Tuesday, January 15, 2008

College Try

" (New Jersey) Governor John Corzine signed legislation (to ) deliver the state's 15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.....Maryland, with 10 electoral votes, is the only other state to have passed the compact into law."
Associated Press, Jan. 15, 2007

This new procedure, now in effect in these two states for the 2008 presidential election, is an effort to by-pass the Electoral College. The College, consisting of 535 electors chosen by the states, has produced a President who did not win the popular vote several times, most recently in 2000.

Q. How are electors chosen?

A. Each state political party nominates a slate of electors, one for each congressional district in the state plus two more, for the number of senators. The Constitution does not specify how each state must choose electors, but the prevailing method is to award the total number of electors to the party whose presidential candidate has received the highest number of votes in the November election. States are free to apportion the electors by congressional district, or as a proportional share of the vote by party. Originally, many states allowed the legislature to select electors; although that is still legal today, no state does so now.
Although most electors vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged, they are not obligated by law to do so, and some have voted for other people. Some states also permit slates of unpledged electors.

Q. How does the Electoral College work?
The electors meet in each state capital in December and cast votes for President and Vice President, which are then sent to the US Capitol where the presiding officer of the Senate (usually the Vice President) opens and reads them.
If no candidate receives a majority of all electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects one of the top three candidates to become President.

Q. What is the effect of the provisions passed by New Jersey and Maryland?
A. Since both states usually vote Democratic, they could swing the electoral vote to the Republican nominee if he wins the popular vote. Not a single "red" (Republican) state has adopted this plan.

Q. Should the Constitution be amended to eliminate the Electoral College?
A. Yes! If a candidate garners more than 50% of the popular vote, that candidate should become President . If there are three or more candidates, and no one gets a majority, hold a run-off in December between the top two.

Q Why would this be better?
A. Because the person elected President will have majority support, not merely a plurality of the vote in a group of states whose electoral votes add up to 270or more.
Had this method been in force in 2000, Al Gore would have become President and Joe Lieberman Vice President.

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