Washblog || Electoral college reform, starting in WA

Electoral college reform, starting in WA

By lorax
Fri Feb 24, 2006 at 03:15:53 PM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Building the base

Past attempts to reform the electoral college failed because they started in Congress. We can reform it starting in Olympia.

Former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN) and former Rep. John Anderson (R-IL) just launched a campaign to reform the college. This is a critical issue, especially for states like Washington that are not considered competitive in presidential elections.

Under the electoral college, small states are over-represented. Wyoming voters select 3 electors for their 500,000 people--1 elector for every 166,666 people. Washington voters select 11 electors for our 6 million people--1 elector for every 550,000 people. California voters select 55 electors for their 34 million people--1 elector for every 620,000 people. This isn't fair.

Another unfair aspect of the electoral college is the fact that swing states like Ohio, Florida, and New Mexico get a disproportionate amount of the attention from the presidential candidates, when "safe" states like Washington, California, New York and Texas get no attention at all, so our issues don't count as much.

Past attempts to reform the electoral college have originated in the U.S. Congress, which institutionally is unlikely to support such a proposal because of equal representation in the U.S. Senate. Bayh and Anderson's proposal is for state legislatures to individually pass laws that would give the state's electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate receives the most popular voters nationwide. Such states would enter into a compact with one another stating that these laws would not go into effect until states constituting 270 votes, a majority of the electoral college, have passed similar legislation.

Success in Washington will embolden reformers nationwide, particularly in California. Let's get Olympia on board with electoral college reform today. Contact your legislators now.

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Electoral college reform, starting in WA | 11 comments (11 topical)

Worthy of consideration

---That sounds pretty damn dumb.
The purpose of the Electoral College is protect the nation from the "tyranny of the majority". ---

This is not a dumb idea at all. It's an innovative way to fix a broken system that produces minority rule

I agree with Dave Pullman about the tyranny of the majority, but the US Senate is set up to address that. The Electoral College is redundant.

The electoral college system is a good value for the special interests that fund presidential campaigns. They only need to spend money in a handful of swing states to make an impact. At the same time, it's the grassroots in uncompetitive states that don't even bother participating.

by knovoselic on Sat Feb 25, 2006 at 03:40:02 PM PST

* 3 5.00 2 *

Spead the money and the participation by gibney, 02/25/2006 04:44:19 PM PST (5.00 / 1)

My problem with that: by ilovelieberman, 02/26/2006 12:29:49 AM PST (none / 0)

Exactly by lorax, 02/26/2006 10:49:40 PM PST (5.00 / 1)

A straight national vote would by gibney, 02/26/2006 11:19:26 PM PST (none / 0)

That's not by lorax, 02/27/2006 08:26:42 AM PST (none / 0)
Popular Vote for President by zappini, 02/27/2006 01:27:37 PM PST (none / 0)

I'm noit sure the college needs reform, but by gibney, 02/26/2006 12:13:10 PM PST (none / 0)

Fund Raiser Announcement? by zappini, 02/27/2006 01:17:14 PM PST (none / 0)

Debate

Hi Lorax-

I very much support debating these kinds of election reform measures. I don't yet have an opinion on electing the president with popular vote. But I'm very glad that we're discussing it.

Election reform in Canada is centered around making their races more competitive. The belief is that non-competitive races leads to voter apathy and the hope is that making the races competitive will reverse declines in turnout.

I think that's pretty good rationale for reforming both the electorial college and congressional redistricting. Further, there's various proposals for alternatives voting systems (e.g. instant runoff voting, fusion voting, proportional representation, etc.).

What would help me is to see (hypothetically) how these ideas would play out. Simulations. Comparisons. Etc.

Cheers, Jason

by zappini on Sat Feb 25, 2006 at 08:38:30 AM PST

* 2 4.00 1 *

Excuse the bluntness

That sounds pretty damn dumb.
The purpose of the Electoral College is protect the nation from the "tyranny of the majority".
The Majority isn't always right! 50% plus 1 can lead to serious oppression of the other 49.999%
This proposal would require my vote to go to a nation wide victor, even if said victor recieved zero votes from the State of Washington.

Dave Gibney Pullman

by gibney on Fri Feb 24, 2006 at 06:44:16 PM PST

* 1 2.00 1 *

Electoral college reform, starting in WA | 11 comments (11 topical)

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