Not all votes for president carry equal weight

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:08 am

Also, map all the worst performing public elementary and high schools in the country and that should scare you as well. But not to worry, they'll get waivers to establish their own measures of success so we can continue to "invest."

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:40 am

This reminds me of a 'paper' on the subject of ice dams that said ice dam damage mostly occurs north of the 34 degree median temperature line.

A more accurate predictor is the snow line'!:rolleyes:

dforeman · Post by **dforeman** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:42 pm

Check out this site. It maps out the majority votes for each state by jurisdiction.

http://news.yahoo.com/control-room/?on= ... ident_2012

Personally, I feel like my vote has been watered down. Here in Maryland 56% (13 counties) had a majority vote for the republican candidate and 44% (10 counties) majority vote for democratic candidate. Unfortunately, because of this all 10 of our electorial votes went the the democratic candidate (not a 6 to 4 split). Somehow, I just have a hard time getting my head around the fairness of it all. Now take a look at some of the other states such as Pennsylvania or Texas. The split is much more dramatic. You can clearly see that the demographics of the majorities (maybe with a couple of exceptions) fall around the most populated areas (major cities, towns, etc). Which, I am sorry to say are probably the most concentrations of the over 4 million more latino voters than the previous election.

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:33 pm

heathicus wrote: And candidate would only have to campaign and appeal to people in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, and New York City and could forget about the rest of the country.

I'd say that's exactly what we have now. Sadly, the electoral college no longer works as the Founding Fathers intended.

major_bob · Post by **major_bob** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:16 am

tomsalwasser wrote:I'd say that's exactly what we have now. Sadly, the electoral college no longer works as the Founding Fathers intended.

Tom, I'm sad to say that very little seems to be working the way it was intended......

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:02 am

major_bob wrote:Tom, I'm sad to say that very little seems to be working the way it was intended......

AMEN!!!!!!

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:27 am

This just in. Apparently there is a national campaign underway in all 50 states to elect the president by popular vote. In Minnesota, a bipartisan group in the legislature will introduce a bill next month that would award Minnesota's 10 Electoral College votes to the Presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states.

A sad fact: Presidential candidates made 253 post-convention campaign stops in just 12 states. The other 38 states got none. The candidates went where the votes counted the most.

Here is a news article with more information: http://www.twincities.com/ci_22208684

major_bob · Post by **major_bob** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:43 am

tomsalwasser wrote:This just in. Apparently there is a national campaign underway in all 50 states to elect the president by popular vote. In Minnesota, a bipartisan group in the legislature will introduce a bill next month that would award Minnesota's 10 Electoral College votes to the Presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states.

A sad fact: Presidential candidates made 253 post-convention campaign stops in just 12 states. The other 38 states got none. The candidates went where the votes counted the most.

Here is a news article with more information: http://www.twincities.com/ci_22208684

So, if I lived in Minnesota, why bother to vote at all ? I can understand why a state might want to change how it appoints its electors but why say "we will just go along with whatever the other 49 states want' ?????

tomsalwasser · Post by **tomsalwasser** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:53 am

Actually it's quite the opposite MB. Let me explain when I get back later...gotta run!

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:56 am

I agree that with current population centers and demographics, we are pretty much experiencing the very problem the founders sought to avoid with the Electoral College. But giving in and going to a national popular vote doesn't fix the problem - it only solidifies it. We do need some election reform, but I'd rather nothing be done than go to a national popular vote.

I do like how Maine and Nebraska split their electors by electoral districts. I think if every state did that, you would maintain the "state's rights" reasoning behind the electoral college, but also decentralize the focus of campaign efforts from the handful of big cities and swing states.

But then we'll have gerrymandering of the districts. But no system is perfect.