IMPROVING DEMOCRACY THE AMERICAN WAY

(New York Times) In the wake of Super Tuesday's primary balloting, the major television networks will announce a landmark agreement with the U.S. Elections Commission on Thursday. In November, for the first time in American history, the election of the President will not be determined by citizens casting ballots. Rather, a representative sample of several thousand voters will go directly to the exit polls, where they will tell researchers the names of the candidates they would have voted for, if they had actually voted. This will constitute the election, with the results determining the next President. According to T. Nelson Gufterson, News Director of The Disney Channel, "the exit-poll procedure alleviates the countless logistical problems associated with millions and milions of people leaving their homes and engaging in the outdated, anachronistic practice we call 'voting'. We've eliminated the middleman. We haven't removed the heart of democracy, only its appendix."