Tag Archives: voting

Electoral Nuttiness

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“I know that among some in my own party, what I’m discussing would be considered
treasonous, but I’m not going to cheerlead us down the primrose path when I know
we’re being led in the wrong direction.” – South Charleston Mayor Richie Robb

Richie Robb may become only the ninth elector
to not vote for the popular winner in his state. If this year’s election is
as tight as 2000 (It may, in fact, be tighter.), that one vote could make a big
difference. (Thanks, Electoral
Vote Predictor)

In related news, the Opinion Journal defends
the electoral college.

Election Hijinks

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USAToday has joined the New
York Times in highlighting
the nightmares involving the electoral college. This piece is more informative
and less biased than the
previous.

Remember the 36-day drama over Florida’s hanging chads and butterfly ballots?

Get ready for a replay.

How it could happen

The scenarios aren’t far-fetched:

*For a tie: Every state votes the way it did four years ago, except for two. New Hampshire and West Virginia, which voted for Bush last time, go Democratic this time. Kerry is competitive in both states.

*For a divided result that elects Bush: Every state votes the way it did four years ago, giving Bush an electoral-vote majority of 278. That’s a more comfortable edge – a side effect of the redistribution of congressional seats and electoral votes after the 2000 Census – than last time, when Bush got 271 votes, one more than required. But Kerry carries the popular vote, as Al Gore (news – web sites) did, by rolling up big totals in such strongholds as California and New York.

*For a divided result that elects Kerry: Every state votes the way it did four years ago, except for one. Kerry wins Florida, for a majority of 287 electoral votes, or Ohio, for 280. They went Republican in 2000; state polls released Sunday show Kerry and Bush tied in both. But Bush carries the popular vote by scoring oversized margins in his home state of Texas and in the South and Mountain West.

Naderless November

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I’ve long known that I would not being giving my vote to a Democrat or a Republican. I’m too fed up with the two party system, and the candidates haven’t done or said anything to change my mind. I had planned on voting for Ralph Nader, since he seemed to be the strongest third party candidate. Well, this Electoral Vote Predictor article informed me that Nader failed to get onto the ballot in PA. Bummer. I guess it’ll be Mike Peroutka, then.

Electoral College

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I’m inclined to agree, at least superficially, with the New York Times in their desire to scrap the electoral college. Most of the problems I have with it could be fixed without eliminating the system, though.

  • Require that all states handle electors the same way.
  • Use instant runoff voting.
  • Give each congressional district an elector.
  • Designate each elector’s vote based on the winner of the runoff winner in each district.

While we’re talking about fixing systems, I’d like to mention that the current primary/causus system sucks. Federal elections should be handled uniformly. States can run their elections however they please, but federal elections should be within federal pervue. All of the primaries (or caucuses) should be run by the same rules and the elections should be held on the same day. Furthermore, instant runoff voting should be used. The current Frankensteinian system is riduculous. By the time primaries reach PA, for instance, all the good candidates have already dropped out.

Vote Smart, Vote S-mart. Ya got that?!?

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(Pardon the obscure reference to “Army of Darkness”.)

This is a really cool service. It takes a bit of work to use it effectively, but
who ever said responsible citizenship would be easy?

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