Ballot access reform has been tried before but to no avail. I think that the Powers-that-be want it with the current barriers to access.
If it was a true system the board of elections could simply hold a day for all to register their candidacy. From there the BOE would hold the primaries - although the closed party system is probably another barrier also - and then you go on to the general elections. With ranked choice voting the weakest candidates would ultimately be weeded out and we could eliminate the whole fake threshold of petition signatures.
We agree with the system that there should be “community support” for a candidate but that support should not come in the form of paid for hire petition workers who go out and harass people when going in or coming out of supermarkets or to impose on households to come out to answer a door knock from a stranger (who could be a criminal posing as a petition worker) in the middle of the home dweller’s cooking or sitting down to dinner. The community support should rather be the responsibility of the community to show proper and authentic support by showing the initiative that they show in the rest of the voting process i.e. primary and general election voting. If the state argues that that is an extra burden to the state/city for paying for the board of elections to be open to accept the
initial registered candidates for office then it is in fact saying that candidates with money or political networks have taken over the role of the
state to run fair and open elections to all.
Ultimately, the government could devise secure computer networks the way banks and commercial establishments do all the time and even with the occasional hacks the financial system seems to be able to function well. The IRS already has a system for filing and collecting taxes online through routing and account numbers and it seems to be going fine. Similarly, the national and state systems have websites for people to navigate their health insurance coverage and despite a rocky start, that also seems to be going fine.
Lastly, the old fashioned U.S. Post office conducts census data through its system and even though much depends on that information also, we accept that as a valid system. The argument that there isn’t a chain of custody when a ballot is mailed is not valid in that mail has the affordable option of tracking numbers as is done so much already and with a tracking number there is a chain of custody. The only reason that the system is as archaic as it is, is because the voting public is not demanding reform and the Powers that be want it just the way it is so that new blood can not easily enter the system.