How can we get more accountability in electoral process?

So, what do you think about our election and campaign process? Do you think it’s improving or getting worse every two or four years? What did you think of the ads this year? The debates?  Is it getting easier for you to decide on the best candidates or harder? Do you really think you know all the facts necessary to make a good decision? Is this fact-gathering process getting easier? Are you able to filter the rhetoric from the truth?  

To me, this entire scenario and the associated process is getting worse not better. In my opinion, lies and misinformation are really a major problem with our campaign process in general. Debates and political ads present lies and misinformation from all political parties and candidates without any accountability of those responsible for these statements. And as a result, these people are influencing voters for their candidates based on information that is at best misleading and at worst pure lies.

And when this is happening at the presidential, Senate and House campaign level, it becomes too much to take. This needs to change. Candidates and parties need to be held responsible for things they say, positions they take, and information that is conveyed. People are placed in key offices and positions of leadership based on these messages and communications. And if these people are unethical and hold different beliefs and implement different plans, programs, and decisions than what they initially told the people to get elected, the process has failed at the very least, and the nation and its people can be put in serious jeopardy at its very worst.

So what can we do about this? What if the law required all information presented in campaigns to be factual and pre-checked by impartial authorities? What if violations were punished by declaring a candidate offender an automatic loser of the election? Opinions could still be conveyed but must be identified as such and not presented as fact. What if the American public could file a civil lawsuit against the federal government for misrepresentation and election fraud?

Oh, I can hear the pundits, SuperPACs, and naysayers now. They’re saying that this is ridiculous and would be too tough to police or implement. However, the NCAA and other local sporting authorities reverse championship winners all the time based on ineligibility, cheating, ethics, etc. Case in point: Penn State football. Obviously, this isn’t the only way to deal with this issue, but something needs to be done soon to correct this problem. And you can bet your house on it that the momentum won’t come from Washington.

We really need to think about this very carefully. Elections and leadership positions that result are critical decisions in our future and should be treated as such. Accountability must be a requirement. How this can be achieved should be a priority of the people and government. Otherwise, the ads and candidates will get worse, and the election process will approach a circus proceeding if it is not already at that point.

Crnkovich is a resident of Whitefish.