Major campaign underway to nullify Electoral College

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The electoral college should have been thrown out with the slaves are 3/5th of a person part.

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The CA Senate and House, voting alone party lines, have passed the so called National Popular Vote Plan.  It is now expected to go to Schwarzenegger for signing before the Nov.

http://www.sacunion.com/pages/state_capitol/articles/8399/

This would make CA the first state to join the compact.  Additonal states are expected to pass it in 2007.
There is only a very slim chance it could go into effect for the 2008 election, but if it did the election campaign would change dramatically.  No more swing states, all campaigning would be focused on the largest states, and the largest media markets.

Arnold vetoed it. He likes California getting screwed by the electoral college.

I had an argument with some Arnold supporter who just didn't get it. She was anti electoral college, but thought it could be easily appealed by amendment. Ummm, no. She just voted for the electoral college when she voted for Arnold.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The CA Senate and House, voting alone party lines, have passed the so called National Popular Vote Plan.  It is now expected to go to Schwarzenegger for signing before the Nov.

http://www.sacunion.com/pages/state_capitol/articles/8399/

This would make CA the first state to join the compact.  Additonal states are expected to pass it in 2007.
There is only a very slim chance it could go into effect for the 2008 election, but if it did the election campaign would change dramatically.  No more swing states, all campaigning would be focused on the largest states, and the largest media markets.

Arnold vetoed it. He likes California getting screwed by the electoral college.

I had an argument with some Arnold supporter who just didn't get it. She was anti electoral college, but thought it could be easily appealed by amendment. Ummm, no. She just voted for the electoral college when she voted for Arnold.

Don't you realize that your vote would have been tossed away had this gone through. For example in 08 lets say the Republican canidate gets 51% of the vote he is the winner of the populer vote however under the electoral plan that was propsed your state would have gone to the winner regardless of who the majority of the voters in the state voted for.       

So? At least the candidates would be forced to spent time campaining in California.

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it was a purely partisan issue and Dems saw it as an advantage in the next one or two cycles and that was all that mattered.

Come on, you know that this is trivializing this whole issue. If there had been a uniform 2.2% swing to Kerry in the 2004 election, he would have won Ohio and the election while losing the popular vote. Nixon tried to get rid of the popular vote. This current Interstate Compact campaign has former Senator Garn R-UT,  former Senator Durenberger R-MN, former Rep. John Buchanan R-AL, former Rep. Tom Campbell R-CA, and Republican and then Independent John Anderson for it.

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Republicans who oppose this because "Democrats came up with the idea first, so it must be a partisan-scheme" are as ridiculous as those who deny the human factor's negative influence on the environment because Al Gore was the first to talk about it.

That's funny becuase in the last 2 Presidential elections, the Democrat did better in the critical swing state than the nation-wide popular vote


2008: Obama wins nationwide by 7.25%, Iowa by 9.53%
2004: Kerry loses nationwide by 2.46%, Ohio by 2.10%.

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The pace to nullify the EC is picking up, so far this year:

Colorado House Passes National Popular Vote Bill
Oregon House Passes National Popular Vote Bill
New Mexico House Passes National Popular Vote Bill
Arkansas House, Washington House, and Vermont Senate Pass National Popular Vote Bill


I think there is a good chance this plan will be in effect by 2012

Even if enough states pass it, don't forget that tthis is done by state statute. Any legislature that doesn't like the way 2012 might turn out can just as easily repeal their state law before the electors would be certified. Only a constitutional amendment can change the system and not leave it open to partisan whim.

I'd imagine that if this compact was in effect, there would be less resistance to amending the Constitution. Of course, that's a much tougher hurdle, seeing as 13 low population states can block it. It should be noted that one low population state already passed it, Hawaii.

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Would you Democrats be OK with keeping the Electoral College if Gore would have won the EV and Bush would have won the PV? You know that many people considered this to be a serious possiblity right before the 2000 election.

Of course not. The Electoral College is an inherently undemocratic system, no matter who winds up winning it.

The executive branch isn't supposed to be fully Democratic, that's the congress' job. Just like a Prime Minister isn't directly elected.

Because it's Democratic to have the 21 least popular states block any legislation in the Senate.

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Would you Democrats be OK with keeping the Electoral College if Gore would have won the EV and Bush would have won the PV? You know that many people considered this to be a serious possiblity right before the 2000 election.

Of course not. The Electoral College is an inherently undemocratic system, no matter who winds up winning it.

The executive branch isn't supposed to be fully Democratic, that's the congress' job. Just like a Prime Minister isn't directly elected.

Because it's Democratic to have the 21 least popular states block any legislation in the Senate.

That's an issue with the Senate rule, not the federal system. In principle, the House could have a supermajority cloture rule.

So it's democratic for Wyoming to have as much representation as California in the Senate?

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If the compact gets 270 EV worth of states signed on, it should become a lot easier to amend the Constitution to have the same effect as the compact.