[Servant of the 9]

Point B: The true sillyness of this California election can be seen if all candidates, except for one, received exactly the same number of votes. The "except for one candidate" would receive one more vote than any of the other candiidates. Thus, the "winner" of the election for a new CEO for the seventh largest economy in the World would have won with a vote total of less than one percent. The "winner" would thus have been voted against by over 99 percent of those voting. The "winner" would have been chosen by the present plurality election laws.

The exact same situation applies to the Presidency of the United States.
We have begun to expect Presidents to be elected by a majority vote, because historically there have been only two significant parties, and because the electoral system usually produces a strong majority, even when there is no significant majority in the popular vote. However no majority vote, except a brokered one in the House of Representatives is Constitutionally required

Perhaps you should go re read your high school Civics book before your next rant.

SO9

[Graewoulf]

You are making my point.

California is future shock for our Nation. The same system that has contributed to the mess in California has made a mess out of the U.S. Presidential races.

The California observations about "splitting the vote" and "dropping out for the good of the Party" have also been made in the races for the Presidency.

The effect of plurality election laws, (and this will not be found in your "civics book" ), has been to reduce the percentage of people who bother to vote. Only 49 percent of us bothered to vote in the last National Election.

If plurality election laws can be revoked in California, then it is likely that the rest of our Nation will also revoke plurality election laws.

As a Nation, we have drifted far from being a Republic, far from using the will of the majority, and now we are in this plurality morass where the minority governs the majority.

Don't look for the Political Parties to get rid of plurality election voting, as the Political Parties like to eliminate the competition for ideas early within their respective ranks, and present a united front "tweedle-dumb or tweedle-dumber" choice to the voters.

If our Nation is to change its election laws, the change will have to come from the efforts of the voters.