Posted on 04/22/2004 2:42:35 PM PDT by swmopatriot
1. Increased voter turnout. Maine first used the district plan in the 1972 election and since then their state's voter turnout has been higher than the national average in every Presidential election. Additionally, their turnout has increased in most of the elections since. There are many reasons why voter turnout would increase under the district plan. A key reason is that competitive districts within large states that are not competitive wouldn't be ignored by candidates under the district plan as they are under the unit rule. Also, voters would see their votes have a more direct impact on elector selection which could increase the motivation to vote.
2. Decreased chance of voter fraud influencing the election.
Under the current system, voter fraud has the very real potential to impact the outcome of the Presidential election. We have seen that elections can be decided by one large state with a very small margin in their popular vote. Arguably, voter fraud already has helped determine an election when Illinois and Texas went for Kennedy in 1960 by razor thin margins. There exists substantial evidence that voter fraud occurred in both those states, under the direction of the Johnson machine in Texas and Daley machine in Chicago. Had these states gone for Nixon, which would have only required the total swing of a few thousand votes, he would have won the election. With the district plan, voter fraud would only have the potential to impact the vote within the district it occurs and possibly the at-large vote of the state, which would only be worth two electoral votes under this system.
3. Protects interests of many currently overlooked groups and regions.
The current electoral college system, while it does provide some protection for small states, is biased towards large states, and more specifically, this country's several large metropolitan areas. Winning the large amounts of electoral votes in states, such as New York and Illinois, can be accomplished primarily by winning their major urban centers, such as New York City and Chicago. This basically disenfranchises the rural and out-state groups in these states because once one candidate locks up the urban vote, the opposing candidate has absolutely no incentive to campaign in the other areas of the state or listen to their interests because of the winner-take-all nature of the unit rule. Under the district plan, these groups would have control over their electoral votes and would command the attention of candidates who would no longer write off these competitive districts simply because they cannot win the popular vote in the entire state.
4. This would allow for more efficient government.
Election of the President on the basis of congressional districts would help promote the election of both a congress and a President that reflect the will of the people. This would help to avoid the gridlock that often ensues with divided government.
5. Eliminates the problems caused by the "unit vote" while continuing to uphold the purpose of the electoral college.
The Electoral College has served us well through the first two centuries of this grand experiment that is American democracy and it would be a serious mistake to throw it out completely. Unfortunately, it does have some problems that merit reform. The district plan would fix these problems while still preserving the protections of all geographic regions and of our system of federalism that our Founding Fathers intended when they established the Electoral College
"When the Congressional District plan, the election of one elector for each Congressional District and two from each State at-large, is attained, it becomes a factor for the forces of freedom, and important victory greatly needed to renew the hopes of the faithful."
-H.L. Hunt, chairman of the Southwest Committee on Reform of the Electoral College System. Source: League of Women Voters of the United States. Who Should Elect the President? 1969.
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