You Only Get Out of It What You Put Into It
“The Electoral College seems useless today simply because no one has bothered to use it,” writes Las Vegas Review-Journal editor Vin Suprynowicz in opposition to AB 413 which would require that Nevada’s five electoral votes go to whomever wins the popular vote in future presidential elections.
“The Nevada Legislature, for instance, would be well within its rights to place on Nevada presidential ballots a slate of five distinguished senior statesmen listed as ‘noncommitted’ electors. Should the majority of Nevada voters support this slate, and should the presidential election fall within a five-vote margin, our electors could then meet with the major parties, agreeing to deliver the presidency to that party which would agree to turn over all federal lands in Nevada to state control, or to pay every Nevadan a healthy annuity (plus a lifetime waiver of any requirement to file or pay personal income taxes) in exchange for the state’s acceptance of the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Or both.”
If only Nevada’s political leaders were as thoughtful and Machiavellian as Mr. Suprynowicz.
To be precise about it, AB 413 requires that Nevada’s votes be cast for the winner of the popular vote ONLY if states accounting for a majority of the electoral vote sign on to the compact which AB 413 represents.
Bad legislation and a bad idea nevertheless.
I don’t know about this. Everyone points to 2000, but in 2004 Bush could easily have lost in the electoral college even though he was ahead in the popular vote by like 3 million. If Ohio went for Kerry (Bush won by around 100,000 votes so flip maybe 60,0000 voters and he gets Ohio), you’d have had Bush out even though he won the popular vote by a fairly wide margin. AB413 may be bad legislation, by why is it such a bad thing for the guy with the most votes to win?
I agree with Bob, let the person with the most votes win.
Chuck; Why do you believe it takes a presidential election and only a presidential election to get our lands back?
Chuck; Isn’t selling out Yucca for bucks and a tax break just socialism? Why should upland dwellers of Nevada get the same benefits as those down land/down water? Carson City doesn’t share the same risk as Armagosa dairy farmers!
The electoral college was instituted to protect the smaller (like Nevada)states from being disenfranchised. If we choose our presidential candidate, our electoral votes should go to that candidate. To have larger-population states choosing where our votes go is ludicrous!!
This legislature has just sold out the sovereignty of Nevada, and not enough Nevadans even know or care about it!
I wish we could raise people’s understanding of just how precious state’s rights are, and get them to punish politicians who sell away our voice and our rights over partisanship…. be they D or R.
I’m just sayin……
Tim Rowland’s last blog post..Battle of the Queens
Tim, I am very supportive of states’ rights. What I asked, and what I have yet to hear, is why is it a bad thing if the guy (or lady) with the most votes wins. Yes, I get your point – relatively small states like Nevada would not get as much attention anymore. But that attention only comes if we stay a battleground. In the meantime, we came way too close to a President Kerry for the taste of any conservative – and he lost by 3 million votes nationwide (but by a very slim margin in Ohio which could have tipped the result).
Put another way, can you imagine what would happen if one candidate loses the popular vote by literally millions of votes, but wins anyway?
If I might add a thought, Mr. Muth, as to why the Electoral College should not be tampered with: the founders did not trust direct democracy — or as Bob calls it “the most votes”. It was never intended to be a popularity contest. As the writer of Federalist 68 — probably Hamilton, though of course it is signed “Publius” — notes: “Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States.” (Federalist 68) The whole idea was to separate the selection from the people as much as possible while still allowing them to have a say in it. They could choose the electors, who themselves would choose the President, and if they were unable, then the House — which was the direct reflection of the people — would act as the electors, again separating the people from the selection, while still reflecting them. The Senate would choose the Vice President if the Electoral College could not come to a majority vote. The people were to guide, but not to have a direct say on the process. This goes back to the form of government the founders selected: representative democracy — thus we are a Republic — and not direct democracy. To make this act is to directly oppose the system that the founders wanted. In fact, I think that to some extent the fact that we even have Party Electors chosen may very well stray too far from what the founders wanted. They invisioned electors who were chosen to cast ballots based on their “eesteem” by the people, not their political affiliations.
And Bob, just out of curiousity, do you know how many Presidents have lost the vote in US History and still won the Presidency?Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but was defeated in the Electoral College by John Quincy Adams; Samuel Tilden won also, but was defeated by Hayes; and Grover Cleveland won the popular but was defeated by Benjamin Harrison. Just some history for you, and I am perfectly happy, in order to preserve a Republic and a republican forn of government, to see a candidate lose an election even though they win the “popular vote”.
Thank you!
It is more important to preserve the Republic than to ‘get my guy’ in! The votes of the people of Nevada need to count the way the citizens of Nevada voted. This new legislation will drown out Nevada’s voice in favor of California, New York, and Florida.
Some things are worth preserving, even if they don’t go my way. I’m just sayin….
Tim Rowland’s last blog post..Moving From Republic To Mob