A quick selection from across the blogosphere

Guy Aitchison: My Power2010 ideas "meme" blog post, in which I asked fellow bloggers for their ideas for reform, has generated lots of interesting and provocative responses. Here's a quick selection:

Duncan Stott at Split Horizons: 

I'm 25, and a huge concern I have with our democracy is the lack of interest, and therefore the lack of representation, that the younger end of the electorate have in politics. I also think that the reforms often put forward do little to address this issue. Sure, lowering the voting age to 16 will help the weeniest bit, but nowhere near enough to address the huge imbalance between young and old election turnout.

So to address this, my proposed solution is a major shake-up to the way we vote: Instead of just grouping voters into constituencies based on geography, voters are also grouped based on age.

It would mean that instead of having, say, an MP for Bolton East, there would instead be an MP for 40-to-45-year-olds in the North West of England.

Why would this be a good thing? Well, primarily, it would mean that young people are equally represented compared to old people. So in order for a political party to form a government, they need to attract the youth vote as much as that of middle-aged and the elderly.

It would surely enfranchise the young and increase their turnout, but if young turnouts were still lower, it is no worse than the system we have at present with large variance in the size of the electorate in each constituency. (Read on)

From Bracknell blog:

Electronic portable devices with remote log-ins. Would it not be more efficient if MP's can vote away from the main chamber and also attend some debates remotely. As it is, the chamber is not big enough to hold all the MP's, therefore being able to attend remotely if only to hear the debate would be a great help for both MP's time and use of chamber space. This device would still record the voting details for the record and this would be loaded to say the public whip website instantly to the MP's record on votes. Plenty of devises can do this like Palms or Blackberries. (Read on) 

From Oran Jepan:

My first reform would therefore be on election day at the point where decisions are made. While I would keep current restrictions on access to the polling station, I would also require a room to be set aside where literature from party candidates can be picked up and perused.

I've found it shocking that people are asking questions of tellers on the doorsteps of polling stations and making judgements without any space to make a proper decision. And as most polling stations requisition whole schools or other community buildings for the duration it is something which could be implemented at no cost. (Read on)