Last week, I appeared on WBUR’s Radio Boston with host Cristela Guerra. The following post expands on the topic we discussed our conversation. You can find a recording of the WBUR segment here.
Elections are unaccountable by design. Individual votes are so diluted that it's irrational for voters to spend substantial time and energy on researching the candidates and issues. This ends up favoring media institutions, voting blocs, and organized special interest groups, who wield disproportionate power over election outcomes.
What if every election came with an "elect by jury" ballot option? If EBJ wins the plurality in a particular election, a winner is chosen from among the candidate by some type of elector jury. This could be an ordinary grand jury or a special elector assembly.
Elections are unaccountable by design. Individual votes are so diluted that it's irrational for voters to spend substantial time and energy on researching the candidates and issues. This ends up favoring media institutions, voting blocs, and organized special interest groups, who wield disproportionate power over election outcomes.
What if every election came with an "elect by jury" ballot option? If EBJ wins the plurality in a particular election, a winner is chosen from among the candidate by some type of elector jury. This could be an ordinary grand jury or a special elector assembly.
There is some precedent for this. Some counties in Georgia use grand juries to elect certain officials: https://www.electionbyjury.org/learn-more/ebj-in-practice