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This has been a crazy week. The mainstream media concentrated on silly issues or the silly part of serious issues. When the only media personalities doing serious political analysis are comedians or satirists, it speaks poorly of our mainstream news media. This week ended several of my blog posts urging you all to become the media. Find truthful information and share it through your entire network (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, etc.). This week I will cover the following topics.
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Hello all:
We are contacting you as supporters of the National Popular Voting strategy, and Campaign Finance Reform, Instant Runoff Voting, and Ballot Access reform.
We The People are working on an Amendment which should solve all the issues regard voting at one time. Just imagine if Amendments 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 were all in one amendment.
We still need your help. We could use any editing notes you can spare. And any help in converting what we have into legal jargon. Later we intend to get an endorsement from all of you, just as you have endorsed pieces of this Amendment separately, already.
Thank You,
Marcia Everett
https://www.facebook.com/groups/152631684794770/doc/216291868428751/
8/14/12 EQUAL ACCESS AMENDMENT (The Right to Vote)
Whereas we the people are created equal, and
whereas we the people are endowed with certain unalienable rights, and
whereas we the people instituted a government to secure these rights, and
whereas we the people lay the foundation on such principles, and organize its power in such form, as to us shall seem most likely to effect the above objective, do require the following amendment to the constitution.
SECTION 1. Adult Citizens of the United States have the right to vote in primary and general elections for President and Vice President, for electors for President and Vice President, for Representatives and Senators in the Congress, and for executive and legislative officers of their state, district, and local legislatures, and such right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State.
SECT I ON 2. The right of adult citizens of the United States to vote and to participate in elections on an equal basis shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of political-party affiliation or prior condition of incarceration.
SECTION 3. Washington DC: The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect Senators and Representatives in the Congress in such number and such manner as it would be entitled if it were a State.
SECTION 4. Representation: The representatives shall be increased 100%. The first seating of these new representatives will be all women. Thereafter Congress shall vote on every census whether more representatives are needed.
SECTION 5. The Board of Elections: It shall be established as the agency of all election activity.
a) It shall count the votes, by hand on election day.
b) It shall post equal sized advertisements for all candidates in print media.
c) It shall provide mailings to all citizens on all candidates. No advertising for campaigns on television or radio, because it can not be distributed equally. Candidates may soapbox.
d) It shall determine the amount and location of the debates and invite the media to attend. Debates will be televised on National Public Television/Radio/Livestream
e) It shall survey the public for questions to ask during the debates.
f) It shall arbitrate all disputes.
g) It shall determine rules for disputes, which are to be uniform throughout the states.
h) It shall, provide information on all election laws, and bills up for referendum.
i) It shall provide classes on civics and the constitution, and provide meeting rooms for political parties.
j) It shall provide equal polling time for all states.
Congress shall provide funds to accomplish this task.
SECTION 6. Campaign Financing: The Congress of the United States is a public office. It is not for Private gain. Bribery nor the appearance of bribery is not allowed. Private money may not be used for public elections. Congress will provide funds to the Board of Election, to allow candidates to announce themselves to the public on soapboxes. The Board of Elections will post billboard advertisements for all candidates equally in as many places as they choose. The board of elections will purchase newspaper space for all candidates equally. The Board of Elections will mail copies of an informational brochure to every citizen. There will be no “air” time of the candidates except the debates because it can not be divided equally. All advertising for candidates shall be in print. The debates will be aired on PUBLIC television/radio/Live stream.
SECTION 7. Ballot Access: All citizens of the United States, residing in all states, shall have equal access, (the same requirements), to creating a political party and achieving a ballot line. The Board of Elections shall accept applications for political party status requiring only proof of actual conduct as a political party. These proofs shall be:
a) Statement of Beliefs
b) 12 meetings per year
c) 12 agendas
d) 12 minutes
e) 12 attendance sheets
These proofs may be from anywhere within the state.
The Board of Elections will institute a deadline for parties to secure a ballot line. The Board of Elections will institute a deadline for parties to chose their candidates. Non party candidates shall have the same deadline to become a write in candidate. The deadline shall be the same for every state.
ALL CANDIDATES THAT MEET THE DEADLINES WILL ATTEND THE DEBATES.
