Posted on 09/08/2004 11:01:55 AM PDT by Bonaventure
South Charleston Mayor Richie Robb said today he may vote against George W. Bush in the Electoral College, even if the president carries West Virginia's popular vote.
Robb, long known as a maverick Republican, said he is considering using his position as one of the state's five Republican electors to protest what he believes are misguided policies of the current administration.
"It's not likely that I would vote for Kerry," Robb said. "But I'm looking at what my options are when it comes time to cast my vote."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
..sounds like he wants something...
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/case/3pt/electoral.html
"faithless electors" who defect from the candidate to whom they are pledged. Most recently, in 1976, a Republican elector in the state of Washington cast his vote for Ronald Reagan instead of Gerald Ford, the Republican presidential candidate. Earlier, in 1972, a Republican elector in Virginia deserted Nixon to vote for the Libertarian party candidate. And in 1968, Nixon lost another Virginia elector, who bolted to George Wallace.
The main danger of faithless electors is that the candidate who wins the popular vote could wind up one or two votes short of a majority in the electoral college and could lose the election on a technicality. This prospect becomes more probable when there are third-party or independent candidates who could negotiate with electors before they vote.
Many see the apportioning of the electoral college votes by states as a basic flaw, because it gives each of the smaller states at least three electoral votes, even though on a straight population basis some might be entitled to only one or two.
Critics of the system also argue that the possibility that an election could be thrown into the House of Representatives is undemocratic. In such a case each state has a single vote, which gives the sparsely populated or small states equal weight with more populous states such as California or New York. The two occasions when it occurred (1800 and 1824) were marked by charges of "deals" and "corrupt bargains." In any event, giving each state one vote in the House of Representatives regardless of the number of people represented is not consistent with the widely accepted concept of one-person-one-vote. Also, one vote per state in the House of Representatives may not necessarily result in a choice that replicates the electoral vote winner in that state in November.
Those who argue in favor of retaining the present system state that there is too much uncertainty over whether any other method would be an improvement. They point out that many of the complaints about the electoral college apply just as well to the Senate and, to some extent, to the House. They fear that reform could lead to the dismantling of the federal system.
Abolishing the EC in favor of pure mob rule is NOT what the Founders had in mind. This is also the same reason why we should never allow an election to go to Congree for a decision.
A flawed system, but mob rule is not the answer. Perhaps EC votes should automatically go to the winner and take the human [CORRUPTIBLE..i.e. MAYOR RICHIE BOBB (!)] element out of it?
I have no problem with his using his vote as a protest...but only if it isn't that close. Sorry, but this is a bit different than making noise at the opposing parties convention.
It probably/hopefully won't be a close race, but if it were -- could the Dems in their utter desparation attempt to "sway" individual electors and tip the scales? /nightmare mode off
Excellent point, dfwgator.
How did he get made an Elector?
Let's get those phone records and connect some dots - Kerry was in West Virginia a few hours before this guy made this statement?? Did he receive a visit from Kerry's traveling Sheet Metal Union thugs?
I want to know.
It's not against the law.
Richie Robb is a wingnut. I've met him and even sat next to him at a Lincoln Day dinner (not by choice). He's doing this solely to aggravate the WVGOP, which seems to be his only reason for living. At every statewide meeting of Republicans, he mounts a one-man campaign to push through proposals no one wants, wasting the time of everyone in attendance. I should rephrase: 95 percent of the reason he's doing this is his dislike for the WVGOP and Kris Warner; the other 5 percent is for the attention. He has problems.
How did he get chosen as an elector?
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