What about these election reforms?

1) Moving election day to a weekend instead of a Tuesday. Makes no difference to me.

2) Make the 48 states which are not currently using the Maine/Nebraska method of allocating E.C. votes adopt that method.

I'd prefer to just get rid of the E.C. altogether, but if that doesn't happen, then your suggestion is a good one.

3) Penalize non-voters.

Don't you dare. You mustn't "make me" vote. If I don't want to vote -- and I don't want to, not anymore -- then you'd better not "make me." Have you ever stopped to think of the unintended consequences of putting a ballot in the hands of someone who really, really does not want to vote?!?

Here's another "brainstorm" for you:

A constitutional amendment to provide system and structure to the schedule of presidential primaries and caucuses. Prohibit any state from holding a primary or caucus before April 1, then only small states (1 or 2 seats in the House) can hold them in April, then medium-size states can hold them in May, and finally large states can go last in June.

I like the weekend voting, although I can see the argument that some make that...if you're not willing to get to the polls...then you probably shouldn't vote.

I also like the electoral college idea. I would prefer a setup where...if a candidate wins a state by, let's say, a 60-40 percent margin...then the winning candidate gets sixty percent of the electoral votes, while the losing candidate gets forty percent. (You could either round off, or else carry the decimal place out to the nearest tenth...so a candidate might wind up with something like 12.6 electoral votes.)

Not sure about the last one. Personally, I think too many damn people get to vote as it is. I'd rather see a stipulation that, in order to vote, you must be either: a taxpayer (having paid income tax three out of the last four years), paying no tax because you're retired, or else be a veteran with either an honorable or a medical discharge.

Some interesting ideas...wish we could implement a few of them.

The time line doesn't sound bad, the problem is with all the TV coverage you can pretty well see at a glance who is pulling ahead in poles. So Joe Smock runs down a throws his vote for the front runner, only to say who he voted for won.

The others see it also and say, " Oh, my candidate doesn't seem to be doing that well, my vote doesn't matter much so I am not going to bother going to vote".

I feel that all TV Coverage should be blocked and not results posted at all till the voting offices are closed from West to East Coast. Then they can start posting results.

Although, I do not like the Electoral College process it set up that way because of our population. Some states have more electoral votes because they have a denser population.

Example, Can you see the Districts/population for New Mexico compared to say the number of Districts/population of New York. Doesn't appear to be fair, if you have more voters.

Voting or not voting is a citizen right of choice. I am sure there are many that wish they hadn't voted for Bush. It is our civic duty to vote maybe that is why we have the worst voting record in the free world.

All bad ideas. People who vote on day one will be influencing people who vote on day two.

Reforming the Electoral College would require a change to the Constitution. There is nothing wrong with the way the system is currently set up.

You cannot put restrictions on a voter's right to vote. Liberals won't even go for voter photo ID cards.

Your last idea is probably unconstitutional - otherwise all ideas are worth looking at. The largest problem with American voters is that they don't vote. Even the French got an over 90% turnout for their recent presidential election. Americans routinely abandon their duty as voters -which is why we have Mr. Bush, a flood of illegal immigrants, a war we can't end, and a trillion dollar deficit. We do a great job of whining and Monday morning quarterbacking though. Maybe we are just too comfortable and take our freedom for granted.

Some interesting ideas. Some problems I see are that the way the states set up their voting is up to them. There is a belief that the federal government has a say in this because all the states have over time set them up very similar to one another. There is not constitutional right to vote. Look it up it is not in there.

I personally do not want to force people to vote. If they do not want to vote they are probably ignorant of the issues and our government.

It would be better to make people informed about the candidate. If they can't say what they stand for they shouldn't be allowed to vote. The debates on TV should give all candidates equal time and all answer the same questions.

It would also be good if they could shut up Romney instead of letting him run off at the mouth to every question.