SECTION 8. Ballot Access/non party: Citizens wishing to run without a party affiliation, must register at the B.O.E. and meet candidacy requirements. They must use a petition to collect 500 signatures form other citizens. Then they must convince people to write in their names on election day. Spelling errors will be attributed to the candidate, as long as two candidates with the same name are not present. If so a designated letter or number will be given to each candidate.
SECTION 9. Debates: The Board of Elections will schedule a number of debates (perhaps 12) for all persons who have achieved status by the deadline and all citizens who have registered without a party. Location of the debates will be determined by the B.O.E. Only media personnel will be in attendance of the debates. Any media may attend. Citizens will not be allowed within audible distance of the debates. Citizens are biased and can not be expected not to applaud. Public Television, Public Radio, and Public Internet will air the debates.
Each candidate will be given equal time to be used as they see fit. The candidates will be given a timer that counts their speaking time. After the question is placed on the screen candidates may answer. The candidate may speak as long as they like but they will be using their own time. Any time a candidate speaks they must turn on their timer to turn on their microphone. If they run out of time before the debate is over they will no longer be able to speak.
The questions will be determined before hand by the B.O.E. Candidates may know the questions beforehand. Candidates may use powerpoint or some such device to illustrate their answers. All powerpoint sources must be identified. After the question is placed on the screen candidates may answer. The order of the answerer will not be as important because all answers will be recorded.
Rebuttals will be at the expense of the candidate’s time.
SECTION 10.
EC. 201. REQUIRING USE OF INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE.
(a) In General- Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in subsection (b), each State shall conduct general elections for Federal office held in the State during 2008 and each succeeding year using an instant runoff voting system, and shall ensure that the voting equipment and technology used to conduct the elections is compatible with such a system.
(b) Exception for House Elections in Multi-seat Districts- Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to any election for the office of Member of the House of Representatives which is held in a multi-seat district (as provided in title I).
(c) Definitions- In this title, the following definitions apply:
(1) The term `Federal office’ has the meaning given such term in section 301(3) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(3)).
(2) The term `instant runoff voting system’ means a system for the election of candidates under which–
(A) runoff counts of candidates are conducted in rounds;
(B) voters may rank candidates on the ballot according to the order of preference;
(C) if in any round no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the fewest number of votes is eliminated and the remaining candidates advance to the next round;
(D) in each round, a voter shall be considered to have cast one vote for the candidate the voter ranked highest on the ballot who has not been eliminated; and
(E) the runoff counts are carried out automatically at the time the votes are cast and tabulated.
SECTION 11. All voters in all jurisdictions across the country should have reasonable confidence that their votes will be counted accurately. All ballots are to be counted by hand. The counting will be observed on c-span
SECTION 12. THIS SECTION NEEDS WORK The Constitution directs each state to select presidential elections however it sees fit and states have used a variety of methods for doing so throughout history. The Constitution also authorizes states to enter into binding agreements. So, states can mutually agree to use the national popular vote to choose electors within the existing constitutional framework.
Under the National Popular Vote (NPV) plan, states agree to allocate all of their electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states, but only if states with a combined total of 270 electoral votes join the agreement. Just as in every other election, every citizen’s vote would count then equally. The election will be counted by individual votes. Using IRV the candidate with the most votes after all rounds will be President.
SECTION 13. Gerrymandering: A non-partisan committee shall be created to draw the district lines. The creation of independent redistricting commissions will be used to draw legislative district lines.
SECTION 14. Media: The fairness doctrine will apply to any media that wears the title NEWS. Journalists will be protected under the whistle blower statutes.
SECTION 15. Protesting: Citizen’s will be provided an area proportional to the area of the establishment by 1/8th and beginning 25 feet from the entrance, for controversial expression.
SECTION 16. Bills: All legislative bills shall be single issue. Citizen’s have the right to expect a “speedy trial” for their laws. To do this bills shall be addressed in the numerical order as presented. Bills shall not be set aside on a partisan basis. Bills will not wait to be addressed until the party in power supports it enough to bring it out to committee. Bills may be set aside ONLY for more information and for a specified period of time not exceed one week without a vote on the circumstances.
SECTION 17. Initiatives and Referendums: Citizens may add a proposition or referendum to the national elections by (when)…
SECTION 18. Voter ID: Citizens will show identification when voting. One month in each year, not less than 180 days to an election, vital statistic documents will be free to the citizen
SECTION 19. Election day shall be a National Holiday
SECTION 20. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation and funding.