why should they change the ammendment so that members of the House and Senate are elected using secret ballot?
97725
what in the world are you talking about?
814576
well I think they already had seperate votes but the 10th amendment to the consitution (added as part of the bill of rights) gives Any power that is not specifically granted to the federal government and that doesn't directly prohibit the states from using it, can be used by state government and the people.
905738
They made two houses as a compromise between the (big) states that wanted a legislature representation based on population and the (small) states that thought all states should be represented equally. We have one of each now. Because the Senate has a set, smaller amount of representatives (senators), they are generally more respected.
719943
We are not a Democracy. We are a representative republic. It would lead to chaos if everything that was decided went up to vote. This way you vote the representative in and if the decisions are bad ones you vote them back out. The system has a lot of checks and balances so things that are controversial can't be done quickly.
437817
There is more power in the vote. It is the final answer to petition, however to bring an issue to vote sometimes you have to petition to do it.
456545
1     When writing the constitution, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention ran into a problem. The states were in fierce disagreement over how to establish the Congress. The smaller states wanted equal division of representatives. The larger states wanted representatives based on population. In coming to a compromise – called The Great Compromise – the delegates divided the Congress into two houses, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.\n \n2     The Senate gives the small states an equal voice in the government. Each state has two Senators who serve six-year terms. In order to serve in the Senate, a person must be thirty years old, have been a U.S. citizen for nine years, and be a resident of the state where elected. The Senate is the more distinguished house in Congress. Members are older and usually have more experience in government. Of the one-hundred members, one-third of the Senate comes up for election every two years. The rotating elections help to maintain the stability of this house of Congress.\n \n3     The Senate has many important jobs of its own. In addition to working on bills, the Senate is responsible for approving many of the decisions of the president. Treaties and appointments of judges, department heads, ambassadors, and agency leaders receive final approval in the Senate. Treaties are given special consideration and must be approved by a two-thirds vote to become law.\n \n4     The leader of the Senate is the vice-president. As leader, the vice-president decides who will speak to the Senate and casts a deciding vote when a tie occurs. However, the vice-president is not a member of the Senate and does not participate in debates about bills.\n \n5     When the Senate discusses a bill, they do not have a strict set of rules to follow. Standard procedures allow debating and amending a bill to continue indefinitely. However, an agreement called "unanimous consent" can change the standard procedures followed. Under "unanimous consent," all of the Senators must agree to modify the procedures. If one individual Senator disagrees, that Senator has the power to stop the modification. When this happens, a bill becomes the victim of a filibuster. In a filibuster, the Senator in disagreement talks on and on about the bill to delay the final vote. In order to end this, sixty Senators must call for cloture, which sets a time limit for debate.\n \n6     The House of Representatives is called the lower house of Congress. There are four-hundred and thirty five members in the House. Every two years the entire House of Representatives is up for election. Representatives must be careful to be the voice of the people for their state. The shorter term gives the people the opportunity to choose someone else when a representative does not follow their wishes. To serve as a representative, a person must be twenty-five years old, a U.S. citizen for seven years, and a resident of the state where elected.\n \n7     Population determines the number of representatives allotted to a state. In order to determine allotment, the federal government takes a census every ten years. State leaders form districts in each state based on the census results. Each district gets one representative. Every state receives at least one representative no matter how small their population may be.\n \n8     In addition to working on laws with the Senate, the House of Representatives has other responsibilities. In a presidential election where a candidate does not receive a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives meets to choose the next President.\n \n9     In addition, a bill concerning taxes must start in the House.
762728
It was put in place so that smaller states would have a voice in government. It is working as designed.  It was and is a brilliant idea to handle a complex problem. The distribution of electoral votes is based on the same formula as the distribution of seats in the Congress and Senate. The United States is a Republic and not a Democracy.
460655
In addition to the fact that such a law is unconstitutional and could only have a chance if it came about through a ratified Constitutional Amendment (which would never pass).  It would likely demonstrate that un-a-lined voters out numbered members of the two major parties.\n\nIf ever enacted it could have an unexpected result, that is, the same number of people who don’t vote today say, “I still won’t vote, come and get me.”  \n\nIt might be a better idea to give people some reason to want to vote.  Say, by adding something interesting to the ballot.  As. . . . . the final line for each elective office have it say, “None of the above.” And have that line able to win.  That would mean that some elective office could end up with no office holder until a new election were held.  That could mean that the candidates would have to actual, and honestly, serve the electorate.
704315
Yes, because part of the "choice" in a democracy is not to vote for anyone at all. (Although a "none of the above" option on a ballot would suffice for that.)  The problem is that Americans don't believe that they have a duty to vote.
1142965
It has worked for 230 years, why would we change it? The 4 presidents that were elected because of the Electoral college have been spaced out over 176 year span. (1824,1876,1888,2000)\nJust because today's people want to change everything they do not like, no matter how long the tradition does not mean it is right or that Congress will ever do it. It helps give political power to small states, otherwise the president would be chosen about less than 10 states - mostly NY, Florida & California   . The rest of us would love some say in who is president.
310861
It takes a lot to change the constitution. You might as well not waste your time on something as silly as changing it so an unpoopular governor can lose the Presidential election for your party. Because, it might make it harder to get a law change you do want.
1115737
No, it didn't even make it for a vote in the Senate. The House is supposedly going to try and pass it eventually, but without even a majoirty in the Senate there's no way it will ever pass. Even if it did, 3/4 of the states don't want it to pass.
542121
Why?  Quite simply because the constitution was written that way.  One other attribute of the constitution was that changing it is very hard to do.  Changing the constitution to require term limits for US Senators or House Members would require them to support it; and that isn't going to happen now or probably ever.
374146
An amendment to the constitution. Congress can only pass so many laws about voting, because in general elections are left up to the states. There's very little way for Congress to make anything uniform if it is left up to the states.
190339
In some states, the state legislature has to vote to certify the elections.  In others, it is the Executive branch.
480249
Yes. You could use the 'territory' rules that other places use, where the number of Representatives and/or Senators from DC (and maybe Puerto Rico) is smaller, because it isn't a state. But, it's hard to imagine a really good reason why the people of the Capital of the United States of America don't get to vote.
972920
No! I don't want my future decided by a bunch of uninformed people who run in and punch Box A on every issue to get entered in the lottery. If you change the proposition so that you get entered only after sitting down and completing a form that requires you give a detailed explanation of each item on the ballot and what it means, to prove you know what you are voting for, I would go for it then because then it would give an true incentive for getting out more Informed voters.