federal electoral regulator

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kobayashi

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why is there not one in the u.s.a.?

we all know of the troubles 4 years ago and it seems, at this point, there were at least some hiccups yesterday.

the federal election commission seems focused solely on issues of campaign financing. what i am discussing is the management and administration of elections.

is the administration of elections (selection, procurement and utilization of voting methods among other duties) handled at the state or municipal level? is there significant push back from thse governmental levels at the suggestion that this should be a federal domain.

the u.k. has the electoral commission, australia has the australian electoral commission and canada has elections canada.

given recent electoral complications and the existence of such a body in american allies, the lack of a federal electoral regulator seems to me a deficit in the administration of american democracy.
 
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because politicans have to vote for that and they aren't going to if they can manipulate the system for their own personal gain.
 
well politicians were likely, at one point, similarly standoffish in those other nations.

i dont mean to suggest that elections in these nations neccessarily run smoothly or there is no questioning of results.

but a politically and financially independent body exists apart from the legislative and executive power of a nation almost seems like a pre-requisite.

would this have changed the result yesterday, as we presently know it? since everyone seems confident of the results as they stand, no i hope not, but such a regulator would sharpen the results while adding accountability to the administration of elections.
 
sharky said:
because politicans have to vote for that and they aren't going to if they can manipulate the system for their own personal gain.


yeah.

it's kind of like this thing we had on the ballot here, asking whether we think our state representatives should vote in favor of removing legislature concerning re-districting in favor of putting a non-partisan commision in charge of re-districting. or something like that. i don't know, i had to read it about 6 times before i decided i had no idea what it meant, and there was some guy asking random people to explain it to him because he didn't understand it.

where's this commission coming from? it would be either appointed or elected, if i understand correctly. if it's elected, this is amherst, massachusetts, it's clearly going to be a very liberal commisson. if it's appointed, then whoever in charge of doing that is going to inject their partisan bias into the mix.

so either way, one side loses and you're back to square one.
 
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