Free and Fair Elections Amendment

MINNESOTA CAUCUS RESULTS: CLICK HERE

UPDATE!

We have now lost count, but have indications that at least several hundred people will be submitting the amendment to Minnesota's precinct caucuses!

The Free and Fair Elections Amendment is a critical part of the solution to America’s election problems. Citizens in the following states are asked to submit the amendment as a caucus resolution: Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Washington. See the info sheet link and completed resolution forms at the bottom of this page.

Links from Readers
If you have a link that others might find useful, please send it to me at tony@signorelli.biz.

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=250
"This American Life" (NPR radio show)
Episode 250: "The Annoying Gap Between Theory … and Practice" first broadcast 7-Nov-2003. To play the episode, click the "Full Episode" loudspeaker link on the left. The relevant segment starts at 5:45 and ends ~22:00. This might serve as a good intro for a general audience.

What Is It?

The Free and Fair Elections Amendment is pretty simple. Here's the full text:

A proper election, well regulated and regarded, being necessary to the security of a free State, the stability of the Union, and the establishment of a free Citizenry, the right of the people to an audited, voter-verified, certified, paper record of the vote, shall not be infringed.

Congress and the several States shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Understanding It

Why We Need the Amendment

1. The public consensus on election results—that who won actually won—is eroding across the political spectrum. When that happens, the voice of the people is not being heard.
2. “We the people…” have never made a clear statement about what we mean by a “good election.” The criteria are undefined.
3. Attempts to address the problems legislatively get swamped in a series of cross currents between these principled definitions of good elections—which are never defined—and special interests who have the time and luxury to understand and influence large pieces of legislation.
4. Trust in good elections is the foundation of democracy and self-government. Because it is so essential, it belongs in the Constitution.
5. Culture and technology have created unforeseen issues that are eroding the public consensus on election outcomes.

It is the people who need to have this debate.

The Amendment: Part 1

A proper election, well regulated and regarded, being necessary to the security of a free State, the stability of the Union, and the establishment of a free Citizenry, the right of the people to an audited, voter-verified, certified, paper record of the vote, shall not be infringed.

Self-government depends on the ability of the people to be heard on election day. This clause points out that security, stability, and liberty all stand on the cornerstone of free and fair elections—just as America likes to tell every other country in the world.

Good elections must be well regarded by the people—at the end, a public consensus should form that the winner was indeed the winner, whether one likes it or not. The keys to such an outcome are elections that provide “an audited, voter-verified, certified, paper record of the vote. If you run a state election system that does not meet these standards, it would be unconstitutional.

The Amendment: Part 2

To provide proper access to the polls, all voters shall be citizens of the United States and all citizens shall enjoy the right to speedy exercise of their right to vote.

The sense of the American people has always been that voting rights accrue to citizens. Indeed, the Constitution protects the rights of citizens to vote in the 15th, 19th, and 26th amendments. Each one begins with the words, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged…” on the basis of race, gender, and age, respectively. This provision merely picks up that tradition and extends it forward.

The “speedy exercise of their right to vote” makes long voting lines an unconstitutional infringement of the people’s right. By stating it as a right, the people now have the basis for redress in court—something they do not have today. Being forced to wait for hours, sometimes outside and in the rain to vote, due to administrative procedures that do not provide enough capacity to process voters, is an infringement of our rights.

The Amendment: Part 3

To provide transparency and defend against fraud, error or mistake, all election functions shall be public and observable by the people. No person shall be denied the right to visually observe the vote count or to inspect the public registration records. All votes shall be cast in privacy on anonymous paper ballots.

Because the actual vote cast by each individual is private and secret, every other aspect of the election process must be transparent to the entire citizenry—or else it opens the door to suspected or actual fraud, error, or mistake.

Visual observation pulls the count out of the black boxes of back rooms and electronic voting machines, and enables the public to observe. Elections are public events, and the public must be allowed into the process. The states can figure out how to meet these criteria.

Inspection of registration records enables us all to affirm the eligibility of voters, both before and after, and election. This provision should allow us to catch any actually fraudulent voters, or to determine that, in fact, there weren’t any.

Paper ballots allow for recount, checking mistakes, and prevention of the disappearance of votes, such as Florida’s 13th CD. Paper ballots are the best method we have today. Perhaps better options will arise in the future, but if they do, we can always amend again. In the meantime, this is our criteria.

The Amendment: Part 4

To provide an accurate and auditable count, ballot counting machines shall maintain the integrity of paper ballots after the count and allow for calibration and audits by citizen election judges. All data, totals, software, ballots, and other records of the vote, regardless of how gathered, counted, or created, shall be the property of the People.

Equipment used must be understood by average citizens who administer elections. Any system requiring specialized technical knowledge to understand prevents the people from regulating their own election. To keep the process in the hands of the citizens and away from the technicians, average citizens must be able to audit and calibrate any equipment being used.

Likewise, elections returns and all associated data must be declared the property of the people. In recent years, voting machine companies have made claims that not only the software, but also the results and tallies within the machines, are their property. No matter what side they are on, such a claim is preposterous. This provision makes it absolutely clear that everything used in the election process is the property of the people.

The Amendment: Part 5

Congress and the several States shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This provision simply mirrors the traditional statement ensuring that Congress and the states can pass legislation to enforce the provisions of the amendment. Most amendments since the Civil War carry similar language, if legislation is also needed.

Your Support
Please support the amendment by bringing it before your precinct caucus. By doing so, you can help America initiate this badly needed debate. We the people can strengthen our own democracy.

More Information at: www.freeandfairelections.org.

We need your help. The Free and Fair Elections Amendment is an ad hoc citizen iinitiative. Send us the PDF forms for resolutions from your party and state, and we will fill out the form and make it available here for others to download. We need to pass this in as many caucuses and precincts as possible! Send them to: caucus(at)freeandfairelections.org.

Please see the links below for more information and other ways you can help this project.

Citizen Advocates
Volunteer
Write for us
Newsletter Sign Up and Submission

Great Books
Here are a few of the best sources we have found on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

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NOTE: The documents for the caucus push should appear below.

Minnesota caucus finder: http://caucusfinder.sos.state.mn.us/
We will post info from other states as we receive it.
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