Brian D Williams wrote:
>
> It seems this election has brought up a number of things that might
> require new solutions.
>
> Since Extropians fix broken things, I thought I'd toss out a few
> solutions.
>
> PROBLEM: The ballot in Florida may have confused some voters.
>
> SOLUTION: A national standard balloting system, open standard, so
> all may participate equally.
I've seen the ballots used, the butterfly ballots used are the SAME type used in
Bill Daley's home turf of Cook County, Illinois. The dems have complained about
the arrows on them being 'confusing', when it is the arrows that are the LEAST
confusing thing about that ballot, and are likely its saving grace.
>
> PROBLEM: The media may have influenced the outcome of the vote.
>
> SOLUTION: Ban all media from polling places, ban all media
> discussion of election results till all polls have
> closed.
Media, parties, and special interest groups should be banned from announcing
results until officially announced (which should be after all polls are closed).
Our right to vote uninflenced and unfettered is more important than their right
to free speech. How could this be accomplished? Simple: Declare that any media
announcing a state is for one candidate prior to the polls closing is to be
treated as campaign contributions to that candidate (and any contribution over
the corporate limit is, by definition an illegal donation). Candidates that
accept illegal donations and do not return them prior to the election are to be
invalidated as legal candidates. Any media or group can be exempted from these
rules if they can certify that neither they, their parent or subsidiary
corporations, or any employees, employees spouses, employees dependents, or
stockholders/trustees/directors/members have contributed to the campaigns.
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