Tom Elmer's RanTom Thoughts

2000-11-10 00:00 - Politics: Electoral College

If I were in charge of the election system, this is what I would do... First of all, the electoral college does make some sense, with a few modifications. The electoral college allows the smaller states to have a larger voice than simply a popular vote. That is why the US has a Senate and a House of Representatives. States' rights are critical to how the US was set up in the first place.

Modification 1: Eliminate the corruptable middleman. In the world of computers, we no longer need an elector to vote for us. Electors have been known to not vote as their district voted at times in the past. Rarely, but it has happened. Eliminate the corruptability by having the electoral vote done automatically.

Modification 2: If the US truly believes in the United Nations, it should allow the UN to vote in the election. My modification would give each member of the UN 1/3 of an electoral vote. This would give the world about 63 electoral votes right now. In many elections, such as this one, these 63 votes could have a definite impact. However, they aren't enough that a candidate couldn't overcome if he had a true majority of the US vote. It is significant enough, however, that I think we would definitely see candidates who actually cared about foreign policy.

Modification 3: Since we are in the age of computers, I think we should be able to have a 'first choice', 'second choice' option. This would allow people to truly vote their convictions. (i.e. for third party candidates.) This would eliminate the need for groups like Greens for Gore. The way I see it is like this: If a candidate has less than, say 5%, of the votes, votes for him revert to their second choice, etc. until it reaches a candidate with enough votes. An alternate method would be to have each successive choice count as 1/(2^(n-1)) of a vote. (i.e. 1st choice = 1 vote, 2nd choice = 1/2 vote 3rd choice = 1/4 vote, etc.) Smaller elections will sometimes have a first and second choice option. With computers, the problem of scale is no longer a problem.

Anyways... that's how I would modify the election system if I were in charge. :) Send me e-mail on your thoughts and I may post them. twelmerii@usa.net or ICQ number 11189737.