One pearl in a rotten oyster

That’s the way I’d describe this plan from Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida.

For some reason, Democrats seem to have problems with the electoral process and just can’t get over the 2000 election. Not only was Florida the epicenter of electoral issues back then, Nelson’s own party created more controversy this year when they arbitrarily jumped their Presidential primary election ahead of the timeline desired by the national party, a decision costing them 1/2 of their delegate votes when the Democratic National Convention convenes in Denver at the end of August.

It’s another example of a left-leaning politician jumping aboard the National Popular Vote bandwagon, as Maryland did in 2007. While the Electoral College does date from the 18th century, as Nelson points out, the good Senator fails to note the the Founders intended this to be a republic and not a true democracy. Many other portions of the Constitution which date back to the same era are still good enough for Senator Nelson, particularly that pesky First Amendment which allows his viewpoint to be freely published.

On the other hand, maintaining the Electoral College benefits our nation for two key reasons. First of all, it gives smaller states like Delaware, Wyoming, or Alaska a say in the Presidential process. Otherwise, all of their state’s votes could be swallowed up in a tide of votes from one municipal area like Philadelphia, Denver, or Seattle. This also limits the damage any sort of electoral irregularities could accomplish to the one state where it occurred. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Barack Obama outpolls John McCain by 250,000 votes nationwide and all of that margin could be comprised of illegal votes in Chicago. With Nelson’s plan in place, Obama wins via fraudulent voting but in our system as it stands it only affects the electoral votes Illinois carries, which is a small portion of the 270 required nationwide. (Legend has it the 1960 election where John F. Kennedy was elected over Richard Nixon was decided in a similar manner.)

I will credit Senator Nelson for borrowing an idea I’ve proposed in the past, that of six rotating regional primaries scheduled between March and June. (I’d actually like them a little later, but that’s a minor quibble.) The idea is to compress the Presidential process into the same calendar year as the election, and this idea’s time has come. It also has the advantage of again bringing some of the smaller states into play depending on how the divisions are formed. And while Nelson’s proposal doesn’t account for this, I’d also like to see a push for closed primaries similar to the practice here in Maryland. While it would eliminate the “Operation Chaos” aspect of the primary, perhaps it would also give the Republicans a candidate more in tune with the party’s beliefs?

Remaining portions of Nelson’s proposal deal with early voting, “shall-issue” absentee ballots, and a verifiable paper trail. My question is why early voting is even necessary when one can get an absentee ballot upon request? There’s a reason I call it “early and often voting” because the potential is rife for fraud when elections are held over a number of days. Absentee ballots accomplish the same purpose as early voting with the added assurance that the voter is properly registered. I’m also a little leery of a paper trail unless it’s handled in such a manner that the voting receipt cannot be duplicated. I can just see a group claiming to have hundreds of paper ballots that weren’t counted and demanding they be included in a recount. It would bog down the electoral process even moreso than it is now.

Worst of all, this would be another usurpation of states’ rights by an all-encompassing federal government. Much as I dislike all the controversy that can occur with highly charged and contested national elections, each state can and should have the right to decide how its elections are conducted. There’s nothing that is stopping states from doing most of what Nelson proposes (for better or worse) aside from the abolition of the Electoral College, and that’s the way our nation is supposed to work.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.