'm sure there are other benefits (or even negatives) to this, but in either case I doubt it will happen as changing the makeup would ultimately reduce the power of each individual representative. And what politician has ever voluntarily reduced their influence?

How does expanding the House reduce the power of the Senate?

[AU9377 5,037]

On 2/2/2023 at 4:21 AM, DKW 86 said:

I think Washington DC is just about nepotism and incompetence. Name me one thing the Federal Govt does that the private sector doesnt do better and for far less money other than Defense.

We spend $18BN/year on classified document security and have completely failed to control classified docs at any level.
In Aurora CO, Congress approved a 370 bed hospital for $328M. We got a 189 bed hospital for $1.7BN. We had to keep the older obsolete hospital going just for the number of beds. No one get in any trouble for this. No one got fired. No one went to jail. This is truly the one thing the Federal Govt does very well is grifting the tax payer. Oh, and btw, the VA built the hospital and had to be sued to make it ADA Compliant. 

 

The government allows the cost overruns and accepts bids that have little oversight.  Submit a bid for $328 million and many in Congress just accept that to be the cost.   As you point out, they then allow overruns that have no ceiling.  It doesn't have to be that way, but we allow it time and time again.   Corporate America feeds from the public at a rate far more than poor Americans, yet they refuse to call it public welfare.  As a society, we have got to be less focused on greed and making the big score.  Unfortunately, this country has made greed acceptable and caring about your fellow man to be an outdated concept. 

This happens at every level of government as well.  In my hometown, the primary bridge was replaced around 5 years ago. This is a large bridge that spans a rail road yard.  In order to replace the 70 year old bridge, they had to detour traffic, which hurt any business on that side of town, resulting in several closing.  Then, 5 years later, they closed the road again, because they didn't schedule the small access bridge that is within 100 ft of the main bridge to be replaced at the same time.  Today, we learn that the concrete used on the secondary bridge has not passed inspection.  All the while, the contractor is accepting more government contracts.  There is no accountability.

[DKW 86 7,440]

9 hours ago, icanthearyou said:

And the more we privatize,,, the further we fall into debt.

Too much of the private sector profits are reflections of government debt.

Did you learn nothing from the financial crisis?

I learned my lessons first hand with the VA. 

[homersapien 11,446]

1 hour ago, DKW 86 said:

I learned my lessons first hand with the VA. 

I have a niece who works in a VA hospital as a speech therapist.  She is very complimentary about how the administration supports her with resources - whatever she needs.

[DKW 86 7,440]

15 hours ago, homersapien said:

I have a niece who works in a VA hospital as a speech therapist.  She is very complimentary about how the administration supports her with resources - whatever she needs.

It took me 8 years, a lawyer, 2 Senators and a Congressman to get my first interview where I won what I needed. A less educated person would have gotten shafted. That is the VA. The application form is 23 pages. Why would it be 23 pages long? To screw Vets out of the benefits they are owed. To intimidate them and their families into quitting.

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2021-08-27/aurora-va-hospital-complex-2-billion-2687298.html

Cost of VA hospital complex in Colorado tops $2 billion; becomes one of world’s most expensive health facilities

Failed sewers, broiling elevators, downspouts spewing hazardous liquid, improper fire doors, and sidewalks without handicap-accessible curbing were a handful of the items that needed to be fixed or reworked, according to records and interviews.

Had VA officials not backed away from another $100 million in proposed additions of several items that had been lopped off the original plan, the Aurora facility would easily have become the priciest ever.

“Sadly, I don’t think all the extra money will ever get anyone’s attention,” said Richard Tremaine, the former associate director for VA’s Eastern Colorado system who helped oversee the hospital’s activation. “If you look at all the things that were cut out ... you’ll see how they bare-boned the facility and the taxpayer still way overpaid for that hospital.” They cut out so many things and it still topped $2BN after adding back in the equipment.

The new Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center doubled the size of the aging and crumbling VA hospital in downtown Denver, but the actual costs of moving the entire operation to the former Fitzsimons Army Base just off Interstate 225 next to Children’s Hospital — and dismantling the old complex — have mushroomed into a financial quagmire, according to records and interviews.

Officially called Project Eagle, employees and other agency officials labeled the ensuing efforts to finish the job as Project Phoenix.

