The states run the elections process. Hearkens back to the Articles of Confederation days. The state legislatures were expected to select members for the federal Congress. After the Constitution was ratified, the states retained the duty/power to select representatives and senators, albeit by election, not appointment by the legislature.

Or so is my understanding of it.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

It always makes me laugh to hear the President speak of spreading "Democracy" in the world. He could start with America

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

(Oh oh! Girlfriend puts away breakables) Oh really? And the Kerry would have been a better choice to take on the radical Moslems?

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Huh? What does that have to do with my post? I don't get it

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Article I; Section 2

17th Amendment

This amendment changed Article I; Section 3:

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In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

Actually, the 17th Amendment - ratified in 1913 - modified the Constitution to require Senators be elected by popular vote. See my earlier post.

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In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

Thank you kindly. I'm going by my American History class here at university: we haven't gotten to the Civil War yet.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

Please remember that political commentary is against the rules here. Let's keep this topic focused on the mechanics of voting, not the politics. Consider this an official warning.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Went a 12:15 CST and had to wait about 1 minute.

Ok, but I still don't get it. We don't live in a Democracy, we live in a Constitutional Republic. I always laugh when I hear this. We should be spreading "Constitutional Republics". Can you please explain to me, either in public, or in private, what the hell I said? I PMed BigDon asking him to explain why he was angered, and he hasn't replied. I completely don't understand. This is bothering me, because I don't understand what I did wrong.

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Did you get my reply? For everybody else, I'm not really angry. I was just cutting up a bit.

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

I replied via PM. Remember that I am a simple plebian here and my opinions do not reflect that of this board or it's management. Offer void in AZ, NY, NJ and Puerto Rico. Projected performance based on past results.

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In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

Oh and it was Kerry I was calling what I editted out, not you! From his post Vietnam speechs that got our prisoners tortured more severely than they would have otherwise

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

To anyone potentially offended by my remark, I am sorry. I was commenting on the semantics of "Democracy", when we actually live in a Constitutional Republic. I find the choice of words funny. My remark was in no way a comment reflecting the choices of the President. My remark was to find humor in the semantic differences in the difference between the two words. In America, we commonly use the word Democracy, when in fact we do not live in one. I thought if funny to suggest that we should either change to a Democracy to reflect what we're encouraging abroad, or use the correct term to reflect our form of government.

I apologize if, by not being clearer, I have inadvertantly offended anyone, but I stronly deny that any political statement or indictment was intentional in my post. I wish that could have been cleared up with a PM, but that's niether here nor there, I guess. I am sorry I was not clearer in my original post, but criticizing the President or his policies was never my intention. It was only in hindsight, after someone pointed it out how it could be read otherwise, that I realized how it could even be taken differently than how I had meant it.

Again, if I have accidentally offended anyone, I am sorry. I will certainly try to be clearer in the future.

Thanks,
Serenitude (Josh)

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Serenitude, did you use the new electronic polling device? I did, and found it to be a colossal pain in the labanza. Would have been out of there twice as fast as with a paper ballot. Gee whiz factor or not.

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"The beauty of that discussion of averages is that you don't have to be an expert in Apollo or in photography in order to see where this time study "analysis" breaks down. You just have to be, well...not an idiot." -JayUtah

Even with all the... what are they? Refferenda? Initiatives? Er... even with all the proposed laws attached to the ballot?

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

Ballot initiatives and referenda are basically the same thing - laws drafted by private citizens (usually PACs) and decided by a simple majority of popular vote.

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In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

over here we have proportional or "first past the post" voting

In case you don't know, the way our system works is that you put the candidates for your electorate in order of preference from first to last, and if your first candidate has the least votes after the first round and no one has a majority they eliminate that candidate and go on to your second preference, and so on until on candidate (99% of the time the local Liberal or ALP candidate) ends up with 50.01% of the vote after preferences have been worked out and that person wins for your area

Sounds complicated eh?

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There is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it's all dark - Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon

I didn't - I used an absentee ballot. So I had no worries, it was painless

Although, I heard something on the news about them running out of ballots in Missouri, and having to use Xerox copies and possibly having to hand count them, because voter turn-out was more than twice what they expected

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher