Election Reform

We live in a rather schizophrenic system where the voting rights of citizens differs depending on whether we're talking about state or federal elections. On the state level the Supreme Court has found that there must be one person, one vote... but all votes must weigh the same. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/377/533.html

But in our federal system this right disappears and the weight of any citizen's vote depends on their choice of state residence. So in our system we can have

100% voter turnout

100% vote count accuracy

100% public financing of elections and

the vote of any citizen in WY for Senator will still have 70x the weight as the vote of any citizen in CA resulting in states with a mere 18% of the US population getting 52% of the seats in the Senate... and...

the vote of any citizen in WY for president will still have 3.5x the weight as the vote of any citizen in CA... resulting in candidates rejected by the People being imposed on the nation as president... and...

states with a mere 4% of the US population can block any amendment... yet states with 40% can ratify one... I could go on.

All the above makes sense if we buy into the idea that states deserve representation. But we know no state can actually vote... it's merely the people who live there. This antidemocratic principle WITHIN states was outlawed in a key voting rights case Sims v Reynold http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/377/533.html

In the US we've never really defined democratic principles for either the electoral or political system so we can implement these simple concepts that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed and that each vote weighs the same. We know pushing for real democratic reforms in the electoral and political systems will never come from the GOP.

Where are the Dems?