"Fixing the System"

Given that Election Day is tomorrow and we have been discussing voting/elections in class, I found this Op-Ed pretty interesting. In the piece, journalist Joe Nocera gives ideas for how to increase voter turnout in the United States and decrease the prevalence of highly polarized candidates. 

His ideas: 

• Move elections to the weekend
• Nocera argues that weekend polling would make it easier for many to vote, especially blue-collar workers. 

• Term limits for the Supreme Court
• This idea is taken from Norman Ornstein at the American Enterprise Institute who thinks justices should be given one 18-year term to allow older people to receive nominations and decrease the partisan politics of judicial nominations. 

• Open primaries
• Nocera references the open primary system in California as proof that open primaries with the top two primary vote-getters running against each other in the general election makes politics less partisan. 

• End gerrymandering
• Gerrymandering allows parties to gain power and elect strongly polarized candidates, so he thinks equal districts would elect moderate candidates. 

• Bring back the small donor
• The power of big money can be discouraging for many, Nocera argues that a small donor matching system like that of NYC could create donor diversity and greater political participation. 

Do you agree with his ideas? We have discussed many of these topics in class; would it be feasible to change things like national campaign donation practices and create Supreme Court term limits? Any other ideas to increase voter participation and end partisanship? Are these goals we should be focusing on right now?