Tom Mast, founder Solve American Gridlock
Reference: LA Times of 9-23-22
The LA Times reported in an upbeat manner on the efforts of the U.S. House and Senate to reach agreement on strengthening the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to prevent a repeat of the January 6, 2021 chaos at the U. S. Capitol. #congress
The 1887 Act allowed only one senator or representative to challenge the count from his or her state; this facilitated the congressional review that culminated in the Jan. 6 events.
The House has passed a bill recently to correct the 1887 Act in various ways including raising the “objection threshold” to one-third of each chamber. The Senate is considering its version that would raise it to one-fifth. Obviously, either of these is much better than the 1887 Act that gives a single congressperson this power.
The National Institute for Civic Discourse (NICD) conducted careful opinion polls over the summer that indicated a threshold of one-fifth that garnered 75% of the poll votes was preferable to one-third which received 55%. The NICD, associated with Common Sense American led by Keith Allred, presented these results to the Senate, and they were well received. The bill passed markup by 14:1 very recently. Senators were complementary of the data from this objective polling and the way it improves the chance that the legislation will pass both houses of Congress in a bipartisan manner. Common Sense American has been working for several years to promote civil discourse in Congress, and success in this bill will be another feather in its cap.
Obviously, our U. S. electoral methods for the presidency have some flaws. Looking at the dysfunction of Congress, it is easy to decide that its electoral methods also could stand some surgery.
We only have two parties while other leading democracies have an average of 3.9. Multiple parties lead to more viewpoints and the need for real negotiating in Congress.
Congress mandated Single-Member Districts in 1967, bringing Gerrymandering and thus “safe” districts generally in the 80%+ range. Congress can and should create a Multi-Member-Districts law coupled with Ranked Choice Voting that would create an environment conducive to having more than two parties. #gerrymandering
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