how about proxy votes for all voters? The simplest scheme would use a computer like in on-line banking... and your vote would be continuous, and not just on a particular day. Then when a party or candidate failed to maintain a majority, the office would change. This would focus the system less on "elections" and more on serving the public interest... also it would, as there would be no election day or voting booths... inspire more people to vote. I can tell you today, that i will vote against any republican person... i don't need to wait a year.

For that matter, why can't i vote "NOT-bush" to cancel out some brainwashed sod who can't read but likes flags. The NOT vote is a really useful innovation, as in truth, no american in the next election will honestly get my "for" vote. Minor children are not the issue, rather the 50% of the population who does not vote... that disenfranchised majority that has voted "NON" by omission for the entire system of fake-democracy veiling plutocracy.

[sweetheart] I wonder whether you'd get to a situation where people knew that it was their specific vote which got the government voted in/out - you'd have a yo yo government, and they'd never be able to do anything sensible but unpopular (like increase tax)

[dannythree] it will take a consitutional amendment only if you live in a country with a written constitution

Why should minors be offered the privilege of voting (considering the most block given the right, 18-21 year olds, barely does)? And how would allowing adults to cast votes on behalf of children do anything to "help" education and such? And by how much have we "under-invested" in education? The amount of money spent on it isn't the problem (it's a lot, factoring in the money gathered from the local, state, and federal levels), rather the way in which it's spent. The public school system is a mess -- introducing competition is the only way to save it. And why is the "NOT" vote a useful innovation, and why would you never vote for a "republican person," sweetheart?

Zag - I can't tell if your comment is a dig at "the system" or at the Courts. Since I don't know, I'll assume the latter.

Zag -- sorry. Forgot that many of the posters here are from the UK. My mistake.

Giving parents the ability to vote on behalf of their underraged children is essentially the same as giving an extra vote for the 20-50 crowd, which is unfair to seniors (many of whome are wise, responsible, and do, in fact, care about the ducation of their grandchildren) and to childless adults, whose votes should be just as important as the votes of parents. The real problem is not that parents do not have enough say in the govornment as seniors, but that they may not choose to excercize their voting rights. Giving parents the vote of their chiled would be be inconsequential if these people do not vote anyway. Also, many minors do not agree with their parents' political views, so this policy would be unfair to them as well.

Does it mean that you do not wish them to express what they want? May be that the issues you see as your problems, are THE solutions to their problems.

PS: What I mean is that under IRV your vote will be counted in determining the winner between the last two men standing.

Oops--I accidentally posted the comment above here, instead of in the IRV thread.