Bypassing the electoral college

[red states rule]

If this happened in 2004, Maryland would be a red state.

And Hell would officially have frozen over.


Maryland Sidesteps Electoral College

Apr 10 04:37 PM US/Eastern
By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland officially became the first state on Tuesday to approve a plan to give its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the candidate chosen by state voters.
Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, signed the measure into law, one day after the state's General Assembly adjourned.

The measure would award Maryland's 10 electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. The plan would only take effect if states representing a majority of the nation's 538 electoral votes decided to make the same change.

State Sen. Jamie Raskin, a law professor and sponsor of the idea, said Maryland is largely ignored by presidential candidates during campaigns, because they assume the Democratic state will vote for the Democratic candidate.

Raskin, a Democrat, said he hoped Maryland's support for the idea will start a national discussion and "kick off an insurrection among spectator states—the states that are completely bypassed and sidelined" during presidential campaigns.

"Going by the national popular vote will reawaken politics in every part of the country," Raskin said.

Other states are considering the change to avoid an election in which a candidate wins the national popular vote but loses in the Electoral College, as in 2000 when Democrat Al Gore lost to George W. Bush.

Hawaii's legislature recently passed a similar measure, sending it to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle. California lawmakers adopted the measure last year, but Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

National Popular Vote, a group that supports the change, said there are legislative sponsors for the idea in 47 states. Ryan O'Donnell, a spokesman for the group, described O'Malley's decision to sign the legislation as "an open invitation" for other states to join Maryland.

But not everyone is buying into the idea. North Dakota and Montana rejected it earlier this year. Opponents say the change would hurt small rural states, where the percentage of the national vote would be even smaller than the three electoral votes they each have in the overall Electoral College.

Under the current Electoral College system, voters decide to support slates of "electors," who meet to choose the president. A candidate needs a majority of 270 out of 538 to be elected.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8ODVBC80&show_article=1&catnum=0
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[maineman]

just imagine...if every state had had this in 2000, Dubya would never have been president, and we never would have invaded Iraq. We would not have lost 3500 soldiers and we would not have flushed a trillion dollars down the toilet. Hell...9/11 probably wouldn't have happened, for that matter.

that seems to me to be reason enough for every state to seriously consider this!

 

[red states rule]

just imagine...if every state had had this in 2000, Dubya would never have been president, and we never would have invaded Iraq. We would not have lost 3500 soldiers and we would not have flushed a trillion dollars down the toilet. Hell...9/11 probably wouldn't have happened, for that matter.

that seems to me to be reason enough for every state to seriously consider this!

Dream on

If libs can't win an election they want to change the rules

 

[maineman]

I realize that all I can do about the 2000 debacle is dream of what might have been.... many Americans have that same dream....

this man has fucked up the world... and assholes like you continue to support him as he does it.

 

[red states rule]

Get over it

When your party puts up idiots like Gore and Kerry how can you expect to win?

Now you are going with Hillary and Obama

Dems never learn from history

 

[maineman]

Get over it

When your party puts up idiots like Gore and Kerry how can you expect to win?

Now you are going with Hillary and Obama

Dems never learn from history

you forget that more americans wanted Gore than Bush.

 

[red states rule]

you forget that more americans wanted Gore than Bush.

To bad the US Constitution got in the way

Presidents are NOT elected by the popular vote

 

[maineman]

To bad the US Constitution got in the way

Presidents are NOT elected by the popular vote

I understand completely.

the fact is though....more american voters wanted Gore to be president that Bush....

and if a few hundred Jews in Palm Beach had been able to figure out the butterfly ballots and punch the right chad for Gore instead of the nazi lover Buchanan, we wouldn't have had to suffer like this.

 

[red states rule]

I understand completely.

the fact is though....more american voters wanted Gore to be president that Bush....

and if a few hundred Jews in Palm Beach had been able to figure out the butterfly ballots and punch the right chad for Gore instead of the nazi lover Buchanan, we wouldn't have had to suffer like this.

Perhaps instead of whining, Dems should hold classes on how to cast a vote on Dem designed ballots

Those issues were in heavily populated Dem districts

 

[maineman]

Perhaps instead of whining, Dems should hold classes on how to cast a vote on Dem designed ballots

Those issues were in heavily populated Dem districts

indeed they were....and Pat Buchanan himself admitted that those votes were NOT intentionally cast for him but for Gore....

as each day goes by, people around the world and across America are realizing just how much better the world would be today if those folks had punched the right chad.

 

[red states rule]

indeed they were....and Pat Buchanan himself admitted that those votes were NOT intentionally cast for him but for Gore....

as each day goes by, people around the world and across America are realizing just how much better the world would be today if those folks had punched the right chad.

So whose fault is it Dems are to stupid to fill out a ballot?

What is your excuse for your 04 loss?

Are you going to rant how Ohio was stolen?

 

[maineman]

So whose fault is it Dems are to stupid to fill out a ballot?

What is your excuse for your 04 loss?

Are you going to rant how Ohio was stolen?

it is clearly the fault of the voters who punched the wrong chad.... whether or not they were all democrats is not known... what is known is that they were all from a predominately Jewish neighborhood and they voted for a nazi lover, so we can pretty much surmise that the votes were in error.

No excuse for '04 at all...we ran a weak candidate who ran a terrible campaign and let his enemies define him. Kerry was never my choice. I did not vote for him in our nominating caucus.

I am not going to rant about Ohio at all. I leave the ranting to you....

and I leave the failing to answer questions to you.

and I leave the inability to read simple english to you.

 

[red states rule]

it is clearly the fault of the voters who punched the wrong chad.... whether or not they were all democrats is not known... what is known is that they were all from a predominately Jewish neighborhood and they voted for a nazi lover, so we can pretty much surmise that the votes were in error.

No excuse for '04 at all...we ran a weak candidate who ran a terrible campaign and let his enemies define him. Kerry was never my choice. I did not vote for him in our nominating caucus.

I am not going to rant about Ohio at all. I leave the ranting to you....

and I leave the failing to answer questions to you.

and I leave the inability to read simple english to you.

Now the antic Semitic side of you comes to the surface

Libs have little use for the Electoral College - they see how the South and Mid West have gone red so they have to find a way to change the rules

 

[maineman]

Now the antic Semitic side of you comes to the surface

Libs have little use for the Electoral College - they see how the South and Mid West have gone red so they have to find a way to change the rules

nothing anti-semitic in what I said... if you have followed my writing, you would know that I am very pro-Israel. I wish that the Jews of Palm Beach had done a better job of voting...but I realize that the butterfly ballots were the choice of democratic county commissioners.... we have no one to blame but ourselves for losing that election which clearly should have gone to Gore.

and I am not particularly against the electoral college in that nearly all the time it gets it right.... in 2000, obviously, it got it wrong....but that is no reason to throw the system out. It is just sad to imagine how much brighter our future would be if

 

[red states rule]

nothing anti-semitic in what I said... if you have followed my writing, you would know that I am very pro-Israel. I wish that the Jews of Palm Beach had done a better job of voting...but I realize that the butterfly ballots were the choice of democratic county commissioners.... we have no one to blame but ourselves for losing that election which clearly should have gone to Gore.

and I am not particularly against the electoral college in that nearly all the time it gets it right.... in 2000, obviously, it got it wrong....but that is no reason to throw the system out. It is just sad to imagine how much brighter our future would be if

Being right being Dems win

Dems have a very low opinion of the South and Mid West

That is why Pelosi demanded a bigger jet so she did not have to stop in those Red States to refuel

 

[maineman]

I was born and raised in the midwest. Democrats don't mind the midwest at all. As for the south, I really wish that Lincoln had just let them go.

 

[red states rule]

I was born and raised in the midwest. Democrats don't mind the midwest at all. As for the south, I really wish that Lincoln had just let them go.

You must be part of the Howie Dean outreach program to the Red States

 

[maineman]

You must be part of the Howie Dean outreach program to the Red States

I say give the south to the republicans... they deserve each other.

 

[Avatar4321]

just imagine...if every state had had this in 2000, Dubya would never have been president, and we never would have invaded Iraq. We would not have lost 3500 soldiers and we would not have flushed a trillion dollars down the toilet. Hell...9/11 probably wouldn't have happened, for that matter.

that seems to me to be reason enough for every state to seriously consider this!

You are wrong. The popular vote was way too close to the margin of error. Instead of recounts in Florida, you would have seen them all over the country. You would have seen massive voter fraud. Our nation would have come undone.

This is exactly why there is an electorial college system.

 

[Avatar4321]

I understand completely.

the fact is though....more american voters wanted Gore to be president that Bush....

and if a few hundred Jews in Palm Beach had been able to figure out the butterfly ballots and punch the right chad for Gore instead of the nazi lover Buchanan, we wouldn't have had to suffer like this.

Yeah sure... blame it on the jews...