The time is now to start working on ways we can repair our democratic process. In many states we can propose legislation directly from the voters and I think we should begin the process of doing so. In those states that do not have propositions, we can start lobbying our state representatives.
There are many ways we can make our electoral systems more fair and less prone to corruption. Some I have seen around the Kos many have been inspired by things I have read here.
Non-partisan districting: There have been several calls for new non-partisan districting laws. The current trend towards gerrymandering safe seats for both parties has polarized our leaders and our citizens. In California almost all of the 53 congressional districts were safe or very safe. Many seats were won for Republicans by 2:1 margins in counties which a majority of voters went for Boxer. Some states have enacted non-partisan commissions to draw more "fair" districts, but the state legislatures will not retreat from drawing themselves and their allies in Congress safe seats. This must be done by proposition.
Splitting Electoral Votes: Currently two states split their electoral votes by congressional district. For about half an hour on Election night they were calling one of Maine's districts for Bush. The Red State/ Blue State map is sectionalizing our nation and encouraging Presidential Campaigns to ignore most of the Nation. This is obviously bad for the country. According to anecdotal evidence, people in swing states have grown tired of the excess attention and would most Likely be willing to defray the burden of being campaigned to. I propose that we start movements in all states to split the electoral vote (it is easier than a constitutional amendment). This would have to start in the biggest states. California should propose an proposition to split our electoral votes (by percent, by district if we fix gerrymandering, or by region) contingent upon the other states with more than say 20 EV (NY, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois) passing similar laws. I am not sure how this would have affected the last election as three are safe Dem, one is safe R, and three were very close. Likely the medium sized states would follow suit and it would make our President appeal to a national audience again.
Paper Trails: All precincts must use some form of voter verified physical ballot as the official ballot in the election. This ensures that recounts are possible and that the will of the voter has been recorded.
Signature/ Registration Gathering Restrictions: There were several scandals in this cycle about illegal signature gathering (and for that matter voter registration). I propose that we make it illegal for any organization to pay people per signature or per registration. I would prefer to see only volunteers out there, but that is perhaps too far. Paying per signature gives those gathering the signatures too much of an incentive to forge signatures or lie to the signatories. There were too many cases of signature fraud and registration fraud this time around to allow it to continue this way again.
Registration Confirmation Cards: Wouldn't it be nice to get a card at the beginning of the election season confirming that you are registered to vote. This card could be taken to the polling station in case of any challenge to your eligibility. I would not require you to take it to the booth but it would be one more way to reduce voter intimidation. Further it would reduce the number of people disenfranchised by "lost" registrations.
Increased Recount Margins: I propose that we increase the margin for a recount to be not less than the number of spoiled ballots in the election. Further that all spoiled ballots be hand recounted in the first round of voting. There is no rational reason to ignore the results of ballots that are not read by machine, when they can and should be set aside to be confirmed by a human being that the intent of the voter could not be verified. In many cases they would look and see that the voter clearly did not intend a vote and move on, but in most cases they could quickly rescue the ballots and add them to the initial tabulation of the vote.
Mandatory Spot Checks: Regardless of the margin in the preliminary totals, spot checks should be made to ensure that there are no systematic errors in the counting of ballots. Each precinct should count X% of ballots by hand and verify that the total is within Y% of the tally (X and Y to be determined by qualified statisticians). A recount should be required for any race in which the spot check does not confirm the tallied result.
Proportional Representation: Again for the larger states, it is possible to draw larger districts, and elect multiple representatives from each district, elected by some form of proportional representation. This reduces the power of Gerrymandering (see above) and increases the power of minority voices. With this I think we would see more minority both racially and ideologically being sent to Washington.
Even distribution of Polling Machines: The number of voting machines per voter must be roughly the same at each precinct. They may vary by only 5%, or some other small percentage which is attainable. Any irregularities which cause voters to wait for a significant length of time, or abandon the polling place in more than miniscule numbers is voter intimidation and will be prosecuted, further if it is mathematically possible for the vote to change the result of the election, the disenfracised voters must be allowed to vote after the fact. If that is not possible, the election is invalid and must be held again in that precinct, district, or state.
These are intended as a starting point for considering how to reform our election system, please comment on them, and propose your own.