The Electoral College

So, after some discussions and thought, I have concluded that the electoral college has been strangling modern politics.

The New York Times has a nice interactive graphic to give a visual depiction of the electoral college as it is relevant to this year's election.

NPR's Fresh Air had a a discussion about the electoral college, even before the 2000 election. And it features a good debate about it's value (or lack thereof)

The fact that we don't have a direct election and a national standard for the one office for which we all vote is something I will never understand.

We say ever vote counts, but if you are a Democrat living in texas or a Republican living in California, the simple fact is that your vote doesn't count. You can vote twice and each of those states are still going to have every electoral vote go for Kerry and bush, respectively.

I understand why the system was created. There's the federal system and the more practical reason that at the time of the constitution there were no computers, no mass media, and no technology that would allow for it.

but this is a different time. We do have a mass media now, and the simple fact is that with a popular vote, presidential candidates would have to talk to the entire nation, not just the states that are declared to be battleground states.

For those that argue that the electoral college allows for smaller states to be important, well what about Wyoming or Idaho? When was the last time you heard of a Presidential visit there? And why should we be thinking about our President playing to this state or that? shouldn't our President be able to speak to all of our country's issues. After all, it is the only position that represents all of us. Not just Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, etc.

And if that wasn't enough, here's something I just learned...
What happens in the event of a tie? Let's just say it turns out to be 269-269 come Nov. 3rd (and it still is after a bunch of recounts). What happens?

Well, if you said that the vote goes to the House of Representatives, you are right!

BUT, you probably are thinking it takes a majority vote to choose our next president. That's where you would be wrong.

If the vote goes to the House, each state gets one vote, not each congressperson. So, let's say Michigan's voters tally up a majority of votes for John Kerry, but their is a national tie in the Electoral College. Well, the majority of Congress people in Michigan are Republican, so when the state gets to vote in the House, it would vote For George W. Bush. Thus, despite the people of Michigan declaring John Kerry to be their majority candidate, George W. Bush would take Michigan's vote. The same thing would be true in the Dakotas, where one each state's one congressperson is a Democrat, but the states will likely go for Bush.

Crazy stuff huh? Seems like a popular vote might not be so bad after all.

Yet the plain fact is that the people who make the system and are set to be able to change it, are also elected by it. And thus the desire to not bite the hand that feeds. (Plus the Republicans and democrats don't want to see higher voter turnout or a popular vote as it threatens their stranglehold on politics and the two-party system).

One of the other hard things here is that there would need to be a constitutional amendment for the change to take place, and that requires a 23 majority in Congress, as well as ratification by the states. Not likely.

So, the best bet right now, to move closer to a truly representative system, is by proportional voting. Nebraska and Maine both can have their electoral votes split depending on the votes of the populous. Each will have the overall majority decide the winner of the first two electoral votes, and the the popular vote of each congressional district to decide the remaining. At least then, a republican in New York, or a Democrat in Texas would have the opportunity to have their vote count towards at least one electoral vote for their candidate.

Well, it's all a bit unnerving and I think I have spoken enough about it. The bottom line is that politicians are probably not going to change this one. It is going to take an organized group of people to push this to the national scene.