This year, for the first time, expatriate Democrats can cast their ballots on the Internet in a presidential primary for people living outside the United States. Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing overseas voters, will hold its first global presidential preference primary from Feb. 5 to 12, with ex-pats selecting the candidate of their choice by Internet as well as fax, mail and in-person at polling places in more than 100 countries. Democrats Abroad is particularly proud of the online voting option - which provides a new alternative to the usual process of voting from overseas, a system made difficult by complicated voter registration paperwork, early deadlines and unreliable foreign mail service. "The online system is incredibly secure: That was one of our biggest goals," said Lindsey Reynolds, executive director of Democrats Abroad. "And it does allow access to folks who ordinarily wouldn't get to participate."
U.S. citizens wanting to vote online must join Democrats Abroad before Feb. 1 and indicate their preference to vote by Internet instead of in the local primaries wherever they last lived in the United States. They must promise not to vote twice for president, but can still participate in non-presidential local elections. Members get a personal identification number from Everyone Counts Inc., the San Diego-based company running the online election. They can then use the number to log in and cast their ballots. Their votes will be represented at the August Democratic National Convention by 22 delegates, who according to party rules get half a vote each for a total of 11. That's more than U.S. territories get, but fewer than the least populous states, Wyoming and Alaska, which get 18 delegate votes each. Everyone Counts has been building elections software for a decade, running the British Labor Party's online voting since 2000 and other British elections since 2003, chief executive officer Lori Steele said.
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It's only for Democratic primaries. There's actually nothing in the Constitution about how to arrive at the candidate field in November, only the day and qualifications.
This is probably a test for wider use later on. It is still a bad idea. though.
This is probably a test for wider use later on. It is still a bad idea. though.
What I meant that with the way the process works corruption at the party level, while still a Very Bad Thing, doesn't derail the election system. The rest of this is why, so you can stop here if you don't care.
Each state gets a number of electors equal to the amount of senators and representatives they have. For example, South Carolina, (where I live,) has 8 because we have 6 representatives, and every state gets 2 senators. They are free to vote for whomever they choose even if it isn't how the populace voted. (They should use the popular results as a guide.
Also, the Constitution says, "...no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector." [Article II, Section 1]
If you disqualify anyone in any real position of power from becoming an elector, more than likely even if Democratic monkey business sticks a bozo up as their candidate, (no comment,) the electors will see it as a Bad Thing and choose someone else. That's why I think the electoral college should not be done away with.
Whew!
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=614993
DEBACLE!
If you want someone to get fired, you'll have to wait until the next Administration comes to power. In the current Administration, if you're guilty of a massive screw-up, you get a medal and a promotion.
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