azdailysun.com
by Steve and Cokie Roberts
January 31, 2013


"We must stop being the stupid party," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned fellow Republicans recently. "It's time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults."

Many Republicans apparently weren't listening, because they insist on doing stupid things. Exhibit A: lawmakers in a half-dozen states who are trying to alter the Electoral College system to give Republicans more votes.

(excerpted)
http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/colum...3b03e27706.html

I have never been a fan of "winner take all" (based on popular vote totals) for a state's EC votes. It always made much more sense to me to do it at the Congressional district level. At least in this way more peoples' votes would actually count for something. It cuts both ways, more Dem votes would mean something in a very red state, and more Rep votes would mean something in a very blue state. I never understood why only Maine and Nebraska had this system, it seems much more reasonable to me, what am I missing?

It is quite obvious that this "winner take all" system in 48 states permits/supports/encourages the votes of a few densely populated urban centers in many states to basically "nullify" the will of the voters outside of these urban centers. I've also read in various places that there is no debate from a Constitutional perspective -- each state is free to develop and implement whatever system they choose for the allocation of its EC votes. That is why Maine and Nebraska are able to allocate their EC votes proportionally.

Oh Cokie Roberts can piss off.

The GOP cannot alter the "electoral college system" by itself. They can alter the way individual state apportion votes. They were reelected. Elections have consequences, remember?