Election Reform
US Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1:
“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing* Senators.”
The Constitutional balance of power on this matter has been destroyed by the 17th Amendment. The States no longer have a representative at the Federal level.**
The Constitution Party seeks the restoration of an electoral process that is controlled at the state and local level and is beyond manipulation by federal judges and bureaucrats. The federal government has unconstitutionally and unwisely preempted control in matters of district boundaries, electoral procedures, and campaign activities.
The Voting Rights Act should be repealed. The Federal Election Campaign Act, including its 1974 amendments, and the Federal Election Commission should be abolished.
Each citizen should have the right to seek public office in accordance with the qualifications set forth in federal and state constitutions.
Additional restrictions and obligations governing candidate eligibility and campaign procedures burden unconstitutionally the fairness and accountability of our political system.
To encourage free and fair elections, all candidates must be treated equally. We call for an end to designated "Major Party" status that gives an unfair advantage to some candidates by providing ballot access and taxpayer dollars, while requiring others for the same office to gather petition signatures or meet other more stringent criteria.
We call for a repeal of all federal campaign finance laws (i.e. McCain- Feingold) due to their violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In order to avoid election fraud, we insist electronic and mechanical voting processes provide a clear, auditable and verifiable paper trail. At a minimum, elections should be audited at random at the precinct level after the polls close.
There is a growing movement within the states and nation to undermine our right of a “Secret Ballot” by making people vote by absentee ballot. This move away from a “Secret Ballot” and “Vote-in-person” approach is an insecure system, not only because the Post office has been losing and misplacing mail for many years, but also because of increasing fraud and vote rigging, such as voter suppression, vote buying, and ballot box stuffing. Even though Vote- By-Mail seems to increase voting percentages in the short-term, it has proven to cause a long-term decline. Also verifying signatures “after the fact” greatly increases the cost of an election. Since true freedom requires being inconvenienced and putting forth extra effort from time- to-time, we oppose any movement to codify or use Vote-By-Mail and other such schemes which undermine the liberty-preserving privilege of voting in secret, in person, at precinct-based polling places.
* original spelling from Constitution
** See “Congressional Reform” plank.
