After a fair amount of chatter, I went and reviewed basic structure:
1. Prohibit states from requiring an excuse to vote absentee.
Absentee was originally developed for military/state department folks who were out-of-country. At some point (probably 1980s), it came into play within senior citizen retirement homes, and hospital-bound people. My general problem with this federal idea is that you'd end up with people who vote in two or three states, and no real apparatus to prevent multiple voting.
2. Require states to mail absentee-ballot applications to all voters.
The truth is.....they already do this....in all fifty states. I'm not sure why they need to even bring this up....other than to suggest that some don't mail them out.
3. Require states to let voters to apply for an absentee ballot online.
The truth is....states generally already do this. Again, it's odd to suggest you need to federally mandate states on this.
4. Prohibit states from requiring absentee ballots to be notarized or have witness signatures.
States generally use one or the other in terms of making them valid.
5. Ensure states count all absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within 10 days.
On this, I can remember throughout the 1980s....applying for an absentee ballot three months before a primary/election, and only getting it five days before the election itself. You can blame the mail system on this (particularly if assigned overseas). My general problem here....if 75-percent of a state population voted absentee....you couldn't wrap up the election for a minimum of ten days. The potential for fraud? It's significant.
6. Mandate states to offer 15 consecutive days of early voting.
Some states offer a week....some go up to 15 days. The budget/man-power required to run something like this? Most states would probably say three days are enough if given any choice over the matter.
7. Mandate “to the greatest extent practicable” that polling places to keep waiting time to under 30 minutes.
I just started laughing. At Arlington, my wait on the 2012 election was almost three hours. In one particular year in Alabama....it was about 90 seconds. I don't know how federal 'fixing' could resolve this.
8. Mandate states that require voter IDs to also accept sworn statements signed by the voter.
Sounds fine....shouldn't this same rule work for buying booze, picking up drugs at the pharmacy, conducting car registrations, or buying smokes? I should just be able to write on a scrap of paper.....I'm Joe X and am 21....right?
We should just all carry around sworn statements in our pocket....3x5 inch index cards to say who are, if this makes any sense.
9. Mandate states let to allow people to register to vote on Election Day.
Wondering why it takes 3 to 5 hours at the polling station already now....with people showing up and trying to already register on election day?
The minute you move into a town....you ought to be mandated to show up at the driver's license office and note your change of address....with that also going to the voting folks.
10. Mandate states to let folks to register to vote online.
How would you present that ID? Or would you have one of the World-of-Warcraft IDs that you bought with the digital sword/shield?
11. Mandate states to offer automatic voter registration at the department of motor vehicles and other government agencies.
First, what do they mean by 'other' government agencies? Fishing and hunting license shops?
Onto the current situation....most states already offer automatic voter registration like they discuss. Some have a voting desk right next to the driver's license shop. Why mandate something when almost all of them already do it?
12. Tightly restrict states’ ability to purge voters from the rolls.
Are we talking about dead-voters?
What do we mean by 'tightly'?
Most states have a law to mandate purge schedules....particularly on dead voters. The county clerk gathers up the official records, with the county judge overseeing the listing, and the elimination occurs. Why would you involve the federal government in this process?
13. Make Election Day a national holiday.
This sounds like a good idea, then you ask questions. Throughout most communities....even on a national holiday....various stores/restaurants are open. I would make a humble guess that 20-percent of the nation still works on national holidays.
Most European countries mandate voting to occur on Sundays. Why not mandate that action in the US?
Also, how would you handle primaries? Make those national holidays as well?
14. Somehow, make it illegal to deceive voters (in an intentional way) to NOT vote.
Basically, you'd be admitting that fifty percent of the nation is stupid enough to believe some propaganda that you shouldn't vote.
15. Give the right to vote back to people convicted of a felony but out of prison.
Various states have done this....others are discussing it. It's just not a federal matter. It's pretty easy to avoid felony crimes....about 99-percent of all people I've known in life....did so with ease.
16. Implement public funding for congressional campaigns by matching every dollar a candidate raises from small donors with $6 from the government.
Why make this a federal matter, and use federal tax revenue? Why $6? Why not $12? Who is a small donor....the guy giving $25 or the guy giving $250, or the guy giving $2,500?
You might as well give public funding to every family making $25k or less a year.....a $1,000 grocery gift card to Piggly Wiggly.
17. Mandate “dark money” groups to disclose their donors.
Why? People would just invent 'transparent-but-dark-money' next.
18. Manufacture some type of disclosure requirements for political ads on Facebook and Twitter.
Who would be in charge of this? Former Twitter/Facebook employees?
19. Provide funding for states to upgrade their election infrastructure.
What do they mean by infrastructure? Computerized but crappy system enhancements? Who will be in charge of this, and how connected are they to some lobby group?
20. Establish federal standards for election equipment.
This begs all kinds of questions. If the standard is crap....how can the people trust in the system to function?
21. Mandate the use of paper ballots.
Most all states do this already. Why federalize the idea?
22. Establish specific redistricting criteria for fair maps and require nonpartisan redistricting commissions in every state.
Who is in charge? This begs all kinds of questions. Nonpartisan redistricting commissions would become a joke.
23. Count prisoners at their last address, instead of where they’re incarcerated, for redistricting.
What if the guy never registered to vote in Texas, for that six-year period of crime he succeeded in? What if the guy has never registered a single time in forty years of crime....to vote? What if homeless folks were put into this category, but never registered a single time in California for the past four elections?
24. Mandate tax returns of Presidential candidates be made public.
Why? How about Governor, Senator and House members as well? What if the guy made $22-million last year....gave you his return, and it says he paid $99 for federal taxes? Does a tax return establish a guy's character or lack of character?
25. Bar members of Congress from sitting on corporate boards.
Around 15 House members currently sit on 'boards'. It would be curious to have them stand and explain how they have a full-time job presently, and also carry on with a board job.
But if you are serious about this....shouldn't this be 'any other' job....not just corporate boards? What if some Senator wanted to operate a gas station while serving? What if a House member wanted to sell wood paneling on the side?
26. Bar members of Congress from using public money to settle sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuits.
Just make a stupid two-line law that says the most public money you can use for government lawsuits is $99. You don't need federal gimmicks to resolve this.
27. Establish a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.
Well...how about a ethics code for House/Senate members too?
28. Finally, shrink the Federal Election Commission from six members to five in order to avoid tie votes.
How about three members?
The problem with this whole bill....maybe it started with good intentions, but at 791 pages....it's complicated and just makes a bigger mess. You really don't want the federal government coming in to fix things.
