Thursday, November 8, 2012

Improving The Electoral College

The talk of getting rid of the Electoral College happens every four years. Replacing it with a straight popular vote would give too much power to heavily populated cities, doing away with much of the republican nature of the process.

Still, i think it's easy to see the current formulation has deep flaws when only a few states can combine to form the needed 270 (Hey, for the sake of diversity, be grateful that California and Texas aren't likely to see eye to eye anytime soon), or 'the math' requires the entire campaign to be fought within a narrow geographical region, giving a few voters an inordinate amount of power.

My solution is simple:
Whichever candidate wins a Congressional district, he will be awarded the corresponding Electoral delegate. The candidate who wins the state-wide plurality will receive the other two delegates.

This would do away with the Winner-Take-All approach that creates a sizable advantage for the barest of pluralities within larger states, leading to some better results all around.
- A Democrat voter in Texas and a GOP voter in California will find his vote mattering for change.
- It spreads the game out, requiring a candidate to speak to voters in Washington, Idaho and Boston.
-Chicago's dead will be less likely to play a role in an outcome when all they will do is add to the total of the district they were machined in. This eliminates ballot stuffing, accusations of cheating, and Florida recounts.
- More folks would be inclined to bother voting know that their vote has a better chance of mattering. (Imagine where the citizens of Illinois and Oklahoma were as equally involved in their government as those in Ohio.)
-It may lead to better government all around if minority party affiliations were able to increase their involvement, remaining as a steady (or at least steadier) threat to the status quo.

11 comments:

Mr. D said...

I'll have to think about this, but on the face of it your suggestion has a lot of merit, Gino. A whole lot of merit.

RW said...

The thing about our dead voters here in Chicago though, Gino, is that even being dead from head to toe they still manage to cast more intelligent and creative votes than the peckerwoods in the deep south and their long lost cousins in the Rockies and Southern California who are only dead from the neck up.

Brian said...

But Gino, you're asking the wrong question. You want to know how to make the system more representative. The people who decide these things ask what is good for their team?

Gino said...

RW: they voted the same way. SoCal and Colorado went for Obama.

Brian: yeah, i never hoped to save the world on this blog, anyway.
i cant see a scenario where CA, TX, NY, or IL would be up for splitting their votes apart.

and in keeping with your team theme: after the bush-gore thing, CA (remember, all democrat) passed a legislation that would automatically award its full count to the winner of the popular vote (provided enough other states equaling 270 did the same).
there was some recent mumbles about changing back, (primarily because it looked like the current president at the time wouldnt be doing so well with his popularity.)

RW said...

I was talking about white supremacist Idaho and the descendants of dust bowl local Okies you're fully aware of in S Cal.

Gino said...

i personally know one native person from Idaho, who lives in VA, and is currently involved in divorce proceedings with my brother... i wouldnt call her 'white supremacist' either... but she did provide me with a nephew that i love!

the only Okies (dust bowl or otherwise) that i know, and have ever known, are/were Black...
and am close friends with one of them, who is also a former coachee of Lovie Smith, from back in the 80's (Univ of Tulsa).
previous okies (all black, to be redundant) were via Chicago, that i worked with years previous...

good men, all of them... they were my friends and i'd vouch for any of them, even in the next world (where they currently reside).
well, maybe Willie isnt there yet, he may still be around. he was 56 23 yrs ago... when i got laid off alongside him... wondering how the hell a man his age could ever find work again... Fuck the Bush defense cuts...


really, dude... what you may be reading is not always what is, ok?
i know of no/zero racists idaho folks, i've only read of them,...
as you have, unless you have been to idaho, and can say you know them....
IF you do know them, then maybe you might want to question why you hang with those that you hang with.

i'm sure there are some, but i do NOT know them, just like the racist Okies. all my Okies are Black. (and yeah, Black can be racist too, i seen it/been there, even with Black Okies.

when was the last time you had to PROVE yerself among a 'foreign' people?
i have and did.
no biggie, just life growing up in Gardena as far as i know...

i've spent time in OK. did not see the racism... not at all.
i'm sure there is some, if you want to see it. i did not.

i saw people being people, where the only customers in 'Country Joe's BBQ', a run down shack of a restaurant basically... were ALL white...
the proprietor(s) were Black.

a Black restaurant, where i ate food handled and prepared by Black folks... with their Black hands.
i loved every minute of my family restaraunt experience there... and hope to again.. someday, God willing.
and i'm 100% positive that all those White folks who occupied the other tables have been back there since then.
again, the only Black folks were the ones cooking and serving. (and owning/operating).

ya wanna pic? i got one?

RW said...

Well since the Chicago Dead Voters hasn't happened in over 40 years I thought everybody's stereotype was fair game. Little did I know huh?

Gino said...

in over 40 years? you know that, yeah?
for reals?

RW said...

Last known was the Kennedy election, but even then it's more of a local joke than reality. The old Daley never needed it, and none of the subsequent mayors ever really had the clout for it like he did.

There seems to be the stereotype, though, that is persistent; and probably unfair. But you know how stereotypes go. Even John Sununu and a host of Republican critics liked to use Obama's "Chicago connection" as some kind of proof of corruption or immorality or something.

I just figured if it was okay to stereotype Chicago it was okay to stereotype Idaho and Disneyland.

Gino said...

no slight to chicago was intended. the 'dead voters' happen all over, it just that chicago is more famous for it, so i used it as a point of reference toward my larger point.

RW said...

Don't be silly. I thought it was funny.