Here are ten key points of our National Election Reform Platform. 1. Uniform Ballot Access for federal candidates. Rather than candidates for president having 51 different rules for making the ballot, make the criteria uniform throughout the land. Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions. Force states to untie ballot access to past election results. Without fair ballot access in place, the thresholds to become a recognized third party are too difficult to achieve (by design of the Big Two). Currently only 37 states have at least one recognized third party and that changes based on election results.   2. Proportional Representation. According to Steven Hill, “No rule or law says we cannot combine our single-seat districts with proportional representation. Proportional voting methods offer a fairer and more flexible method for achieving representation in diverse cities”, and would “lesson the degree of polarization.”   3. Universal Voter Registration. Legislation has already been passed that will require government standardized identification cards which should be acceptable to election  officials to allow anyone who shows up at the right precinct on Election Day to vote on-the-spot whether registered or not.   4. Extended Election Hours. Either hold elections on weekends or move it to a holiday like Columbus Day in October.   5. Media Access for third party contenders to include broadcast time on public airwaves and inclusion in debates.    6. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allows voters to rank their choices. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote – over 50% - then the lowest number of first place votes is eliminated and the second place votes are counted. This continues until a candidate secures a majority. 7. Secure the Vote - Ensure the security of our voting instruments whether it is via a papertrail or some better method. Six years since the Florida debacle should have provided secure voting machines. Electronic machines subject to manipulation are not the answer.   8. Public Campaign Financing - Instituting a fair and equitable method of public campaign financing reduces taxpayer burden. Here's how: It costs the country more now under the current system that forces candidates to raise exorbitant sums of money from corporate and private donors (read: elitists). The winner is then beholden to the group of financiers that paid for that victory which creates a corrupt system of paybacks (no-bid contracts) and legislation (energy bill subsidizing oil and gas; prescription drug bill favoring pharmaceutical companies) that raids our Treasury at an enormous cost to the taxpayer - the real owners of our country.   9. Direct Election of the President by popular vote. Get rid of the Electoral College.      10. Voting representation in congress for the citizens of the federal District of Columbia (which also gives them an Electoral College vote). *** Send your Feedback! *** Independent Election Reform Platform written by Joseph Oddo. Many thanks to Pat LaMarche, Christine Smith, Marv Pixton, Kevin Murphy, Tatyanna Pattan, Webster Brooks and Richard Winger for contributing their ideas. ### Forward this to the contenders for president asking them to pledge to adopt this platform if elected.