“Maybe it would be a better idea to do it by square miles.”
Actually, it would be best in the long term (for both the Republican party in particular and Euro-Americans in general) for states to switch from a “winner take all” system of assigning electors to the “assignment by congressional district” that the states of Maine and Nebraska currently use.
This would go a long way toward protecting conservative influence in the next several decades. Let me give you a soon-to-be example: Texas.
Right now, Texas is staunchly Republican, but that is going to change as the demographics of the state change (and they are changing rapidly NOW). The lion’s share of babies born in Texas are now Hispanic, both legal and illegal (possibly more of the latter). These “new Texans” aren’t voting now, but in 18-20 years, they will, and to believe that they’re politics will be the same as the gringos they’ll eventually replace on the voting rolls is a fantasy bordering on delusion.
What this means is that the 55 winner-take-all electoral votes of Texas will eventually “tip” from the right to the left. Once that happens, the presidency will become out-of-reach for Republicans, as there already are enough high-electoral-vote “blue states” to give them a significant “starting advantage” in presidential contests. Without Texas, it will be all over for the G.O.P.
I’m older, and may not live to see Texas tip, but it WILL happen. There’s nothing complicated about it, it’s the relatively simple math of demographics, and it’s inevitable.
The only solution to stop it will be to “change the system”. If Texas moves to a “congressional district” scheme of assigning electors, this will go a long way to dilute the growing numbers of Hispanics within the state. No, Texas won’t keep all 55 electoral votes in the “red column”. But it WILL keep enough of them so that the Pubbies will still have a chance at the presidency.
It’s obvious why the ‘rats want to throw out the electoral college.
What isn’t so obvious is that if we don’t re-structure the selection of electors as they are currently assigned in the red states, the growing demographic numbers of non-Euros may tip enough critical states leftward enough to make it mathematically impossible for the Republicans to win the presidency again.
So, my slogan re the Electoral College is, “mend it — don’t end it”.
If we are unwilling to fix it at the state levels, if we refuse to understand or acknowledge what’s coming, we are eventually going to end up with a situation that, by then, will be impossible to fix, and will forever guarantee the ‘rats the presidency.
Getting it changed however will be a very difficult, if not impossible task.
With regard to the "inevitability" of Texas flipping to a blue state due to demographic shift, we do not need to stand around and just let it happen. We need not concede that the Hispanic voters will always vote Democrat. I believe that many Hispanics who think they are Democrats can be converted to Republican. To wit, Gov. Martinez of New Mexico.
BTW, this applies to all demographic groups. Just because they vote one way today does not mean it needs to always be that way.