How would you reform elections in the US?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

A few random (and not definitive) set of electoral reform ideas that I've seen floating around.

[YL]

Voting on a weekend -- lean yes, but probably not necessary if polls are open long enough
Election day as a federal holiday -- again, probably not necessary if polls are open long enough
Mandatory voter ID -- no
Same day registration -- yes
All postal voting -- lean no
Jungle primary -- no
IRV -- yes
PR -- yes for the House and for state legislatures
Mandatory voting -- lean no
Votes at 16 -- lean yes
Demeny voting -- no
Ban on gerrymandering --  yes, absolutely
More referenda and initiatives -- no
Larger Congress -- lean yes
Grant felons the vote -- definite yes once they've served their time, not that bothered either way when they're still in jail

[Mr. Reactionary]

I dislike most of these. Maybe make election day a holiday and voter ID at most. Eliminating no-excuse early voting would be a start.

[Orser67]

Vote by mail, a federal voter database, and some sort of small tax credit for voting.

Also, "ban" gerrymandering and grant felons the right to vote.

[brucejoel99]

Voting on a weekend -- no, not really necessary if no-excuse early & absentee voting exist in addition to polling places on Election Day

Election day as a federal holiday -- yes

Mandatory voter ID -- no

Same day registration -- yes

All postal voting -- yes, but optional (i.e. basically no-excuse absentee voting/the ability to request an absentee ballot to be mailed to you for every election, but with physical polling places still existing)

Jungle primary -- no

IRV -- yes for the House

PR -- yes for the Senate

Mandatory voting -- no

Votes at 16 -- yes

Demeny voting -- no

Ban on gerrymandering --  yes

More referenda and initiatives -- no

Larger Congress -- yes, but only for a PR-based Senate

Grant felons the vote -- only for ex-felons, & not automatically for those convicted of murder or sexual felonies

[DC Al Fine]

Dutch system for maximum chaos

[parochial boy]

Aside from all the obvious ones (PR, ban gerrymandering, same day registration) that would make voting easier and more representative - because I actually believe in democracy - I would also say make elections to the house of representatives less often than every two years; and introduce a straight out spending cap; to try and reduce the influence of the lobbying super-cycle

[Dr. MB]

Voting on a weekend -- Nah, see below
Election day as a federal holiday -- Yes
Mandatory voter ID -- No
Same day registration -- Yes
All postal voting -- Yes (I guess that kinda cancels out election day as a federal holiday)
Jungle primary -- No
IRV -- Yes
PR -- New Zealand system
Mandatory voting -- No
Votes at 16 -- Yes
Demeny voting -- No
Ban on gerrymandering -- Depends
More referenda and initiatives -- Also depends
Larger Congress -- For sure
Grant felons the vote -- Yep, in and out of prison

[America Needs R'hllor]

Voting on a weekend- Nope, not necessary
Election day as a federal holiday- definitely
Mandatory voter ID- no
Same day registration- Yes, for sure
All postal voting -- eh no
Jungle primary -- No
IRV- Yes
PR- Yep
Mandatory voting- No
Votes at 16- No
Demeny voting- God no, it'd empower the worst demographics
Ban on gerrymandering- Yes
More referenda and initiatives- nah
Larger Congress- lean no
Grant felons the vote- yes, always

But this doesn't go far enough. The U.S. needs automatic voter registration like any normal democracy. Here you just need to take your ID\whichever equivalent document and go to your polling place to vote. No need to be active. That, I believe, is the key to high turnout.

[Kingpoleon]

Federal Holiday
Mandatory Voter ID
Same Day Voter Registration
Proportional Representation
Voting Age: 16
Gerrymandering Ban
Vote to Felons
Other: Automatically Enroll and Send Out IDs for Voting on the Sixteenth Birthday of all U. S. Citizens

[Alabama_Indy10]

If Election Day was a federal holiday, wouldn't it cause public transportation to be shut down? Meaning some people probably couldn't make it to the polls.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

People take off work to work the polls anyways, it should be considered a Federal School Holiday like MLK, Good Friday. Not a National Holiday like Christmas.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

larger Congress, with some multimember districts in metros.

Of these, only postal voting, IRV, and proportional representation. Maybe a larger Congress, too.

