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Adjutant
 
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Post 27 Dec 2016, 1:05 am

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ppe/documents/ ... demore.pdf

I don't see why Congressman should not have websites where voters could register their vote on a particular issue (using a code sent out to a registered voter's home address)Then it at least he/she would have sense of how the constituents feel on a certain issue. Kind of think it would make people feel more connected to the political process, as well.
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Post 27 Dec 2016, 11:45 am

Good idea. I would welcome this. I'm sure the big brother conspiracists out there won't like it but so what.

Allowing citizens to connect with the political process would be a good thing as would lending some much needed science/credibility to the polling industries.

Of course if hacked it could become useless.
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Post 28 Dec 2016, 8:37 am

I would actually welcome such a website for Congressmen and Senators to use as a tool to gauge the feelings of those they represent. But this would be welcome as a tool only. No way would this or should the results be enforced.

I would expect these representatives may know more of the details than do their constituents, I would expect them to make deals with other representatives as well. And lastly, if any would want something like this to be enforced, gee, talk about disenfranchising the poor vote, how could you expect poor folks to vote on these issues? Things would be decided by a very small minority of people only! (and that actually may not be a bad thing as the ignorant would not bother ...but I digress)

But it's a fine TOOL, no doubt!
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Post 28 Dec 2016, 8:41 am

Yeah, it wouldn't be binding. But it might become difficult for a Congressman to ignore the wishes of a constituency when they clearly (say 70%) support one side of an issue.
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Post 28 Dec 2016, 9:08 am

The votes are available for general viewing. If a congressman (or congresswoman) were to disregard the will of their constituents, they would be removed. I offer the election of Tom Foley as evidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Foley

Term limits

During his time in the House, Foley repeatedly opposed efforts to impose term limits on Washington state's elected officials, winning the support of the state's voters to reject term limits in a 1991 referendum; however, in 1992, a term limit ballot initiative was approved by the state's voters.[3]

Foley brought suit, challenging the constitutionality of a state law setting eligibility requirements on federal offices. Foley won his suit, with federal courts declaring that states did not have the authority under the United States Constitution to limit the terms of federal officeholders.

However, in Foley's bid for a 16th term in the House, his Republican opponent, George Nethercutt, used the issue against him, properly citing the caption of the federal case brought by Foley, "Foley against the People of the State of Washington". Nethercutt vowed that if elected, he would not serve more than three terms in the House (but ultimately served for five terms). Foley lost in a narrow race. While Foley had usually relied on large margins in Spokane to carry him to victory, in 1994 he won Spokane by only 9,000 votes, while Nethercutt did well enough in the rest of the district to win overall by just under 4,000 votes.

Foley became the first sitting Speaker of the House to lose his bid for re-election since Galusha A. Grow in 1862. He is sometimes viewed as a political casualty of the term limits controversy of the early 1990s. President Bill Clinton attributed his defeat to his support for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.
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Post 28 Dec 2016, 1:00 pm

I pretty much agree with most said here, however, simply because an online "poll" of sorts shows "70%" support for an issue does not necessarily make it so. Only a very few would bother to vote on any issue let alone all of them. Only those who are close to an issue would vote, only those with the means and the time would vote, only those...and so on. It is a handy tool to have at ones disposal but often that "70%" support is far far less in reality not to mention the deals that need to be made. "I will vote for your project if you vote for mine" that goes on.