None of the Above

An interesting idea was floated today at work amidst the political discussions. What if when you went to the polls to vote, the ballot looked like this:

W. T. Kat (R)
P. Opus (D)
M. Bloom (I)
None of the Above

Then you also have a stipulation where if the "none of the above" option gets greater than 50% of the vote, new candidates would have to be offered.

I know, it wouldn't be practical quite like that, but I would like to see some form of this. It might give greater spur to lesser candidates and crack the lock the Republicans and Democrats have on the system. You might be able to set multiple elections. The first would have a broad field where you would narrow down the candidates to a manageable field, say 10 or so. Then you would have a second election where you pick from those and include the none of the above option. If "none of the above" wins, the numbers of the candidates are evaluated and the parties can decide to either field that candidate or pick a new one for a follow up election a few weeks later. If "none of the above" does not win, then you take the top three candidates and offer them in the general election.

Its not perfect and we'd have to play with it, but I think it would catch on. It might also get rid of the idea of voting for a third party candidate as throwing your vote away. Imagine the fear that would run through the ranks of the major parties. No longer would you have to vote for candidate B just because you don't want candidate A to win. You can say, I don't like either. Give me someone who actually shares my views. Elected officials might actually have to get things done as well if they want to stand a chance to be reelected.

Personally, in the upcoming election, I think "none of the above" would crush all candidates by a large margin.