If "None of the Above" was a choice on the ballot, I believe more informed voters would participate. In many races, because of the lousy candidates, NOTA is the only good choice. And if NOTA wins we get new candidates! - Dan

Representative Asa Hutchinson;

It was good to see you speaking to election reform on C-SPAN this Saturday Afternoon. Since you are heading this up, I am contacting you directly even though I don't live in Arkansas.

I'd like to suggest that one of the factors that would reduce confusion on ballots is the addition of "None-of-the-Above" to each ballot. This capability allows people to definitively specify that choice so that

those voters will not have someone try to assign them to one candidate or another when they clearly choose to vote against all of the candidates.

Folks are staying away from the polls because they don't have a way to identify their (absolutely valid) choice. They would now have a way to be counted.

Under votes would be greatly reduced since this addition would differentiate between a ballot marked in error, and a ballot marked for None-of-the-Above.

Please don't allow these voices to go un-heard. Please don't ignore the issue as an attempt to prevent people from voicing their opinion.

Regardless of the method used to count the vote (the technology), None-of-the-Above is a valid addition to the ballot. In the case of optical scanners, when someone votes for no candidate, there is no

attempt to ask the voter if they meant to not vote for president. With the addition of None-of-the-Above, a ballot that then has no vote for a candidate can be returned to the voter for (potential) correction.

Please help us add None-of-the-Above to the ballot, regardless of the other changes made.

Mark

William Mark Clifford
941 Lake Charm Drive
Oviedo, FL 32765-6831
407-359-9625
http://home.MPInet.net/wmc/