Political Reform to secure democracy/ end corruption:

Political Reform to secure democracy/ end corruption:

• Voting will include one month of early voting. 
• National holiday for voting or the option of taking paid leave any day in the month prior to voting day.
• Lower the voting age to 15 or 16. Whenever someone is legally able to work and pay taxes they should be allowed to vote.
• Paper ballots for every state. 
  • Hand counted three times before anything is announced. 
  • Vote count happens the next day on every day of early voting 
  • every hour on election day. 
  • If any voting lines exceed an hour's wait, voting will be extended 3 days for that location. 
• Voting is mandatory for all U.S. citizens.
  • The way to make it mandatory is to give everyone a tax rebate every year for voting in all elections, both local and national.  
• Announcement of election results will not be not made until all votes are counted.
• Electoral college is done away with. 
• All delegates are eliminated in primaries. 
• All votes counted by popular vote. 
• Rank choice voting for all elections. 
• Every age-eligible citizen is able to vote. 
  • This includes: ex-cons, prisoners (you do not lose your rights as a citizen because you are incarcerated), the homeless (this issue will be addressed later on in manifesto but for now assume it is someone without a permanent residence either due to work, education or domestic issues), hospital patients, disabled or elderly that cannot go to polling stations, ballots will be delivered to them for mail-in ballots and current resident aliens (if you work and live here, you should have a say in how you are governed).

• Term limits on every branch of government. 
  • House members have a 6-term limit. 
  • Senators have a 2-term limit. 
  • The President has a 2-term limit or a 10-year maximum in the event of Vice Presidential ascension. 
• 10 years for federally-appointed judges including the Supreme Court. 
• All appointees must be approved like all appointees in the cabinet or other positions on a national vote. 
  • This includes Vice Presidents. The President can nominate them, and Congress can move forward with vetting to ensure that they are qualified. Then, a special election is put to the people about if they are accepted or not. If they do not clear a 50% popular vote by the voters, their name is withdrawn and a new candidate is made to go through the same process. Same for all leadership positions in the senate & the House. 
• House Speaker, President Pro Tempore(qualifications for position undone due to term limits & age cutoff law but position retained for order of succession)Senate Leader will be decided by a national vote not based on party majority. 
• All elected or appointed officials will be voted out in a recall election if they have less than 50% support from voters. 
• Evaluation will be done after every three months to ensure that politicians keep their word on issues that they campaigned on.
• Age limits on all elected officials now includes a maximum age of 60 years old to serve. If elected close to that age (58 or 59, for example) they will be allowed to fill out that one term. 
• All physical/mental evaluations must be disclosed and witnessed by three separate non-partisan bodies before candidacy is accepted on the ballots. No one with dementia or other cognitive decline will be allowed to serve.
• Evaluation votes will be done by mail-in ballots, in-person at polling stations or by non-partisan  government  survey sites online. If discrepancies occur on online voting, in-person voting will be required for the survey. 
• Vote will be called by 5 different agencies including community controlled ones to ensure accuracy. It includes all state elections. Mayors, governors, etc. 

• All government officials in the 3 branches of government will be:
  • paid minimum wage (see raises, income wages) 
  • forced to sell and divest from all stocks, holdings and property. All immediate family members must also divest, including siblings, spouses, parents, children and grandparents/ grandchildren. 
  • unable to own any stocks during their time in office and for 10 years after they leave office. 
  • All of their tax returns for their entire lives must be disclosed 2 weeks after announcing candidacy, including their family members'.
  • Failure to do so would disqualify names on the ballot. 
  • If in office, they will be prosecuted by an independent citizen council. If found guilty of profiting off their office, they will be sentenced to life in prison. 
  • All of their taxes and investments (including their family's) will be audited for 20 years after they leave to ensure no corruption took place. 
  • Elected officials are not salaried, but get paid by the hour. If there is a recess, they don’t automatically get paid for that time, but they can use sick time or vacation. They will work for pay, like anyone and don't get paid for doing nothing. 

• End campaign donations. 
• Public financing for all elections. 
• Any donation given will result in life in prison for the politician and donor giving the bribe. 
• End all lobbyists. 
• Elected representatives caught taking any cash or gifts will be removed from office, tried, and if convicted, go to prison for a minimum of 20 years. 
• All bank accounts of politicians  and their families will be reviewed on a monthly basis by an independent citizen council.
• End pardons for anyone politically or financially-related to any politician giving pardons. Governor or President caught violating this will be removed from office immediately and tried for it in court. 
• Pardons given illegally will be rescinded. 
• All financial records will be monitored from any public official example: D.A. judges, commissioners, etc. This will insure no bribery, corruption or political favors. If caught they will be removed from office, tried and jailed minimum 20 years.

• The Senate will have proportional representation. 
• A state with 500,000 residents will not get the same amount of Senators as a state with 6 million. 
• All U.S. territories, (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as Washington D.C.) get statehood if voted for by their population otherwise independence if the voters choose it.