Last Updated 12/19/2007 | 11:23:37 AM
National Election Reform Platform
 Help promote the
National Election Reform Platform (NERP).
• Uniform Ballot Access
• Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions
• Universal Voter Registration
• Election Day Holiday
• Equal Media Access/Debate Inclusion
• Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
• Secure Voting Machines
• Public Campaign Financing
• Direct Popular Vote Election of the President (replacing Electoral College).
• DC Congressional Representation
Voters may declare that “this will never happen”. That is exactly the conditioned response that we would expect from members of the two establishment political entities who will do all they can to protect their hold on power – especially if it means less citizen participation.
We offer NERP because…
50% of all elections have only one name on the ballot;
career politicians only answer to campaign contributors;
the established parties have proven unwilling to fix our electoral process in ways that make it fair for all to participate;
empowered citizens will work to solve the complex issues of war, health care, environment, education, immigration, trade, net neutrality, etc.
National Election Reform Platform offers a common voice to all candidates willing to pledge to enact these measures in their first six months in office. We need your help to:
Demand that ALL contenders for president pledge to adopt this platform if elected.
Recruit citizens to run on this platform for ALL 468 congressional elections in 2008.
NERP written by Joseph Oddo*, with assistance from Webster Brooks, Daniel Imperato, Dan Mangru, Pat LaMarche, Kevin Murphy, Tatyanna Pattan, Marv Pixton, Christine Smith, and Richard Winger. Main reference source: 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy by Steven Hill; with a foreword by Hendrik Hertzberg.
*Joseph Oddo is the National Director of Independent America a political committee dedicated to supporting candidates willing to run on the NERP. Oddo ran twice as an independent (on the ballot) for congress in Virginia.
Ten key points of the National Election Reform Platform (NERP).
1. Uniform Ballot Access for federal candidates. Rather than candidates for president having 51 different rules for making the ballot, make the criteria uniform throughout the land.
2. Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions. Force states to untie ballot access to past election results. Without fair ballot access in place, the thresholds to become a recognized third party are too difficult to achieve (by design of the Big Two). Currently only 37 states have at least one recognized third party and that changes based on election results.
3. Universal Voter Registration. Legislation has already been passed that will require government standardized identification cards which should be acceptable to election officials to allow anyone who shows up at the right precinct on Election Day to vote on-the-spot whether registered or not.
4. Extended Election Hours. Either hold elections on weekends or move it to a holiday like Columbus Day in October.
5. Media Access for third party contenders to include broadcast time on public airwaves and inclusion in debates.
6. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows voters to rank their choices. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote – over 50% - then the lowest number of first place votes is eliminated and the second place votes are counted. This continues until a candidate secures a majority.
7. Secure the Vote - Ensure the security of our voting instruments whether it is via a papertrail or some better method. Seven years since the Florida debacle should have provided secure voting machines. Electronic machines subject to manipulation are not the answer.
8. Public Campaign Financing - Instituting a fair and equitable method of public campaign financing reduces taxpayer burden. Here's how: It costs the country more now under the current system that forces candidates to raise exorbitant sums of money from corporate and private donors (read: elitists). The winner is then beholden to the group of financiers that paid for that victory which creates a corrupt system of paybacks (no-bid contracts) and legislation (energy bill subsidizing oil and gas; prescription drug bill favoring pharmaceutical companies) that raids our Treasury at an enormous cost to the taxpayer - the real owners of our country.
9. Direct Election of the President by popular vote. Get rid of the Electoral College.
10. Voting representation in congress for the citizens of the federal District of Columbia (which also gives them an Electoral College vote).
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