The American electoral system is failing.

Every Election Day, millions of Americans are unable to vote for a candidate of their choice. This happens because most Americans live in “safe” electoral districts and states, where one of the major parties has a monopoly. The monopoly party's candidate often runs unopposed, giving voters no other choices at the polls. And even if voters have a choice, the monopoly party's candidate is still guaranteed to win. The result is system failure: voters can't choose representatives when an election's outcome is pre-determined. But that's the situation most Americans face on Election Day, and the problem is only getting worse.

In 2004, there were more safe states, more safe districts and more candidates running unopposed than ever before.

• In the presidential election, 74% of the nation was “safe” (one candidate was guaranteed to win in 37 of 50 states);
• In congressional elections, 90% of the nation was “safe” (one candidate was guaranteed to win in 9 of every 10 electoral districts);
• 172 U.S. House candidates ran unopposed or won in landslides (only 22 of 435 races were even close);
• Career Senators like Orrin Hatch of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii and others regularly run unopposed;
• In at least 10 states, a majority of candidates for the state legislature ran unopposed, and in a few states, nearly 75% did.

The 2004 elections are just the latest in a long-developing trend toward electoral monopoly and stagnation.

• The number of safe states rose from 26 in 1960 to 37 in 2004, and there may be as many as 42 by 2008;
• The number of safe congressional seats has risen steadily since the 1970s to the current level of 90% (391 of 435 total);
• The number of minor party and independent candidates running for office has dropped steadily, resulting in more safe seats, more safe states and more major party candidates running unopposed than ever before.

The result: American elections give incumbent politicians a free pass.

Not only are Americans unable to choose representatives, we can't even vote incumbents out when they do a bad job. Polls show most Americans are dissatisfied with our elected officials. Harris Interactive pegged voter dissatisfaction with congressional incumbents at 70% in 2004. Yet almost every incumbent who ran was re-elected that year:

• 99% of House incumbents won;
• 96% of Senate incumbents won;
• Only 7 of 402 incumbents seeking re-election lost.

Our electoral system gives incumbent politicians a free pass. Voters living in safe districts and states - ie, the majority of Americans - know their vote doesn't really count, because the monopoly party candidate is guaranteed to win no matter who they choose. No wonder voter turnout in the United States has dropped steadily for decades, and is now among the lowest of any western democracy. But the good news is our electoral system can be fixed.

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