are the presidential elections too long

i think that the presidential elections are too long.They spend their whole time going to different states and getting the peoples approval.

err the country is big and they need to reach all of the electorate

There should be a couple months to gather supporters, one month is a single primary throughout the entire country to decide the candidates, and the next month is the final election.

At least I think that is how it should be this year... most years people don't care so much.

big country + lots of people = long election

Walker said:

big country + lots of people = long election

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Not necessarily:

Big Country + Lots of people + Internetz, Television, and other forms of modern communication = shorter election than we have now.

lylemaster said:

They spend their whole time going to different states and getting the peoples approval.

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how dare they

Oh, my god. I was just waiting for someone to post this thread. This is DEFINITELY an issue that needs resolving, because it is certainly one of the more important things our country has to deal with. People are too busy worrying about war, and abortion, and global warming, and gay marriage, and other pointless issues to think about what needs changing. You're right. The elections are far too long. I hope whoever gets into office in 09, the first thing they do is change it so that the elections are only HALF as long. The US would be a better place.

[size=-5]for those of you whose sarcasm sensors are off, this post is not meant to be taken seriously[/size]

Much shorter would be better, at least on the primary side. Think how much money is wasted drawing everything out... Besides, it gives some states more voting power in the primaries that others. A single primary day would be better. Heck, make it a national holiday or something so everyone can go vote.

I would say that there's still a good time period between the primaries and final election. Because if there isn't enough time the parties would split (of course the parties are another issue). Maybe bump up the national primary time a bit to Super Tuesday (which evolves into Hyper Tuesday) in February/March. Then the conventions can happen at a normal time and the general election in November.

lylemaster said:

i think that the presidential elections are too long.They spend their whole time going to different states and getting the peoples approval.

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...So are we supposed to let the legislators elect them? I thought the point of our elections was that the people would get the president they want.

Besides, the longer the election process, the more time the candidates have to get people on their side. ;D

to be fair our elections really are a stupid song and dance

but this in particular is not exactly the best criticism

I think that the election process is far, far too long. This time around, it started in mid-2007, more than a year before we'll actually elect anybody. The current election process guarantees that any candidates who want to stay in for the entirety have to have a) An unbelievable amount of money, b) a huge amount of determination to get elected, rather than to do their jobs, c) approval of the media and other influential people/things. That pretty much eliminates all but the top 1,500 people, and not all that many of those have any interest in running. So, because of the way our election process is set up, it becomes almost impossible for anybody to last through it, and the president virtually has to be in the upper class.

Yeah, I think a lot about this sort of thing.

Zeta Reticuli said:

People are too busy worrying about war, and abortion, and global warming, and gay marriage, and other pointless issues to think about what needs changing.

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You're right. It's hard to think well while worrying.