"The American public will in 2008 elect their President on TV!" Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle announced Tuesday morning in Washington DC. Daschle spoke of a Democrat bill, the LATE (Live Audience Television Election) Act, which will dramatically change American presidential elections, "pulling them into the 21st Century" by eliminating the electoral college and instead putting votes directly to the public, who can phone in to narrow the presidential race down from twelve candidates to just one.The new election process has been drafted entirely by the producers of the hit Fox television series American Idol, under the supervision of a bipartisan panel of Senators. Presidential candidates will compete for votes by displaying their talent before a panel of three judges, who give their opinions, and then leave it up to the voting public to choose.
No details are currently available regarding whether Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul will form the three person election panel.
Many Senate Republicans dismissed the idea as ludicrous. "America does not need a new electoral system," Senator Bill Frist told reporters. "Our system of elections has worked well for years, and will continue to do so well into the future."
Democrats counter that the current system is flawed, and believe that their proposal will prevent "a disaster like Florida from ever happening again."
The League of Women Voters is cautiously considering the proposed system. "We feel that this new system will help to enfranchise a whole new generation of Americans," league spokesperson Jillian Wills said. "We would like to see the issue of multiple votes fixed, but otherwise we think it can work." Wills was referring to the fact that viewers can call from multiple phones, thus voting mulltiple times, and rumors that you can even call multiple times from the same phone.
