This is a proposal for how the electoral system in the US may be amended, allowing for a breakup of the two-party system.
It is centered around this premise: that there should be an additional step between the ballot and swearing in of elected officials. A step akin to that which the President must already go through: the electoral count.
Scenario A: Say, for example, that the fictional U.S. state of Transylvania is trying to elect a Senator. This is a true purple state, where Dems and Republicans are in a neck-to-neck race. Republicans are united. Dems, however, are very unsatisfied with their incumbent candidate, a man with a corruption scandal under his belt and a track record for not voting consistently for "the cause". If they stay home on election day, or vote third party, then the Republican guy wins. And so, they suck it up and vote for a candidate that only 26 percent of the state's voting population is enthusiastic about. Even if he wins, it's dubious to what extent the people he represents won.
Scenario B: Same state, same Senate race. But that 48 percent of Dems who don't like the incumbent candidate for their party has another recourse: form their own party with their own favored candidate and vote for it.
What will this accomplish? Well, obviously they won't be able to win the election hands-down. But their minority share of the vote, instead of being wasted, now designates them electors. As for winning, neither can the incumbent, with almost half of "his" votes now in the hands of another party and its candidate. So now they need to decide: which one of the two candidates gets awarded all those votes? If the third party holds its ground and refuses to budge, it has a chance of eventually compelling his electors to switch sides. After all, if it's the candidate you don't want for the party that you want VERSUS 6 years of the seat being held by the party you don't want, then it's a compromise most people would be willing to make.
Thoughts?