California to ditch winner-take-all electoral system?
Posted by Moonage on 25 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: 2008 Presidential Race, Government, Politics, US Regional Politics
In 2000, George W. Bush won the electoral college. He however, lost the popular vote. The election was so close that Al Gore challenged one state in an effort to change the outcome of the election. The only reason it was that close was because Gore focused on a hand full of huge electoral prizes and won most of them. Bush carried about 70% of the states, but that didn’t matter, most were small electoral prizes. Gore’s strategy I felt cheated most of America. It was smart mathematically, but nevertheless allows a candidate to ignore most of America and focus primarily on California, New York, and Texas. One vote more than the other candidate in those states and you got the whole prize. The entire representation of that state. That just ain’t right. Now, Republicans are sponsoring a change to the California electoral college that will dole out electoral votes based on the percentage of votes received. This is a win-win for all of America in my opinion. First of all, it forces Democrat candidates to work California as hard, if not harder, than they ever had to before. Most popular Democrat candidates could take California for granted, it’s just that urban, and that Democrat because of it. Now, taking Los Angeles will not guarantee 55 electoral votes. They’ll have to work all of California. It’s a win for the smaller states in the rest of the country as well. If the Democrat candidate knows they’re not going to get a 20 something electoral vote bonus for one extra vote in California, they’ll attempt to make up those votes elsewhere. That will force them to recognize the Idaho’s and Alaska’s.
I like this plan a lot. I have argued that the electoral college was designed with a purpose. A purpose I agree with. However, the sheer size and disproportionate population shifts have kind of undermined the college’s intent. Proportional college allotments will return it to it’s original intent. How a state assigns their college is up to them. So, it’s all within the intent of the Founding Fathers. This is a good plan California, I hope you all take it seriously. And, I think all states should follow their lead.
1 Comment »
on 26 Aug 2007 at 12:37 pm 1.AmericanPhoenix said …
I think there is virtually no chance of this getting through. The Democrats own the state legislature and the unions own Governor SchwartzenKennedy. It’s a great idea. It gives us Republicans more of a voice in Presidential elections, and it also makes the candidates campaign in California. That said, it will never happen.
The last several campaigns, California has been virtually ignored. It’s been considered a locked up Democrat state. (I still remember when that didn’t used to be the case.) Democrats don’t have to bother because they’ve already got it in the bag, and Republicans don’t want to waste resources on a state that has no chance of victory.
The other problem was that our election was so late in the cycle. That’s now changed, but I really don’t think this will make that big a difference. Particularly as other states are now moving to regain their “first” vote status.