Posted on 07/17/2011 11:24:59 AM PDT by thecodont
It's a complaint that arises every four years, then quickly fades: the disproportionate power a small number of states have over the presidential contest.
California lawmakers want to do something about it - in fact, they've tried for years, but were blocked by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So just as they did in 2006 and 2008, legislators this week approved a proposal to make California relevant.
Here's how it works: California's electoral votes are awarded in a winner-take-all manner. If a presidential candidate wins the majority of popular votes in California, he or she gets all the state's 55 electoral votes. This legislation, already adopted in eight other states, would award the electoral votes of participating states to the candidate who wins the nation's popular vote.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/15/BAST1KAHH6.DTL#ixzz1SO4vkHdA
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Is there any relationship at all between this electoral vote/popular vote proposal and the current CA redistricting plan?
The fact that the Soros family are big supporters is more than enough reason for me to oppose it.
The concept of awarding a state's electors based on the national popular vote specifically and deliberately violates that rule.
Actually, the electors are free to vote for anyone they want, no restrictions.
Voters are only selecting the electors, and cannot tell them how to vote (although they may try to get a pledge from them to vote for a certain candidate, nothing legally binds the electors to keep that pledge).
Then the “wise elder statesmen”, the electors, are supposed to choose someone to be president.
You have to admire the ingenuity of the left in coming up with ways to trash the Constitution- they get nothing, if not kudos for imagination!
But this fits in so well with the Left's plans to nationalize other things that used to belong to the states.
Mass. gov. signs national popular vote bill
Massachusetts' Electoral College votes would go to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, under a bill signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Deval Patrick.
With the governor's signature, Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to join the compact. Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii and Washington state have already approved the measure. The six states together control 27 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to trigger the law.
what of my wife’s and my votes?
they never count in a post-baby boomer,
socialist californicate.
“Bite ‘em in the butt” applies here I think. It could be they’re moving toward getting rid of their own party’s chances at the Presidency for a reason. :’)
“When they were pushing it here in Michigan they made sure to include an opt out clause (just in case a republican was the likely winner) The fact is that it opens up all kinds of opportunities for mischief.”
It does the precise opposite. No democrat will ever need to campaign in California, because the other states will decide the outcome. The opt out clause will guarantee that it doesn’t come back to hurt the Dims, but a republican would never win.
“The FAIREST way to ensure that all votes count [down to the lowest levels of citizenry] is to award the electoral votes by district in each state. Win the district - win the one electoral vote assigned to it.”
Seems like a good idea. My state is a winner take all state. I especially don’t like the idea of states having open primaries also being winner take all states.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
I agree with you.
The only changes I’d make at this time is closed primaries and convince all states to have their primary on the same day.
Candidates who do poorly in early primary states often drop out before primaries in states where they might do better.
That's so true it goes without saying....
That's why electors aren't just picked up off the street...they are always party hacks of the first order. And for once, I think that's a good idea.
“Plus we have some counties with under 5000 people and others with over a million.”
That’s my point. Why should all those counties with 5,000 people be disenfranchised why Philly gets 105% of the vote.
This eliminates it.
Limit vote fraud to as small of region as possible, so (as others have stated) have two at large electors in a state plus one for the winner in each Congressional district. The Chicago undead-American voters can only affect Illinois's two at large electors and a few districts near their graveyards rather than all 538 electoral votes.
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