Talk Elections

Yes, I know what you're going to say -- Vosem starts a project then just abandons it. When I merely read What-ifs I used to despise posters like han and Giovanni who would do it. (Also other people, but they're still posting, and so won't be mentioned. cough*Lief*cough). It's true. But this isn't a timeline -- this is more done to entertain myself. Recently I was recalling Antonio's long-dead thread about more logical American states, which respected cultural boundaries better and were more equal in terms of population (https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=102228.0). As I was doing this, I was perusing Larry Sabato's website when I came upon this map (http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/content/images/2012%20political%20map%20(Electoral%20College)%201100px.png). So -- what if they were worse, not better, giving even more undue influence to the west? (I'll figure out actual electoral vote totals for each state after the entire thing is done).

And I thought, to myself -- what if states really looked like that? This won't be a precise thread -- rather than actually drawing out the straight lines, mostly I'll adhere to county boundaries that approximate those Mr. Sabato has drawn. I'll work out presidential and gubernatorial elections back to 2000, starting in New England and going around the edges. (Note that Alaska and Hawaii remain the same). Note that it is unclear on the map on whether Long Island belongs to Connecticut or Massachusetts - I'll treat the entire island as part of Connecticut. Otherwise, everything should be...self-explanatory.

Alternate Maine should be up within a few hours.

Alternate Maine
Counties:

• Aroostook, ME
  Penobscot, ME
  Piscataquis, ME
  Somerset, ME

Population:
Census of 1990: 301,957
Census of 2000: 286,980
Census of 2010: 295,556

Presidential Elections:
2008:
Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Jr. (Democratic) 78,724 (51.91%)
John McCain III/Sarah Palin (Republican) 70,045 (46.19%)
Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez (Unenrolled) 2,159 (1.42%)
Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente (Green) 637 (0.42%)
Write-ins 88 (0.06%)
Total: 151,653

2004:
John Kerry/John Edwards (Democratic) 77,950 (49.68%)
George W. Bush/Richard Cheney (Republican) 76,134 (48.53%)
Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo (The Better Life) 1,648 (1.05%)
David Cobb/Patricia laMarche (Green Independent) 581 (0.37%)
Michael Badnarik/Richard Campagna (Libertarian) 373 (0.24%)
Michael Peroutka/Charles Baldwin (Constitution) 207 (0.13%)
Total: 156,893

2000:
George W. Bush/Richard Cheney (Republican) 67,704 (47.83%)
Albert Gore, Jr./Joseph Lieberman (Democratic) 65,347 (46.16%)
Ralph Nader/Winona laDuke (Green Ind.) 6,537 (4.62%)
Patrick Buchanan/Ezola Foster (Reform) 1,123 (0.79%)
Harry Browne/Art Olivier (Libertarian) 697 (0.49%)
Howard Phillips/Curtis Frazier (Constitution) 144 (0.10%)
Write-ins 4 (0.01%)
Total: 141,556

Gubernatorial Elections:
2010:
Paul lePage (Republican) 50,792 (44.01%)
Eliot Cutler (Independent) 41,251 (35.74%)
Libby Mitchell (Democratic) 17,100 (14.82%)
Shawn Moody (Independent) 4,820 (4.18%)
Kevin Scott (Independent) 1,419 (1.23%)
Write-ins 31 (0.02%)
Total: 115,413

2006:
John Baldacci (Democratic) 46,038 (40.77%)
Chandler Woodcock (Republican) 36,510 (32.34%)
Barbara Merrill (Unenrolled) 19,947 (17.67%)
Patricia laMarche (Green Ind.) 9,724 (8.61%)
Phillip M. naPier (Unenrolled) 690 (0.61%)
Total: 112,909

2002:
John Baldacci (Democratic) 59,462 (55.56%)
Peter Cianchette (Republican) 40,239 (37.60%)
Jonathan Carter (Green) 5,420 (5.06%)
John Michael (Unenrolled) 1,905 (1.78%)
Total: 107,026

Interesting. Go on :-)