[Vision2020] Plan to Divide Electoral Votes Progresses

[Christian Burns]

Now Tom,

If there was such a plan enacted in all fifty states do you realize
what would happen? It would take away control from urban areas and
give fly-over country dominion over the electoral process. Are you
willing to be consistant on that? It would also give power to third
parties. If a congressional district happened to go Green or
Libertarian is that ok with you?

I would certainly we willing to mix it up, but would progressives? 

Christian


On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 06:29:02 -0800, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
> >From today's (February 4, 2005) Spokesman Review.
> 
> Suddenly presidential elections are looking a little "bluer" in Idaho.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Plan to divide electoral votes progresses
> 
> House panel agrees to introduce measure
> 
> By Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer
> February 4, 2005
> 
> BOISE - Maine, like Idaho, has only four electoral votes - but President
> Bush went there 13 times during the campaign. Bush still hasn't come to
> Idaho.
> 
> The difference? According to House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum,
> it's because Maine divides its electoral votes by congressional district,
> and Bush wanted to make sure its northern district went his way.
> 
> With a big, colorful map, historical tidbits and lots of examples, Jaquet on
> Thursday persuaded the House State Affairs Committee to introduce her bill
> to divide Idaho's electoral votes by congressional district, just like Maine
> and Nebraska.
> 
> "Our votes shouldn't be taken for granted," Jaquet told the committee.
> 
> Currently, Idaho, like most states, uses a winner-takes-all system that
> gives all of the state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who
> gets the most votes. Jaquet said that convinces some voters that their votes
> just won't count.
> 
> Though Jaquet's bill was introduced on a unanimous vote, the mostly
> Republican committee didn't commit to supporting the bill, just to giving it
> a full hearing.
> 
> "I have a great deal of respect for the founding fathers, and I'm very
> reluctant to make changes to what they've done - but I am interested in
> hearing the arguments," said Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol.
> 
> Jaquet said, "People in Idaho do have a strong desire to make their votes
> count." The possibility that electoral votes could split, she said, "would
> encourage people to get out and vote for a candidate who would be an
> underdog in the MRSN - the Most Republican State in the Nation. That would
> increase our turnout, and that's good for democracy."
> 
> Jaquet said Idaho also has an interest in getting presidential candidates to
> address the state's and the region's issues. "We have these huge federal
> issues with regard to water, public lands, fish," she said. But presidential
> candidates now tend to focus only on swing states, and that hasn't included
> Idaho.
> 
> "John Kerry came here because he has a house here. He didn't come to talk to
> the people of Idaho," Jaquet said.
> 
> Jaquet said when the bill has its public hearing, a constitutional scholar
> from Idaho State University will help lawmakers understand the issue. She
> said that scholar, David Adler, helped persuade her to revise her bill from
> her original idea, which would have divided all four of Idaho's electoral
> votes proportionally to match the vote in the election.
> 
> Instead, her bill now calls for two of the state's electoral votes - the two
> Idaho gets for its two senators - to be decided based on the statewide
> outcome, while the other two would be determined by congressional district.
> Idaho has two congressional districts; District 1 takes in North Idaho and
> stretches down to parts of Boise, while District 2 runs from Boise to
> eastern Idaho.
> 
> That's the same system Maine and Nebraska already use.
> 
> Jaquet said backers of the winner-take-all system who say it gives Idaho
> more clout are mistaken.
> 
> "What clout? Let's be realistic," she said. "They're not hearing from our
> people."
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Take care, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> 
> "What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they
> are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
> about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
> 
> -- Robert F. Kennedy
> 
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