The Electoral College

Warning: Undefined variable $time_difference in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 324

Warning: Undefined array key 0 in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 336

Warning: Undefined variable $time_difference in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 324

Warning: Undefined array key 0 in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 336

I have found Oval Office 2008 to be a great place to go for commentary on the 2008 Presidential elections. Normally they don’t get into politics outside of the presidential candidates, but today they made an exception. They reported that Maryland had enacted a law which would assign their electoral college votes to the winner of the national popular vote regardless of who wins in Maryland. The only catch is that the law will only go into effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes enact similar laws. There are a number of states that have considered doing something like this. Who knows what will happen.

There is an interesting discussion in the comments of that post about the constitutionality of this move. My own feeling on the subject is that I would always oppose this type of move. I think that the founding fathers did not create the electoral college on a whim and I don’t buy the argument that it was because they could not count the popular vote without a computer. Then again, I think that each state should award their electoral votes proportional to the results of the popular vote in their state rather than block voting. That would make it so that candidates would find some value in appealing to states with small electoral vote constituencies. It would also mean that they could not afford to ignore a large state where they have no chance of winning outright.

I have argued before that under the current system it does not matter if you are from Utah or New York, your vote does not count in national elections because the electors in your state are predetermined. The current system has its flaws, but I’m not sure the system of just going with the winner of the popular vote is better. We are a republic after all and not a democracy. This was by design so lets be careful before we redesign the system.