Post by The 99 Declaration on Feb 1, 2012 8:53:42 GMT -5
The 99% demand the abolishment of the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote in presidential elections to avoid situations where the Electoral College elects a candidate who does not receive a majority of the popular vote. As mentioned in suggested grievance one, Congress shall immediately enact uniform electoral reforms requiring total equal public campaign financing to all candidates who obtain sufficient petition signatures and/or votes to get on the ballot and participate in the primaries and/or general election. All funds used for the election of federal politicians will be drawn from a public trust specifically created for this purpose and managed by the Federal Elections Commission and the United States Treasury. Thus, a person who receives sufficient signatures to get on the ballot for the House of Representatives would receive “x” public dollars, Senate, “y” public dollars and President, “z”public dollars. All funds for candidates to be drawn from this political campaign trust will be funded by the taxpayers. However, individuals, unions, corporations or other groups or entities that wish to contribute to the political campaign trust may do so without knowledge of where the funds will ultimately be applied. All private funds contributed to the political campaign trust will be kept confidential and commingled with taxpayer monies used to pay for the entire federal electoral process. Politicians will no longer be permitted to ask for campaign contributions of any kind. Moreover, the Federal Communications Commission will require all licensees to provide free equal commercial air time to all candidates on the ballot. Failure to comply with these new rules and regulations to provide free and equal air time to candidates on the ballot will result in cancellation of the broadcast license. To reduce voter fraud and voter discrimination, Congress will utilize the Commerce Clause and other constitutional authority, to implement nationwide uniform election rules applied to all voting districts. The FEC will be directly responsible to ensure equal access to the polls, removing unfair hurdles to independent candidates and third parties so they may appear on the ballot. ”Gerrymandering”, which freezes out third parties and ensures electoral outcomes will be ended through the use of non-partisan public commissions to fairly and impartiality redraw voting district lines. Voting will take place on weekends and holidays to increase voter access to the polls and minimize voter disenfranchisement. The FEC shall issue free voter registration cards to all citizens who are eligible to vote so that they cannot be turned away at a polling station because they do not have a driver’s license or other form of identification. The civil rights division of the Justice Department shall aggressively review all complaints of the exclusion of voters with non-violent criminal records, tactics used by certain states and municipalities to limit and obstruct voter access to the polls by requiring “tests” to vote. The federal government shall invest in a uniform, secure, and verifiable voting system to be used in every voting district in the United States. Additional provisions shall be made for those citizens who cannot attend polling sites due to disability, illness or absence from the country.