Posted on 01/03/2008 4:18:41 PM PST by WOBBLY BOB
TRENTON, N.J.—New Jersey is close to entering a compact that would eliminate the power of the Electoral College to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea. The state Senate voted Thursday to approve delivering the state's 15 electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote. The Assembly approved the measure in December and needs Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature to become law.
"The bill is subject to a thorough review, but Gov. Corzine has long been a supporter of this concept," Corzine spokesman Jim Gardner said.
The measure could result in the electoral votes going to a candidate opposed by voters in New Jersey, which has backed Democratic presidential candidates since 1988.
The compact would take effect only if enough states—those with a majority of votes in the Electoral College—agreed to it. A candidate needs 270 of 538 electoral votes to win.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Makes me feel good about living a "stone's throw" from the Governor's Mansion.
These people are not so bright. They would just give solidly democratic votes to Republicans.
NJ ping
That means the NJ electoral votes in 2004 would have gone to Bush.
New Jersey, the “A-hole” of the world.
The same thing is proposed for cali...of course the dems are freaking about it....
*snicker*
What an obviously stupid idea.
What would this do to local elections in presidential years? Why would people turn out?
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
-Ben Franklin.
Unconstitutional per Article I Section 10 paragraph 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
New Jersey has done very significant things to and for the country before. One thing for sure, the small states with three EC votes would not approve of this at all.
As long as it is blue states who enter into the agreement, that’s fine with me. Just leave states like Texas and Florida out of it.
Wow the people in Nwq Jersey must be so tired. Errrrrr, I mean so Bushed :)
Sounds like the Republicans are going to have to get ready to join the smokers on the outside, looking in.
Nwq = New. I’m tired but not Bushed :)
No, just one of many.
Are there two different proposals in California on this?
The one that I am aware of differs from this plan as the EV's would be awarded on a district by district basis (as opposed to 'democrat-take-all', with two EV's going to the winner of the statewide popular vote.
Actually, we don't know who the votes would have gone to in 2004, because many votes are never counted in states where the vote is not close. If all votes were counted in 2004, John F'n Kerry might have had more.
The real problem with this plan, of course, is that it defeats the non-proportional representation that was engineered into the US Constitution. The votes of people in smaller states are worth more than the votes of people in larger states under the Electoral College system, because the smaller states have disproportionally high representation. This was done intentionally to limit the power of the larger states and to encourage the smaller states to accept union with them.
The logic today is the same as it was then. This compact should not be legal. There is no way any reasonable judge could conclude that "One man, one vote", with all votes being weighed equally, was the intent of the Framers, when they carefully crafted a system that does not achieve this.
Of course, reasonable judges are in short supply, these days, so what the courts would decide is anybody's guess.
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