Not that I think it goes quite far enough.

Maybe a congressional race was so nasty that a large number of voters simply didn't want to check the box next to either candidate.

That's what state Sen. Mike Bennett said he believes happened in the now-infamous District 13 congressional race.

Hoping to prevent a repeat, he persuaded the Senate Ethics and Elections committee to approve a bill, SB-494, on Monday that would require ballots to have the additional option of "I choose not to vote."

That option could not win a race, and the actual candidate with the highest number of votes would win the election.

Bennett, R-Bradenton, said the no-choice option would enable uninformed or disgusted voters to opt out in a way that clearly displays their intention to abstain for elections officials.

I’ve got a better idea – one freely stolen from L. Neil Smith’s classic libertarian science fiction novel, The Probability Broach.

Give us the option of “None Of The Above Is Acceptable”. And let that choice be a possible winner. Then either leave the office vacant for the course of the term, or mandate a special election which excludes any of the defeated candidates.

That might raise the caliber of elected official in this country.

Posted by: Greg at 10:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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