The United States Needs Deeper Election Reforms

Streamlined processes must tally all the votes in a timely manner, as well. If Florida can count all its votes in one day, across two time zones, then California and Arizona have no excuse for dragging out their voting process. India, one of the poorest countries in the world, is also the largest participatory democracy. Yet, it can tally all the votes for its national elections on the same day, and everyone has a Voter ID.

But other election integrity issues must come to the forefront.

Let’s talk about Congressional apportionment. This constitutionally mandated process has been rigged for the last thirty years because the decennial census counts illegal aliens. States like New York and California (and Rhode Island) should have lost more House seats in the latest apportionment, but for the inclusion of foreign nationals in their populations.

President Trump must force through a new apportionment schema for the United States Congressional districts. It is unconscionable to allow the slow theft of our election system due to the systematic gaming of the numbers with illegal aliens in large, urban areas. I think that the President and the Commerce Secretary can force a do-over without Congressional approval. There will be court challenges, but they are worth the effort.

Next, it’s time to address the Gerrymandering problem head-on. States like Colorado, California, and New York supposedly rely on an independent commission to establish district maps. Anyone with two eyes can see that these independent commissions are anything but, and the results have generated another mess of gerrymandered districts. Democrats have deviously found ways to push their teams into the majority of seats on these commissions, all under different party labels, to enact pro-Democratic gerrymandering all the same. Just look at the current district for Congressman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield), and you can see how the committee looked to push as much red into one district while spreading the blue.

The anti-constitutional Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims must be overturned

States should have the freedom to draw the districts as they please, but the abuses of the Voting Rights Act must be removed, which has imposed racialized districts to ensure that minority groups have an ideal representative. I thought we were passed this! I would not object to federal policy calling for Congressional districts to respect geographical and municipal boundaries, but forcing districts to be race-specific must end. Alabama and Louisiana should redraw their districts with a strictly race-neutral tone, just as Florida Governor DeSantis did when he eliminated the Jacksonville Gerrymander, all while increasing the number of Republican seats to 20 versus 8 for the Democrats. To their credit, Republicans in Texas and Ohio are redistricting again, and they will likely increase the number of Republican-leaning seats by 7 to 9 seats, further bolstering the slim GOP majority in the House.

Democratic states have gerrymandered their Congressional seats for decades. Republicans are finally fighting back, levelling the playing field. Their efforts to streamline the districts, if successful--while making more Republican seats—would phase out gerrymanders!

And the Democrats can’t fight back. California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to force a redistricting plan of his own. However, the voters already established an independent commission for redistricting, so Newsom has no power to break the rules. Besides, the Democrats already stacked these commissions to get the results they already have.

There is a larger election reform needed, more academic perhaps, but also more serious. The anti-constitutional Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. Sims must be overturned. For the uninitiated, this Warren Court ruling ordered all state legislative seats to respect the “one person, one vote” principle: democracy at its purest. There’s just one problem: The United States Constitution guarantees a republican form of government for every state. That is not “democracy,” and that is not “one person, one vote.” The United States Congress, as first enacted, illustrated the republican principle in a number of ways. For the US Senate, each state receives two senators, regardless of size or population.

We can make our elections great again, but Trump (and the several states) must not delay

Secondly, from Ratification of the Constitution until 1913, U.S. senators were elected by vote of the legislatures, not the people. The Framers never wanted democracy, but countermajoritarian features to quell the fires of factionalism. State legislatures must reincorporate similar republican checks and balances.

State houses (or assemblies) should be elected by the people, no change. The state senates should base representation per county. California should have 58 state senators, for example, representing disparate population and business entities ultimately, instead of lining up another chamber based on population.

Not only that, but some states added requirements for statewide offices. In Georgia, statewide candidates how to win a majority of counties to win a primary. In Mississippi, a governor had to win a majority of the state’s House districts, similar to the Electoral College system for President.

As long as population alone determines representation in state governments, heavily populated blue sections will overpower and crowd out the interests of everyone else. This cannot stand.

To force a review of Reynolds v Sims, legislatures must disregard the ruling and establish representative state senate districts based on counties, demanding enforcement of Article Four, Section Four of the United States Constitution.

We can achieve true election integrity and representation. These reforms can restore our constitutional republic. Lawsuits from liberal interests may stall these reforms, and force their fate before the Supreme Court, but the Court has already overturned prior progressive (read, anti-constitutional) rulings like Sims. We can make our elections great again, but Trump (and the several states) must not delay!