None of the above

So what do I mean?

I’ll give you an example…

In Georgia, we have a Senate race to find which of the two people running will be elected to represent the State of Georgia in Washington, DC. It’s either the Democratic Party incumbent, Raphael Warnock or the hopeful Republican candidate, Herschel Walker.

It’s either one or the other.

Mr. Walker’s claim to fame, and therefore “somehow” worthy of becoming one of the 100 most powerful people in Washington, DC is that he  was a football running back who played in the National Football League.

Great credentials, right?

He also has been accused of threatening his ex-wife, made wild claims about his financial success and he has, self admitted, a multiple personality disorder. And of all the Republicans in Georgia, this is the only man who tops the list? Huh!

What does that say about the Georgia Republicans and how they choose candidates?

The problem is whom to vote for in November, without vomiting since we have such awful choices. Sadly, due to our broken system, it’s one or the other or don’t vote for either.

In Utah, if a person was convicted and sentenced to death, until 1980 they had a choice between death by hanging or death by firing squad! If they didn’t choose, the got the second choice. Either way, the same result!

Same for our elected officials. Either, or… same result.

This is typically the problem we face when voting “for” a candidate in an election – choose either and you are screwed either way. There is usually no good choice, so the voters hold their noses and vote for the least worst candidates.

Notice on this Georgia sample that the party that each candidate represents and that the incumbent are listed. Why? It’s for, I suspect, for most voters who have no idea who to vote for so use these “hints.”

And if you look closely at the sample Georgia ballot PDF, I challenge you to find a standard sorting of the names in each race. Not by first name, last name or party. And as is well known, people tend to look at the first few names in any list and select from there. So candidates at the bottom of the list aren’t even seen! See my article – We the Sheeple.

Corruption in action.

So I recommend a third choice in every position… None of the Above. If more than fifty percent of the voters check that box, neither candidate, of any party will be elected and there will be an open position, and another special election two months later. And those two will not be able to run again in that election.

I suspect None of the Above will be very popular.

If None of the Above gets less than 50.1% of the votes cast then the person with the most votes still wins. However, they will know that only a fraction of the public wanted them in office.

As if they care!

In the later special election, if needed, there will be many candidates will run since it will be an open seat. They know that incumbents almost always win so they are wasting both time and money by even running. So they don’t bother.

For this special election, each voter votes for their top five candidates in order, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as to preference. If none of the top tabulated choice (1) wins with 50.1% of the votes, then those votes will be assigned to candidates, number 2 and so on. So in a matter of seconds, they’ll be a winner and voters will no longer have to go to the polls over and over again.

I call it Cascading Voting.

If applied to the initial election, without the None of the Above option, it would still produce a very quick result that may or may not be the “named” candidates.

And no more runoffs. Yeah!

Finally, if you look at the sample Georgia ballot, you’ll see fourteen positions where there is only one candidate! If None of the Above wins with 50.1% of the vote in those races, then that person does NOT win and is ineligible to run again during that election cycle.

I suspect that None of the Above will be the winner in many races, and our election system will be less corrupt! Imagine that.

As you may realize candidates usually register as representing one of those two parties, since gerrymandering or careful drawing of political districts every ten years almost always ensure a win for one of the two. So registering as an independent will get you on the ballot, but wastes time and money. Now I know that None of the Above will be gamed, but it’s progress towards ethical elections. But… don’t hold your breath.

The system works for the people in power, and they follow the “Golden Rule.” He who has the gold, rules.