Somebody explain the opposition to fedealising the electoral process...

[Gaffey Duck]

And bringing it under public control.

As a Canadian who has admired the simplicity, uniformity, and public control of our federal elections, I fail to see why most Americans, including many moderate Democrats, are willing to tolerate county-level standards and county-regulated ballots for federal election and the privatisation of the voting and voter registration processes.

No other country does it this way, and 2000 and 2004 thoroughly explain why.

[NMDemDist2]

1. what about local, county and statewide elections? would we need

a whole different bureaucracy for those elections?

[unblock]

4. there's no reason why the state couldn't handle county elections, too

the state would set up the election process and ballots, reserving slots for each county and municipality and so on.

this is ESPECIALLY true if electronic voting were to actually work, as the program could easily present the voter with the races and questions valid for that particular registrant. in fact it could eliminate the need to vote at a particular location, if you could simply enter your precinct code at the beginning of voting.

[unblock]

2. it would have to be state-level, not federal

the constitution makes it plain that elections for federal office are state matters, not federal. nevertheless, your point stands, which is that there's no reason for varying standards from county to county.

what kills me is that many states (such as florida) permit partisan, elected officials (remember katherine harris?) to oversee elections. this should definitely by done by nonpartisan, career officials.

[freetobegay]

3. It has to do with that pesky little thing we call the Constitution.

If you knew American History a little better & the fight in the beginning for States rights versus Federal rights.