But I think it’s actually not on target in recent events. It seems almost certain that had the election gone to Al Gore over GWB, we would not have seen the Iraq war and many other events. That war, aside from having a giant effect on the middle east (and admittedly far less to the average American’s daily life) will have long term consequences in world geopolitics and the role of the USA within that. And it all hinged on how election systems are designed. I am interested in design for more than just the US, though in many ways the US presents the most interesting problems — it has the most money to spend, lots of high-tech, complex elections with dozens of races, county by country control and a need for reform.

But mainly I want to put forward the challenge so that people, as you did, come up with answers to the question, “Why is the fact that tens of millions don’t vote only a minor issue?”

The US election system has many flaws of course. Greater even than any voting procedure issues is the fact that it has devolved into a two party celebration of incumbency, with candidates spending a giant chunk of their time in office raising money to buy TV ads for the next election, and becoming beholden to donors in the process. Of course I have a suggestion for that too.