A Call for Fair Elections

In this post, I will outline the improvements we need to make for fair elections in Pennsylvania (and the country as a whole). These improvements will ideally be implemented by the next presidential election (2020), but the sooner the better as many actions will also improvement how the state handles state and local elections. I call on Governor Tom Wolf as well as state GOP and Democratic leaders to implement these changes as soon as possible.

Note that I previously discussed some of these issues in past post, but I'm putting them together in a shorter simpler format here along with some maybe new ideas not previously addressed.

1. National Popular Vote Act. By passing the NPVA, Pennsylvania would award its electoral votes for president to whichever candidate has the majority of the popular vote. This would effectively abolish the Electoral College at the state level, and would only go into effect once a winning majority of states agree to the compact. This would make our presidential election system more democratic and ensure that the candidate with the most votes always becomes president. Ultimately we should support a constitutional amendment if necessary, but as states have the authority to determine how electors are assigned, this plan is also perfectly constitutional but can be implemented faster.
2. Free and Fair Elections Resolution. By passing FFER, Pennsylvania would call for a Convention of the States under the authority of Article V in the Constitution on the topic of money in politics. The convention would be used to draft one or more constitutional amendments to limit the power of outside money and influence in our election system, possibly by overturning court cases such as Citizens United vs FEC (whereby corprorate money was equated with free speech) and McCutcheon vs FEC (whereby large donors could donate money to races outside of their home district, allowing someone from for example California to influence Pennsylvania's vote for Senate). This resolution doesn't create any new law, only calls for a convention. Any amendment drafted at the convention would then need to be voted on by all the states before it becomes law, so there's no reason to not support this resolution since all it does is call for more debate on the subject. But, it could lead to some very good outcomes for democracy by keeping our elections local choices without outside interference. Note that this bipartisan legislation was introduced and had large support in the last session of the PA assembly, but was not voted on in time before end of the session. We're pushing for it to be voted on as a first order of business in the next session in January. 6 other states have already called for a convention.
3. Switch to Ranked Choice or Score Voting. Our current system, known as "first past the goal post", is failing us. It often leads to the tactical voting we saw in the 2016 Trump vs Clinton election. Voters should feel free to vote for their favored candidate, and not against their least favorite candidate. Furthermore, in cases where ties happen, or no candidate receives a majority of votes (when many candidates are running), our current system requires a costly run-off to determine the will of the people. We can fix both issues by switch to Ranked Choice or Score Voting. In Ranked Choice voting, we rank candidate from most favorite to least favorite, and we eliminate the lowest vote-getter one by one until a clear winner occurs. We can do this because if someone's favorite candidate is eliminate, we know who their next favorite is already. Score Voting is kind of like rating each candidate on a 1-5 star scale. Everyone rates every candidate, then we average up all the ratings. Whichever candidate has the highest rating wins. In both cases, we clearly know who is favored by the most voters, and voters may effectively choose multiple candidates (by ranking multiple favorites higher than others, or giving more than one candidate a 5 star rating) which takes out some of the current party-line voting tactics we see. These methods lead to more moderate candidates everyone can agree on, rather than our current system which favors more extreme candidates. Research leans toward Score Voting being the most fair, but Ranked Choice is also ok and was recently approved by voters in Maine. Pennsylvania should be the next state to adopt a more fair voting method.
4. Universal Access to Early Voting. Currently, Pennsylvania's early voting provisions only apply to voters with medical conditions or those on active duty in the military. You have to apply for a ballot and be approved. The restriction should be removed, and all eligible voters that request a mail ballot should receive one.
5. State/National Voting Holiday. Election day should be declared a holiday. All non-essential/non-emergency workers should receive at a minimum a half day off work, if not a full day, the idea being to allow lots of time for citizens to meet up, discuss the issues, and actually go vote. Currently, many people leave the long voting lines because they need to get back to work, for example. Pennsylvania can declare the day a mandatory holiday for most workers; essential/emergency workers should have the opportunity to vote early by mail. Another option is to extend voting to multiple days (preferably including a weekend day) to ensure maximum voter turn out.
6. Increase Polling Station Numbers. Some polling locations around Pittsburgh saw long lines (90+ minute wait times). This is unacceptable. Allegheny County needs to open more polling locations, with financial/logistical help from Pennsylvania if necessary. I imagine Philadelphia also saw similar issues. We should take pride in democracy and make it very quick and easy to vote.
7. Switch to Verifiable Paper Ballot Trail. Pennsylvania voting machines currently are all electronic and do not produce a paper trail that allows full auditing of the vote count. Pennsylvania should ideally switch to a completely paper ballot, or at least a better electronic voting system. Pennsylvania would need to help counties purchase new equipment, etc.
8. Required Mailers Prior to Election. Pennsylvania should require that each county/district mail simple fliers to every registered voter, reminding them of voting day, their polling place, and providing a sample ballot with information on how to contact the campaign of each candidate for more information. This should be done at least 2 weeks ahead of time, probably 30 days. It was like pulling teeth trying to find my sample ballot on the PA Secretary of State website; that's unacceptable.