I've come around to thinking that encouraging turnout from low-propensity voters is mostly bad, so that rules out many of these.

There are other, more dramatic reforms that I prefer, like greatly strengthening political parties, abolishing presidential primaries, public funding for state and federal elections, and neutering the Senate. But piecemeal approaches deserve skepticism, because there’s simply not much to be done as long as we are burdened with our clunker of a constitution.

what do you like about strengthened political parties?

[ABTars2000]

Weekend Voting: Yes
Election Day Holiday: Yes
Mandatory Voter ID: No
Same Day Voter Registration: Yes
All Postal Voting: Yes
Jungle Primary: No
Ranked Voting: Yes
Proportional Representation: Yes
Mandatory Voting:
Vote at 16: Yes
Ban Gerrymandering: Yes
Demeny Voting: No
Increase use of referenda and initiatives: Yes, direct democracy is good
Larger Congress: I do think we should have a larger Congress
Grant felons the vote: I think felons should be able to vote, even while serving their sentence.

[DavidB.]

PR
Increase use of referendums + ballot initiatives
Other: switch to a parliamentary system

Don't support any of the other ones (though tbf I'd support quite a few of them if they wouldn't have adverse partisan consequences while leaving most of the structure intact).

[jaichind]

I am pretty much against all these ideas

[Calthrina950]

I would support weekend voting, making Election Day a federal holiday, requiring a mandatory Voter ID, same day voter registration, banning gerrymandering, and allowing felons (under conditions similar to those of Florida's Amendment 4) to vote. I do not support any of the other ideas.

[thumb21]

Voting on Weekends
Voter ID
Same day voter registration
Ranked choice voting
Proportional representation
Ban on gerrymandering
Increased use of referendums and ballot initiatives
Larger congress

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Voting on a weekend — No (see below)
Election day as a federal holiday — Yes
Mandatory voter ID — Soft no (I could be convinced if it were paired with an initiative to ensure every eligible voter receives a valid ID, free of charge)
Same day registration — No
All postal voting — No (don't feel particularly passionate about this)
Jungle primary — No (these are terrible)
IRV — Yes
PR — Yes
Mandatory voting — No
Votes at 16 — Yes ("taxation without representation is tyranny")
Demeny voting — No (what on earth . . .)
Ban on gerrymandering — Yes
More referenda and initiatives — No (representative democracy is infinitely preferable to direct democracy in the modern era)
Larger Congress — Yes (435 is such a bizarre number to stop at anyways)
Grant felons the vote -- Yes ("taxation without representation is tyranny")

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Weekend Voting: Undecided
Election Day Holiday: Yes
Mandatory Voter ID: No
Same Day Voter Registration: Yes
All Postal Voting: I don't know what it means
Jungle Primary: Not opposed to it, undecided, depends on state.
Ranked Voting: Yes
Proportional Representation: Yes
Mandatory Voting: No
Vote at 16: No
Ban Gerrymandering: Yes
Demeny Voting: No
Increase use of referenda and initiatives: Yes
Larger Congress: No
Grant felons the vote: Yes

[Mr. Smith]

Voting on a weekend -- no, not really necessary if no-excuse early & absentee voting exist in addition to polling places on Election Day

Election day as a federal holiday -- Yes

Mandatory voter ID -- Lean yes, but with the caveat of flexibility of what counts as valid ID and making State IDs really easy to get [aka not through the DMV]

Same day registration -- No, especially not in light of below, don't want a greater headache with counting than there already is with post-marked but uncounted votes.

All postal voting -- Yes, but optional (i.e. basically no-excuse absentee voting/the ability to request an absentee ballot to be mailed to you for every election, but with physical polling places still existing)

Jungle primary -- Mixed, the California system is good, Louisiana's sux. Lean yes to avoid polarization in House districts.

IRV -- Yes

PR -- Yes for the Senate

Mandatory voting -- Yes

Votes at 16 -- Yes, if you can drive a car and pay income taxes, you check a box

Demeny voting -- No

Ban on gerrymandering --  Yes

More referenda and initiatives -- Yes, but make these a bit more year 'round so that there's less confusion.

Larger Congress -- Yes, but only for a PR-based Senate

Grant felons the vote -- Only for ex-felons, & not automatically for those convicted of murder or sexual felonies