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Posted on 08/08/2007 4:48:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Our way of electing presidents has always been fertile ground for mischief. But there's sensible mischief—toying with existing laws and the Constitution to reflect popular will—and then there's the other kind, which tries to rig admission to the Electoral College for strictly partisan purposes. Mischief-makers in California (Republicans) and North Carolina (Democrats) are at work on changes that would subvert the system for momentary advantage and—in ways the political world is only beginning to understand—dramatically increase the odds that a Republican will be elected president in 2008.
Right now, every state except Nebraska and Maine awards all of its electoral votes to the popular-vote winner in that state. So in mammoth California, John Kerry beat George W. Bush and won all 55 electoral votes, more than one fifth of the 270 necessary for election.
Instead of laboring in vain to turn California Red, a clever lawyer for the state Republican Party thought of a gimmicky shortcut. Thomas Hiltachk, who specializes in ballot referenda that try to fool people in the titles and fine print, is sponsoring a ballot initiative for the June 3, 2008, California primary (which now falls four months after the state's presidential primary). The Presidential Election Reform Act would award the state's electoral votes based on who wins each congressional district. Had this idea been in effect in 2004, Bush would have won 22 electoral votes from California, about the same number awarded the winners of states like Illinois or Pennsylvania. In practical terms, adopting the initiative would mean that the Democratic candidate would likely have to win both Ohio and Florida in 2008 (instead of one or the other) to be elected.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Of course.
When Republicans do it in a Democrat state, it's "mischief". But when Democrats do it in a Republican state (Colorado) it's "sensible".
Alter is, himself, a partisan tool.
Yup, me. I got a problem with that. So do the Founding Fathers, Alter. This is a perfect recipe for cooking up even more massive voter fraud in the cities to offset the Republican rubes in the sticks. Take a gander at MI, PA & WI for starters to see how 6k phony votes can steal an entire state (see Milwaukee).
If Alter were an open-minded, careful researcher, he would have found my article for Contingencies, the Journal for the American Academy of Actuaries. That article demonstrated that use of the District Plan would have brought all recent Electoral College votes closer to the popular vote results. And that's a "reform" that Democrats claim to want -- until the reform helps the Republicans, and therefore becomes the spawn of Satan.
Alter is a phony. But then, did anyone doubt that?
Congressman Billybob
The system’s broke. Do over.
Why would a Republican presidential candidate come to Califoria only to win 33 seats? As it is, they don’t come here to win 55 of them. They don’t come to support our gubenatorial candidates. They don’t even come to seek their own victory here. Okay they come once or twice for a couple of hours.
What some are attempting to accomplish will effectively destroy any impact California has on presidential elections. No candidate in their right mind will come to the state and spend $10 million (or whatever) dollars here to pick up five to ten Electoral Votes.
I can tell you where this idea came from. It came directly from the National RNC. Enough die hard Republicans live in the state that the RNC candidates will never have to come here again to get 25 votes. And even if the candidate comes here, at best they’ll only get 33 or so.
This idea is insulting to say the least. At least they are up front about future plans to defend conservatism in the state or actually expend an effort to win here.
As a Californian I can tell folks, I am beginning to actually hate what the RND leadership has done to this party. What a bunch of caniving a—holes.
There’s a big problem with having the national vote determine the presidency. As things now stand, corrupt states, and we all know they exist, cannot much influence the election. Cheating will only run up the margin by which the winner carries the state. States where the election is competitive tend to be more honest to start with, and if anybody wants to cheat, there is some sort of balance of power in the state, so the cheating can be contested at the state level.
In a national election, utterly corrupt states and cities can cheat all they like without any local or regional check. The only remedy would be in the federal courts. But how many cases can the supreme court cope with? How many court-decided elections can national unity stand? There would be a much greater incentive to cheating under the proposed system, and the cheating would not just throw elections, it would erode what good will remains between red and blue states.
Make that RNC leadership...
Well, we keep getting pushed closer and closer to the brink of revolution.
Of course they are only upset when it favors the Republicans. Sure wish the people here in California could see what the Dems are doing regarding term limits. Jerry “moonbeam” Brown, our fraudulently elected Attorney General, wrote the new initiative so that people will think that they are voting for term limits when in fact they are allowing those in office to stay longer. Democrats are the cult of deceit.
Any scheme that tends to direct democracy on a national level is a bad idea. Shame on those partisan scoundrels, in this case, a Republican lawyer.
Me too. I got another lame letter from them today, even after I wrote them instructing they remove my name/address from their mailing list, as I’ve never registered with their party.
This California popular vote ‘referendum’ would be over-turned, properly, by the U.S. Supreme Court. The power to decided the allocation of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Electors was given exclusively to the State Legislature, period. A popular referendum is NOT an act of the State Legislature.
The power to appoint, select or hold elections for Electors belongs to the Legislature of the States - it remains one of the last State Powers that has not been gutted by the Federal Government or Amendment.
dvwjr
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
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Gotta go with the Founders on this one: restore power to the states. If I had anything resembling Free Republic spam, it would be my passion to repeal the 17th Amendment.
There’s an unforeseen, gigantic political disconnection between the states and Washington.
How Nebraska appoints its electors isn’t my business.
If the 17th Amendment was repealed, states like mine (TN) would still be sending rodents to the Senate instead of 2 Republicans. The legislative rodent gerrymandering has made it a reality that until this past January, only once since after the 1860s had a Republican won a non-Gubernatorial statewide office.
I was a registered Repubican from the age of 18 to 49. Seven years ago I got so fed up I bolted. I still consider myself a Republican at heart. That’s where my loyalties lie, but I want the conservative plank of our party to be the driving force. If it isn’t going to be, I will not remain within the party (or in this case return).
The policies I support are law and order, fiscal conservancy and a strong military. I see too many issues concerning these matters die on the alter of liberalism or even moderatism. I won’t stand for it.
Thanks for the note.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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