To Secure the Blessings of Liberty: An Alternate Constitutional Convention

Which State's delegation should Paine be a part of?

  • New Jersey

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • New York

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Pennsylvania

    Votes: 10 76.9%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
Is there any chance of getting election day changed, maybe into spring/summer, or make it election week so weather delays can be worked in?

It would also be nice for the federal government to have more authority over federal elections.

It already has pretty broad powers over Congressional ones. The Constitution gives Congress the power to "at any time" alter State regulations iro the time place and manner of choosing Senators and Representatives. So, to use a topical example, it could certainly legislate against gerrymandering - if it wanted to.

Its powers over Presidential elections are more limited, but even there it can set the election date by legislation, and iirc did so in 1845. November was chosen because, in a nation still largely agricultural, that date meant that it would not interfere with the harvest.
 
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Love the start you've made here, hope you can get past the writer's block (totally know how that goes btw).

Suggestion on a compromise between having proportional representation and keeping all the states equal:

Have proportional number of representatives, but require the delegations from each state to vote as a block: IE each state ONLY has one vote, but can have a varying number of representatives based on population.

Not sure how plausible it would be at that time point, but it's not unheard of in present day. IIRC, Germany's upper house, the Bundesrat, today works a lot like this, granted I'm not sure they have proportional representation, but I do know they have multiple representatives that vote as a single unit.
 
Love the start you've made here, hope you can get past the writer's block (totally know how that goes btw).

Suggestion on a compromise between having proportional representation and keeping all the states equal:

Have proportional number of representatives, but require the delegations from each state to vote as a block: IE each state ONLY has one vote, but can have a varying number of representatives based on population.

Not sure how plausible it would be at that time point, but it's not unheard of in present day. IIRC, Germany's upper house, the Bundesrat, today works a lot like this, granted I'm not sure they have proportional representation, but I do know they have multiple representatives that vote as a single unit.

Actually thats how Congress worked under the Articles of Confederation. Off the top of my head, i can't recall if they explicitly opposed continuing to use it, or if it just wasn't considered while drafting the current constitution.
 
Actually thats how Congress worked under the Articles of Confederation. Off the top of my head, i can't recall if they explicitly opposed continuing to use it, or if it just wasn't considered while drafting the current constitution.

Oh wow. Didn’t know that! (My knowledge of the AoC is pretty limited). Hmm. It might be a more acceptable suggestion than I originally thought it would, unless as you said this was explicitly avoided at the convention.

It would be interesting long-term, that would likely affect how political parties develop and operate compared to OTL. If states aren't homogeneous in who they elect to Congress, it could lead to some delegations being in deadlock (or otherwise we see stronger bipartisanship and compromise).
 
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