This is a follow-up to the blog entry - System is a Work in Progress.
Idea - do away with election symbols/party names on the ballot paper. The ballot paper will only have the names of the candidates and their photos.
Advantages -
1. forcing the voter to do their homework and forcing the candidate to become popular
2. making it impossible for a politician to hide behind a party's name
3. making it impossible to buy votes - party's funds can be used to buy votes but the buying of votes will not be as easy because the party will have to really make the candidate's name popular while giving away the money. This can make the candidate look really ugly and can backfire.
4. encouraging local leadership
5. force the public to participate (since they will not be able to vote without getting to know the candidates)
This leads me to a question - what does the ballot paper in US and other countries look like ? Symbols ? No symbols ? Photos ? No Photos ? And what symbols do Independants have ? Symbols probably act against Independants ..?
A brief google search yielded these links making it clear to me that Ballot Paper design is a science in itself and that there is research taking place to improve it.
http://aceproject.org/electoral-advice/archive/questions/replies/705395426
http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/resources/general/responses/ballot_paper.html
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