The VA told The Post that direct construction costs at the facility — including design, security, and asbestos cleanup — exceeded $1.7 billion when it opened in 2018. VA records show the cost to fill the hospital with the necessary equipment was another $345 million.

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by DKW 86

[icanthearyou 4,463]

21 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

It took me 8 years, a lawyer, 2 Senators and a Congressman to get my first interview where I won what I needed. A less educated person would have gotten shafted. That is the VA. The application form is 23 pages. Why would it be 23 pages long? To screw Vets out of the benefits they are owed. To intimidate them and their families into quitting.

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2021-08-27/aurora-va-hospital-complex-2-billion-2687298.html

Cost of VA hospital complex in Colorado tops $2 billion; becomes one of world’s most expensive health facilities

Failed sewers, broiling elevators, downspouts spewing hazardous liquid, improper fire doors, and sidewalks without handicap-accessible curbing were a handful of the items that needed to be fixed or reworked, according to records and interviews.

Had VA officials not backed away from another $100 million in proposed additions of several items that had been lopped off the original plan, the Aurora facility would easily have become the priciest ever.

“Sadly, I don’t think all the extra money will ever get anyone’s attention,” said Richard Tremaine, the former associate director for VA’s Eastern Colorado system who helped oversee the hospital’s activation. “If you look at all the things that were cut out ... you’ll see how they bare-boned the facility and the taxpayer still way overpaid for that hospital.” They cut out so many things and it still topped $2BN after adding back in the equipment.

The new Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center doubled the size of the aging and crumbling VA hospital in downtown Denver, but the actual costs of moving the entire operation to the former Fitzsimons Army Base just off Interstate 225 next to Children’s Hospital — and dismantling the old complex — have mushroomed into a financial quagmire, according to records and interviews.

Officially called Project Eagle, employees and other agency officials labeled the ensuing efforts to finish the job as Project Phoenix.

The VA told The Post that direct construction costs at the facility — including design, security, and asbestos cleanup — exceeded $1.7 billion when it opened in 2018. VA records show the cost to fill the hospital with the necessary equipment was another $345 million.

 

A failure of government or, a corruption of government?

[DKW 86 7,440]

47 minutes ago, icanthearyou said:

A failure of government or, a corruption of government?

Both.

 

[SLAG-91 1,483]

I think the denizens of D.C. see their needlessly Byzantine structure as a feature, not a bug. It is the living embodiment of a Rube Goldberg device.

As to ranked choice voting, I'd like to see it in some of the primaries, and maybe we wouldn't get such awful candidates for the general, but it does require a voting populace that is slightly more sophisticated than "vote R" or "vote D", and the practical matter of it possibly taking longer for people to complete. Would a choice for every candidate be required to complete a ballot? What would you do with, say, a mail-in ballot that has all candidates ranked as 1, or something like 1,1,2,2?

I am just spitballing potential problems, not pooh-poohing the idea, far from it. 

I also think any election that uses RCV should require its candidates to have clearly articulated positions, or at least something besides "so-and-so did not respond."

[DKW 86 7,440]

12 hours ago, SLAG-91 said:

I think the denizens of D.C. see their needlessly Byzantine structure as a feature, not a bug. It is the living embodiment of a Rube Goldberg device.

As to ranked choice voting, I'd like to see it in some of the primaries, and maybe we wouldn't get such awful candidates for the general, but it does require a voting populace that is slightly more sophisticated than "vote R" or "vote D", and the practical matter of it possibly taking longer for people to complete. Would a choice for every candidate be required to complete a ballot? What would you do with, say, a mail-in ballot that has all candidates ranked as 1, or something like 1,1,2,2?

I am just spitballing potential problems, not pooh-poohing the idea, far from it. 

I also think any election that uses RCV should require its candidates to have clearly articulated positions, or at least something besides "so-and-so did not respond."

How anyone could faceplam that, I will never know. SMDH

[icanthearyou 4,463]

6 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

How anyone could faceplam that, I will never know. SMDH

The neo liberals who started the,,, "government is the problem" mantra,,, highly appreciate you.

[autigeremt 6,688]

1 hour ago, icanthearyou said:

The neo liberals who started the,,, "government is the problem" mantra,,, highly appreciate you.

They are a big part of the problem.....especially the part that sold us out.