It may be time to graduate from the Electoral College

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

DENVER — The tattered Electoral College method of choosing a president — the system that made George Bush president even when Al Gore won 539,893 more votes — may get a startling jolt here on Election Day.

An initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot would amend Colorado's Constitution, effective immediately, to scrap the winner-take-all allocation of electoral votes that 48 states now use. Instead, Colorado's nine electoral votes would be divided to reflect each candidate's share of the popular vote (rounded off to the closest electoral vote).

If the initiative passes, John Kerry would be likely to get at least four Colorado electoral votes, even if Bush "carries" the state. In an election as close as 2000, when Bush won the national electoral count by a single vote, the Colorado measure could decide the next president.

But even if that doesn't occur, passage of the Colorado initiative — which now leads in the polls — could have a dramatic impact on American politics.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002053094_peirce04.html

[wtmusic]

1. There'd still be an Electoral College but the states' votes would be split

Kinda like Electoral Community College

[NEOBuckeye]

2. This is long overdue.

As Election 2000 proved, the electoral college system is antiquated and cumbersome. States don't elect governors in this way. Why then, should the country elect its Presidents in this manner? I say abolish it.

[stopbush]

3. The one major downside to bush losing this year

and he will lose - is that his winning would have proved the ineffectiveness of the EC.

The EC was set up to prevent idiots like bush from assuming the presidency, ie: situations where the common man was to stupid to see how disastrous their most-popular-votes choice was for the country. The EC was a check against the stupidity of Joe Six Grogs - vote for a disaster like bush, and the "smart" people in the EC will right the wrong.

If bush did win this year - either by popular vote or scandalous actions - the EC SHOULD step in and say, "sorry, but the country has had enough. We can't take four more years of bushco. Ergo, we cast our votes in opposition to the country bumpkins and elect JK as president."

Once that *didn't* happen (ie: the EC didn't right the wrong), it would prove that the EC was nothing but a political figurehead and it's elimination would - in theory - be easier to accomplish.