How Electoral College Math Can Change Election Outcome...


The Electoral Farce…

Things may change dramatically in the coming election if one California legislator has his way.

According to the proposal on the table, presidential candidates will only earn the electoral votes in the congressional districts that they win This proposal is being argued on the basis that dividing the vote according to congressional voting district would encourage more candidates to visit the state, and the fact that most voters in the most populous state feel like an after thought when it comes to the election. And, of course, it is an idea being promoted aggressively by party stalwarts.

If the proposed legislation goes through, it could mean that the Democrats would have to win Ohio and Florida to win the election in 2008..

Let me explain, as of now, most States electoral votes go to the winner of the state with the exception of two states with few electoral votes as, for example, Maine…
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Using this formulae, Bush would have won 20 votes in the California that Kerry won by 100% using the current conventions. This would be bad news for democrats requiring that they win Ohio and Florida in order to win the election.

North Carolina is also planning similar legislation but only four Congressional districts are involved so it’s not likely that their results will drastically change the outcome..

With California’s large number of electoral votes, 55, that account for thirty percent of the total votes needed to win, changing the voting calculus would constitute an important advantage for the republican party.

Of course, as Jonathan Alter, senior editor of Newsweek points out, there is another way.
It would take only eleven votes to build momentum for a direct vote for the president, an idea more in keeping with democratic principles.

This would eliminate all the problems of the 2000 election and reinforce the idea of one man, one vote. And what is so bad about that?

Les Aaron
Armchair Curmudgeon

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