Restructure: IV.20 Election Reform

Recommended by a vote of 9 to 1 with 1 abstention

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Summary

The existing plank is too long and it is disorganized. Paragraphs on related topics have been added over the years in an order that does not reflect those relationships, with the result that it is difficult both to read it straight through and also to find our position on a specific topic. In addition, we have some important new points we want to address, and if we just inserted those into the plank as it is structured now that would make things worse. This proposal would replace the existing plank with three shorter ones: "Political Campaigns", "Candidates and Parties", and "Voting Systems". The first two consist entirely of sentences from the existing plank, but organized in a more logical way. The third has been rewritten to cover the remaining existing ideas in a more concise way while also addressing two significant new topics: alternatives approaches to electing people to office (e.g., ranked choice, proportional representation) and secure electronic ballots.

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20. Election Reform

We oppose the Top Two voting system in California which disenfranchises voters who support alternative parties, and call for its repeal.

The selection of a candidate by a political party is a matter in which the State has no legitimate interest.

We therefore oppose the system of tax-financed primary elections and call for the nomination of all candidates without governmental supervision or intervention, as a private matter involving only the members of the party concerned.

We also oppose laws which forbid partisan political designations in local elections and, at the state level, for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

We further oppose all proposals to regulate the broadcasting of election results, and all laws governing the broadcast coverage of campaigns, including the fairness doctrine, the equal time rule, and the reasonable access provision.

We oppose any limitation on the amount of money an individual, group, or corporation can spend supporting any candidate or ballot issue on the federal, state, or local level. We also oppose the public financing of election campaigns and the mandatory reporting of campaign donations and expenditures.

We support the right of any political party to nominate or endorse the candidates of its choosing for public office, even when those candidates are the nominees or endorsees of another political party or parties.

To avoid fraud and manipulation, we oppose direct record electronic voting systems that do not use a voter-verified paper ballot as the ballot of count, recount, audit and record. We support a voting system that is open, transparent and auditable with which each individual can verify at the time of voting that his or her vote has been correctly recorded and with which the public can verify that the votes have been correctly counted.

The ballot choice in California elections does not always offer a true difference of philosophy between candidates. The electorate often has no positive feelings toward any candidate, but, on the contrary, often has distinctly negative feelings toward all candidates. Therefore, the Libertarian Party of California endorses:

A. Placing on all election ballots, beneath each election office, the option "none of the above is acceptable."

B. The provision that any elective office remain vacant if the category "none of the above is acceptable" receives a plurality of votes, until a subsequent election to fill the office is held.

We call for the abolition of the State Constitutional Office of Lieutenant Governor, which has no real purpose.

X. Political Campaigns

We oppose any limitation on the amount of money an individual, group, or corporation can spend supporting any candidate or ballot issue on the federal, state, or local level. We also oppose the public financing of election campaigns and the mandatory reporting of campaign donations and expenditures.

We further oppose all proposals to regulate the broadcasting of election results, and all laws governing the broadcast coverage of campaigns, including the fairness doctrine, the equal time rule, and the reasonable access provision.

X. Candidates and Parties

The selection of a candidate by a political party is a matter in which the State has no legitimate interest. We therefore oppose the system of tax-financed primary elections and call for the nomination of all candidates without governmental supervision or intervention, as a private matter involving only the members of the party concerned.

We support the right of any political party to nominate or endorse the candidates of its choosing for public office, even when those candidates are the nominees or endorsees of another political party or parties. We also oppose laws which forbid partisan political designations in local elections and, at the state level, for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

We call for the abolition of the State Constitutional Office of Lieutenant Governor, which has no real purpose.

X. Voting Systems

Voting systems should be designed to represent as well as possible the actual preferences of the electorate and to provide confidence that votes are being accurately counted. Current systems are failing us in both respects.

Many alternative systems exist which could allow voters to better express their preferences, avoiding issues like "wasted votes", and even potentially lower the cost of holding elections. Ranked choice and approval voting are well known examples. We urge the legislature and local jurisdictions to give these systems serious consideration. The current Top Two primary system is inferior to any of these and disenfranchises voters who support alternative parties, so we call for its repeal.

Current approaches to promoting "diversity" in city councils and similar multi-member bodies often make things worse. Electing members by geographic district doesn't ensure diversity along any dimension, and may actually make it harder for some kinds of minorities to be elected. We urge consideration of proportional representation systems such as "single transferable vote", to give all segments of the population, whether considered in terms of race, economics, or ideology, more opportunity to be represented on such bodies.

Voters frequently have no positive feelings toward any candidate, but rather distinctly negative feelings toward all of them. Therefore we propose placing on all ballots, for each elective office, the option "none of the above is acceptable" which, if it receives a plurality of the votes, would result in the office remaining vacant until a subsequent election.

We support voting systems that are open, transparent, and auditable. To avoid fraud and manipulation, we oppose systems which do not allow voters to confirm that their votes have been recorded and for the public to be able to verify that the totals are correct. Modern cryptographic technology opens up the possibility of secure and auditable electronic voting, and we urge adoption of such systems as soon as possible. In the meantime, we oppose electronic voting systems that do not have these properties, unless they incorporate a voter-verified paper ballot as the ballot of count, recount, audit, and record. If no electronic system is available that meets these transparency and audit criteria, simple paper ballots with counting by hand open to observation would be the better choice.