Giving the Election a Makeover

While catching up on the news this morning, I came across an article in Slate on political markets. A futures market has sprung up around presidential elections.

This got me thinking – maybe the U.S. electoral process needs a makeover. We need to jazz it up a bit. Voting is boring. Who gets a thrill from standing in line and marking little circles with a pencil?

Perhaps a simple retooling of the election lingo will engage more of the population. As we approach the primaries, we join pools and rank our favorite picks. Like a NCAA tournament, we watch as our favorite candidates fall out of the pool one-by-one. We might even get to watch a fight or two.

Ok, so it’s time to mix metaphors. The tournament is essentially meaningless but is followed by draft picks (aka primaries). After the draft, we’re left with two teams that must duke it out to the finish. All the events leading up to the playoffs (election night) are rounds, and a winner is declared for each.

I can see the head banging and shirt-twirling now. Can you imagine a better system? — Brigitte Lyons

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