A great Virginian once wrote that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. With the June 14th primaries just days away, we ought to consider new ideas to bring Virginia’s election system into the 21st Century, so we can be absolutely confident that every vote is counted as cast, and so victory at the ballot box hinges on the consent of the people and not the political elite.
First and foremost, we must demand paper receipts from electronic voting machines. Without a paper trail, hand recounts are impossible, and our faith in the outcome of any election can only be as great as our faith in the computers receiving and tallying our votes. Has your computer ever crashed? If paper receipts are important enough for ATM machines, they are important enough for voting machines, and the General Assembly should require them and fund their implementation.
Second, we must make it easier for more people to vote by allowing no-fault absentee voting and early voting. Del. Adam Ebbin offered two excellent bills on this during this past session of the General Assembly, but political insiders — people elected to office under the current system — voted down his bills, saying that, “Our system works.”
Third, we should make election day a public holiday. Some veterans groups oppose this measure, afraid that it will encroach on Veterans Day each November. As a veteran myself, I can think of no better way to honor those who have served than through a state or national holiday where people parade to the polls to practice democracy.
Fourth, local governments should bar political signs from public rights of way. Right now, political signs are ruining some of the most beautiful nieghborhoods in our community. No candidate — including me — wants to be the only one to cede the visibility these signs create. But an official ban on such signs would keep them where they really belong — in the yards of supporters. Aside from preserving the beauty of our community, this would help reduce the cost of campaigning, perhaps making it possible for a broader range of citizens to run for public office.
We need these reforms to our election system to make sure democracy works and to put political power where it belongs — in the hands of the people.
