凍結 天然氣 火車

I don't know if the elections are rigged or not, but the special interest groups that put on the elections certainly seem to rig all the details about the elections to limit voter turn out to people that support their pork.

Let's assume that only 16 percent of the registered voters approved this $900 million Phoenix bond election. That means that only about 4 percent of the adult population approved the bonds, and only a measly 2 percent of the total population approved the bonds.

While our government masters love to tell us that the majority of the population approved of these bonds, that clearly is NOT the case and the bonds were approved by a tiny minority of the population.

One way to make these votes for tax increase fairer would be to require that any tax increase be approved by a vote of not 50 percent of the people who showed up and voted, but by 50 percent of the total population. That would almost certainly make all of these bond elections fail.

Of course an even fair way to fund these projects would to stop using government force to collect the money. If you think the project is a great idea, then you could voluntarily donate your money to fund the project.

Source

Posted on March 01, 2012

It's time to burst the special-interest election bubble

By Nick Dranias and Lucy Morrow Caldwell

The year 2014 will mark a new era at the ballot-box for Arizona voters, if a critical piece of legislation passes the Arizona Legislature this spring. HB 2826, which would take effect in 2014, would consolidate all election dates across the state to November of even-numbered years. Based on recent experience of the City of Scottsdale from consolidating local elections, which saved the city nearly $200,000 in 2010, we can expect that taxpayers throughout the state would save millions of dollars every election cycle if HB 2826 became law.

Ballot box

And that’s just the “seen” savings. Far greater as-of-yet “unseen” savings would likely come from increased voter participation. With more taxpayers participating in elections, taxpayers will have a better opportunity to reject bonds and other spending initiatives, which are typically sought by special interest groups who dominate the current off-cycle elections.

This will help prevent fiscal fiascos, such as occurred in March 2006 when fewer than 16 percent of Phoenix voters approved $900 million in new taxpayer spending during an off-cycle special bond election. Likewise, if HB 2826 becomes law, a mere 21 percent of Pima County voters will no longer be able to approve over $732 million in new bond-funded spending, as happened in May 2004.

Contrary to what opponents of HB 2826 say, consolidating elections will not just increase the voter’s voice, it will help burst the bubble of unsustainable special interest spending.