[Election-Methods] RE : Re: RE : Re: Primary Elections using a "Top 2/Single Transferable Voting Method"

[Dave Ketchum]

Interesting that Kevin dares emphasize French in an environment where many 
DEMAND "English only".
      To go with this, he has done better than average as to being 
familiar with the US Constitution.
      Still, he would get mayors in the act, in which I see no value.

Actually in NY, and I believe in most states, the electors mechanically 
fulfil Constitution rules, without their names or personal beliefs being 
of interest to voters.  Rather, the voters are interested in President and 
VP and vote, thinking of their goal, without thinking of the electors who 
will be part of the implementation.

Nominating in NY:
      Party candidates:  Party selects Pres & VP candidates to be visible 
to voters (this selection can be done in many ways, sometimes in 
partnership with parties in other states), plus a slate of electors.
      Independent candidates:  Cannot have simple write-ins without filing 
a certificate with the same information as would be supplied for a party 
candidate.

Elector experience:
      I have been on a party slate, without making any promises since no 
one expected our party's candidate to win.
      I have been part of making up a party slate, and mention three steps 
we chose:
           Decide what promises an elector should be required to agree to, 
such as who to vote for and how to handle special cases such as candidaate 
dying.
           Collect signed elector pledges.
           Once there were enough such, pick electors from there.

DWK

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:05:35 +0100 (CET) Kevin Venzke wrote:
> --- Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <abd at lomaxdesign.com> a écrit :
> 
>>At 09:33 AM 12/17/2007, Kevin Venzke wrote:
>>
>>>--- Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <abd at lomaxdesign.com> a écrit :
>>>
>>>>My own opinion is that state parties should directly elect delegates,
>>>>not Presidential candidates. Then the delegates make the choice, at
>>>>the convention. They can actually .... *deliberate*. What a concept!
>>>
>>>I'm skeptical that it would be feasible to be elected as delegate
>>
>>without
>>
>>>being willing to commit to voting for a specific presidential candidate.
>>
>>Indeed, that is the problem. However, without 
>>something like this, the public will continue to 
>>be at the mercy of sophisticated marketing 
>>campaigns designed to influence the opinions of 
>>people who don't have the time to actually 
>>research and understand the issues.
> 
> 
>>I don't see any resolution to this problem except 
>>breaking down the scale, so that people can 
>>choose representatives in the process whom they 
>>could know well enough to make an intelligent 
>>decision to trust them.
> 
> 
> Well, selecting someone to fill a role whose sole function is to vote for a
> president... If the voters already have an opinion on the issue then
> there's nothing to offer them except to promise to vote the way they want
> on the main issue.
> 
> The best solution, it seems to me, is to have the decision be made by
> people who were elected for some other primary responsibility. For example,
> have all the elected mayors (pretending for a moment that all cities have
> elected mayors), or someone hand-picked by each mayor, serve also as
> delegates. I don't think this would affect races for mayor that much,
> especially if they are elected before it's clear who is running for
> president.
> 
> Kevin Venzke
-- 
  davek at clarityconnect.com    people.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/davek
  Dave Ketchum   108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708   607-687-5026
            Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
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