The Electoral system

"tim_s" wrote in message
m...
...i think
tweaking the electoral college so that it represents the voting
climate of the state may make sense; keep the formula for determining
# of electoral votes the same, but split them based on the popular
vote within that state, i.e. if a candidate receives 52% of the
popular vote in a state, they get 52% of that states electoral
votes....

Well, that sounds like a very equitable arrangement. However, it sort of
invites the question of what purpose......other than a junket at the
taxpayers expense......the electoral college would then serve. It seems to
me that if whoever is responsible for tallying the election results can
count to 52 and can be trusted to do so with a reasonable degree of accuracy
and honesty, then he or she could also likely handle picking up the phone
and calling that number in to whoever needs to be called. The bottom line
is that if the electoral college is remade so that it accurately and fairly
represents the will of the people as expressed in the ballots they cast for
elective officials, then it is useless. It's ONLY justification rests on the
fact that it does, however infrequently, exactly the opposite.

Wolfgang

"tim_s" wrote in message
m...
...i think
tweaking the electoral college so that it represents the voting
climate of the state may make sense; keep the formula for determining
# of electoral votes the same, but split them based on the popular
vote within that state, i.e. if a candidate receives 52% of the
popular vote in a state, they get 52% of that states electoral
votes....

Well, that sounds like a very equitable arrangement. However, it sort of
invites the question of what purpose......other than a junket at the
taxpayers expense......the electoral college would then serve. It seems to
me that if whoever is responsible for tallying the election results can
count to 52 and can be trusted to do so with a reasonable degree of accuracy
and honesty, then he or she could also likely handle picking up the phone
and calling that number in to whoever needs to be called. The bottom line
is that if the electoral college is remade so that it accurately and fairly
represents the will of the people as expressed in the ballots they cast for
elective officials, then it is useless. It's ONLY justification rests on the
fact that it does, however infrequently, exactly the opposite.

Wolfgang

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 06:10:40 -0600, "Wolfgang" wrote:


"tim_s" wrote in message
om...
...i think
tweaking the electoral college so that it represents the voting
climate of the state may make sense; keep the formula for determining
# of electoral votes the same, but split them based on the popular
vote within that state, i.e. if a candidate receives 52% of the
popular vote in a state, they get 52% of that states electoral
votes....

Well, that sounds like a very equitable arrangement. However, it sort of
invites the question of what purpose......other than a junket at the
taxpayers expense......the electoral college would then serve.

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people, NY has 31
for around 19 million people. Even if they were proportioned within the
states, Each MT voter would still have around twice as much "say" in the
outcome and a candidate could still win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW
--
Charlie...
http://bellsouthpwp.net/c/c/cchoc/

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 06:10:40 -0600, "Wolfgang" wrote:


"tim_s" wrote in message
om...
...i think
tweaking the electoral college so that it represents the voting
climate of the state may make sense; keep the formula for determining
# of electoral votes the same, but split them based on the popular
vote within that state, i.e. if a candidate receives 52% of the
popular vote in a state, they get 52% of that states electoral
votes....

Well, that sounds like a very equitable arrangement. However, it sort of
invites the question of what purpose......other than a junket at the
taxpayers expense......the electoral college would then serve.

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people, NY has 31
for around 19 million people. Even if they were proportioned within the
states, Each MT voter would still have around twice as much "say" in the
outcome and a candidate could still win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW
--
Charlie...
http://bellsouthpwp.net/c/c/cchoc/

From: Charlie Choc

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people, NY has 31
for around 19 million people. Even if they were proportioned within the
states, Each MT voter would still have around twice as much "say" in the
outcome and a candidate could still
win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them out of
office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back into prominence and
in position to win some elections, instead of blathering on endlessly about
making changes to the constitution.

HTH

Yer Pal,
Rube


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

From: Charlie Choc

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people, NY has 31
for around 19 million people. Even if they were proportioned within the
states, Each MT voter would still have around twice as much "say" in the
outcome and a candidate could still
win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them out of
office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back into prominence and
in position to win some elections, instead of blathering on endlessly about
making changes to the constitution.

HTH

Yer Pal,
Rube


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

From: Charlie Choc

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people, NY has 31
for around 19 million people. Even if they were proportioned within the
states, Each MT voter would still have around twice as much "say" in the
outcome and a candidate could still
win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them out of
office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back into prominence and
in position to win some elections, instead of blathering on endlessly about
making changes to the constitution.

HTH

Yer Pal,
Rube


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

George Adams writes:

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them out of
office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back into prominence
and
in position to win some elections, instead of blathering on endlessly about
making changes to the constitution.

HTH

Yer Pal,
Rube

Perfect! *And* hilarious.

George Adams writes:

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them out of
office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back into prominence
and
in position to win some elections, instead of blathering on endlessly about
making changes to the constitution.

HTH

Yer Pal,
Rube

Perfect! *And* hilarious.

George Adams wrote:
From: Charlie Choc

As an example, MT has 3 electoral votes for around 900,000 people,
NY has 31 for around 19 million people. Even if they were
proportioned within the states, Each MT voter would still have
around twice as much "say" in the outcome and a candidate could still
win the popular vote and lose in the
electoral college. FWIW

Y'know, if I was a Democrat who hated the "neocons" and wanted them
out of office, I would be looking for ways to bring my party back
into prominence and in position to win some elections, instead of
blathering on endlessly about making changes to the constitution.

George, George, George. That would involve some internal reflection and
possibly the conclusion that some of the more "progressive" ideas are
not mainstream enough to sway voters and even might drive voters away.
Since that can't possibly be the case, it *must* be you are, indeed, a
rube. ;-)
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj