National Popular Vote Compact now hits 136 EV

[C_Clayton_Jones]

The smaller, less populated states would probably become poorer, as their votes would not be as important. But from a purely political standpoint, I think without voter fraud, Republicans would win no matter which set of rules they decide to play by.

Obama won the 2012 popular vote with over 5 million votes...are you really saying there was 5 million+ votes worth of voter fraud???

Yes, it’s a delusional consequence of ODS.

 

[JakeStarkey]

The smaller, less populated states would probably become poorer, as their votes would not be as important. But from a purely political standpoint, I think without voter fraud, Republicans would win no matter which set of rules they decide to play by.

S. J., there is no voter fraud that affects the outcomes of national elections.

That's just whining by our far right in the GOP who do not want to reach out to women, Hispanics, and minorities.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I have always been more of a fan of States breaking down their EV's by congressional district, and doing away with the winner take all method. The two senator EV's would be based on the overall state results. Of course this would make gerrymandering more of an issue, so a method of figuring out Congressional districts fairly and evenly would have to be figured out.

100% with you on this.

I think electoral votes by congressional district meets the desires of the Founders and the geographic and demographic particulars of the districts.

 

[mvymvy]

I have always been more of a fan of States breaking down their EV's by congressional district, and doing away with the winner take all method. The two senator EV's would be based on the overall state results. Of course this would make gerrymandering more of an issue, so a method of figuring out Congressional districts fairly and evenly would have to be figured out.

100% with you on this.

I think electoral votes by congressional district meets the desires of the Founders and the geographic and demographic particulars of the districts.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson argued that Virginia should switch from its then-existing district system of electing presidential electors.

Dividing more states’ electoral votes by congressional district winners would magnify the worst features of the Electoral College system.

The district approach would not provide incentive for presidential candidates to campaign in a particular state or focus the candidates' attention to issues of concern to the state. With the 48 state-by-state winner-take-all laws (whether applied to either districts or states), candidates have no reason to campaign in districts or states where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind. Nationwide, there are now only 35 "battleground" districts that were competitive in the 2012 presidential election. With the present deplorable 48 state-level winner-take-all system, 80% of the states (including California and Texas) are ignored in presidential elections; however, 92% of the nation's congressional districts would be ignored if a district-level winner-take-all system were used nationally.

In Maine, where they award electoral votes by congressional district, the closely divided 2nd congressional district received campaign events in 2008 (whereas Maine's 1st reliably Democratic district was ignored)

In Nebraska, which also uses the district method, the 2008 presidential campaigns did not pay the slightest attention to the people of Nebraska's reliably Republican 1st and 3rd congressional districts because it was a foregone conclusion that McCain would win the most popular votes in both of those districts. The issues relevant to voters of the 2nd district (the Omaha area) mattered, while the (very different) issues relevant to the remaining (mostly rural) 2/3rds of the state were irrelevant.

Maine and Nebraska voters support a national popular vote.

A survey of Maine voters showed 77% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
In a follow-up question presenting a three-way choice among various methods of awarding Maine’s electoral votes,
* 71% favored a national popular vote;
* 21% favored Maine’s current system of awarding its electoral votes by congressional district; and
* 8% favored the statewide winner-take-all system (i.e., awarding all of Maine’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes statewide).

***
A survey of Nebraska voters showed 74% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
In a follow-up question presenting a three-way choice among various methods of awarding Nebraska’s electoral votes,
* 60% favored a national popular vote;
* 28% favored Nebraska’s current system of awarding its electoral votes by congressional district; and
* 13% favored the statewide winner-take-all system (i.e., awarding all of Nebraska’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes statewide).

NationalPopularVote

 

[Nyvin]

I have always been more of a fan of States breaking down their EV's by congressional district, and doing away with the winner take all method. The two senator EV's would be based on the overall state results. Of course this would make gerrymandering more of an issue, so a method of figuring out Congressional districts fairly and evenly would have to be figured out.

100% with you on this.

I think electoral votes by congressional district meets the desires of the Founders and the geographic and demographic particulars of the districts.

In it's current standing dividing it up by congressional districts would be worse then what we do now. In 2012 the Democrats won the popular vote of the House by more then 1.2 million, yet the GOP walks away with a 233 seat majority.

Congressional Maps are overwhelmingly drawn with partisan interest in mind and with today's technology it's easy to draw districts favoring one party over the other. We really don't need that crap infesting presidential elections.

 

[Statistikhengst]

I'd put banks in charge of counting the votes. You have to go to the bank, show ID and then they find your owe and only Voter card. You fill it in, they put it in the vault.

If you come back and try to vote again, they put you in the vault

 

[Statistikhengst]

A shift of a few thousand voters in one or two states would have elected the second-place candidate in 4 of the 15 presidential elections since World War II. Near misses are now frequently common. There have been 7 consecutive non-landslide presidential elections (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012). 537 popular votes won Florida and the White House for Bush in 2000 despite Gore's lead of 537,179 (1,000 times more) popular votes nationwide. A shift of 60,000 voters in Ohio in 2004 would have defeated President Bush despite his nationwide lead of over 3 million votes. In 2012, a shift of 214,733 popular votes in four states would have elected Mitt Romney, despite President Obama’s nationwide lead of 4,966,945 votes.

The bill has passed 33 state legislative chambers in 22 rural, small, medium, and large states with 250 electoral votes. Maine has not enacted the bill.

Maine just enacted it this week.

 

[Statistikhengst]

Couple it with voter ID, and I might get on board.

There, you and I are in complete agreement. I am 100% FOR voter id, but not the kind designed to restrict anyone who is poor. There has got to be a national standard for voter ID that makes it possible for everyone to get one without having to jump through 40 hoops.

Keep that in mind, I am a DEM fully in support of the right kind of voter ID. Every good democracy in the world has it.

In Germany, every citizen applies for and gets a passport. The first part of the passport, the plastic card part, is also issued in duplicate as a national ID. It is called an "Ausweis". Germans get their notification of polling place per postcard 3 weeks before an election, they are required to bring the postcard AND their Ausweis with them and boom, it's easy. I've seen how they conduct their elections: clean, quiet, fair and honest. Voter turnout: generally around 75%-80%, and Germans consider this rate to be low.

Germany does not do early voting that I know of, but absentee balloting is allowed. However, Germany is 1/4 of the US population and is all within one time zone.

I am using Germany as just one possible example. There are others. But in Germany, the standards for electioneering are not subject to Federalism - they are uniform across the Republic.

Voter ID: YES, but fair.

No thanks. I'm sure the commie liberals would love to make everyone carry a card with a chip in it so they could spy on us easier, but the argument that poor people can't get an ID is pure bullshit. Anybody can get an ID and everybody has one. How many people do you know (rich or poor) who doesn't have a driver's licence or some other valid form of ID? This is a red herring designed to derail any effort to curb voter fraud by the party that benefits by it.

Lots and lots of elderly people don't have DLs.

Every other civilized nation in the 1st world uses a form of national id to vote. England, France, Germany, to name three. And those are hardly communist countries.

 

[mvymvy]

The bill has passed 33 state legislative chambers in 22 rural, small, medium, and large states with 250 electoral votes. Maine has not enacted the bill.

Maine just enacted it this week.

No. Maine did not enact it this week.

Maine Legislature rejects bill to dump Electoral College for presidential elections ? Politics ? Bangor Daily News ? BDN Maine

Maine Legislature rejects bill - posted on April 3rd

The bill, LD 511, was defeated with 85 lawmakers voting against the measure and only 60 voting for it. The issue is now all but dead in the Legislature for this session.

On Wednesday the bill also lost its second bid in the state Senate where it died on a tie, 17-17 vote. On an initial vote Tuesday the Senate approved the bill, 17-16.

 

[S.J.]

There, you and I are in complete agreement. I am 100% FOR voter id, but not the kind designed to restrict anyone who is poor. There has got to be a national standard for voter ID that makes it possible for everyone to get one without having to jump through 40 hoops.

Keep that in mind, I am a DEM fully in support of the right kind of voter ID. Every good democracy in the world has it.

In Germany, every citizen applies for and gets a passport. The first part of the passport, the plastic card part, is also issued in duplicate as a national ID. It is called an "Ausweis". Germans get their notification of polling place per postcard 3 weeks before an election, they are required to bring the postcard AND their Ausweis with them and boom, it's easy. I've seen how they conduct their elections: clean, quiet, fair and honest. Voter turnout: generally around 75%-80%, and Germans consider this rate to be low.

Germany does not do early voting that I know of, but absentee balloting is allowed. However, Germany is 1/4 of the US population and is all within one time zone.

I am using Germany as just one possible example. There are others. But in Germany, the standards for electioneering are not subject to Federalism - they are uniform across the Republic.

Voter ID: YES, but fair.

No thanks. I'm sure the commie liberals would love to make everyone carry a card with a chip in it so they could spy on us easier, but the argument that poor people can't get an ID is pure bullshit. Anybody can get an ID and everybody has one. How many people do you know (rich or poor) who doesn't have a driver's licence or some other valid form of ID? This is a red herring designed to derail any effort to curb voter fraud by the party that benefits by it.

Lots and lots of elderly people don't have DLs.

Every other civilized nation in the 1st world uses a form of national id to vote. England, France, Germany, to name three. And those are hardly communist countries.

You left out the rest of my quote. I said "driver's licence OR SOME OTHER VALID FORM OF ID". If you're gonna quote me, quote me accurately.

 

[S.J.]

The smaller, less populated states would probably become poorer, as their votes would not be as important. But from a purely political standpoint, I think without voter fraud, Republicans would win no matter which set of rules they decide to play by.

S. J., there is no voter fraud that affects the outcomes of national elections.

That's just whining by our far right in the GOP who do not want to reach out to women, Hispanics, and minorities.

Tell ya what, when you can scrape up enough honesty to admit you're a left wing hack, I'll give you the time of day.

 

[Statistikhengst]

The bill has passed 33 state legislative chambers in 22 rural, small, medium, and large states with 250 electoral votes. Maine has not enacted the bill.

Maine just enacted it this week.

No. Maine did not enact it this week.

Maine Legislature rejects bill to dump Electoral College for presidential elections ? Politics ? Bangor Daily News ? BDN Maine

Maine Legislature rejects bill - posted on April 3rd

The bill, LD 511, was defeated with 85 lawmakers voting against the measure and only 60 voting for it. The issue is now all but dead in the Legislature for this session.

On Wednesday the bill also lost its second bid in the state Senate where it died on a tie, 17-17 vote. On an initial vote Tuesday the Senate approved the bill, 17-16.

I stand corrected, missed that one, been a rough week outside of USMB for me, my concentration is not at 100%. Thanks for the added information, [MENTION=12238]mvymvy[/MENTION]

(How the hell do you pronounce a name like that?!?! )

 

[natstew]

Repeal the 17th amendment.
States elect the President, each State gets one electoral vote to be decided by Popular vote of the State, and i'm all in.

 

[Nyvin]

Repeal the 17th amendment.
States elect the President, each State gets one electoral vote to be decided by Popular vote of the State, and i'm all in.

Wyoming gets an equal say to California...

Texas gets an equal say to Delaware....

Yep, no problems will come from doing this...none at all.