Colo. to Vote on Electoral College Plan

[feclnogn]

By STEVEN K. PAULSON, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - Colorado Republican Marcy Benson remembers getting calls four years ago from people asking if she was going to change her vote when she cast her ballot as a presidential elector.



For years, few paid much attention to the Electoral College (news - web sites). But in the close election of 2000, every vote counted in the battle between Republican George Bush (news - web sites) and Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites). The GOP was worried that "faithless electors" might jump ship and vote for Gore.


"It surprised me that people thought I would change my vote," Benson said.


This year, the Electoral College system is getting a critical look even before the election from voters in Colorado. And what happens here could affect the outcome of the presidential fight between Bush and Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites).


On Nov. 2, voters will consider a proposal to immediately scrap the state's winner-take-all electoral vote system and allow candidates to keep a proportion of the delegates they win. In theory, a candidate could win 55 percent of the statewide vote and get only five of the state's nine electoral votes.


If the proposal had been in place four years ago, Gore would have earned enough electoral votes to go to the White House.


Only two other states divide electoral votes, Nebraska and Maine. Each gives two votes to the winner of each state, and the remaining votes are cast to show who won each congressional district.


Colorado would be the first state to allocate all its electoral votes proportionately according to the popular vote — something supporters say would make every vote count.


"When a winner gets 51 percent and the loser 49 percent, and you give all the electoral votes to the winning candidate, that's not representative government," said Julie Brown, a spokeswoman for sponsors of the initiative.


Republicans, who hold a 185,000 edge in registered voters over Democrats in Colorado, say the plan is a plot to take the state's nine electoral votes from Bush and give them to Kerry.


Katy Atkinson, a GOP pollster, said Colorado could end up always splitting its votes 5-4, in effect giving it one electoral vote. That would make the state a political backwater no candidate would waste time visiting.


"If this succeeds, we will become the least influential state in the country," said Atkinson, who helped found an opposition group that calls itself Coloradans Against a Really Stupid Idea.


Advocates of the idea in Colorado gathered 134,821 signatures to get the proposal on the ballot.


The Electoral College was criticized as unfair and outdated after the disputed 2000 presidential election, in which Gore won the vote of the people but narrowly lost to Bush in the Electoral College by a vote of 271-266.


Atkinson promised a court challenge if the Colorado measure passes to determine whether it can be applied retroactively.


That raises the possibility of a judge holding up Colorado's results in what is expected to be a tight race between Bush and Kerry. Secretary of State Donetta Davidson did not return calls for comment.


State Democratic Party chairman Chris Gates said the party has not taken a position on the initiative, but said the measure has little support.




"Many Democrats feel this state is in play and this is a state we can win. They think this is a way to give George Bush (news - web sites) four electoral votes in Colorado," Gates said.

University of Colorado law professor Robert Dieter — one of the electors who sat around a desk in the office of Gov. Bill Owens in 2000 to cast votes for Bush — said the system shouldn't be changed.

"The electoral college, for all of its flaws, is a necessary check and balance for ensuring that the president is elected from a dispersed geographical portion of the United States," he said. "The organizational plan of the founding fathers was to make sure we didn't have a system where a president could be elected simply based on popular votes from population centers

This is a dem supported measure. I wonder what would happen if this was to pass, Kerry was to win the state and take 5 votes and Bush 4 and Bush wound up winning the EC with 272 electoral votes where as if the measure had not passed then Kerry would have wound up winning all 9 votes thus giving him the Presidency. Do you suppose this would end up in court?? Do you suppose that some one would claim this unconstitional and try to reverse the bill that wound up giving Bush the Presidency???

 

[BuzzH]

I personally think that this is good legislation Colorado is trying to pass.

It makes sense to either:

1. allow the electoral college votes to be split or

2. Do away with the electoral process all together, its a worthless waste of time, money, and effort.

Whats wrong with the guy that gets the most votes winning????????

Why add another layer of BS government involvement?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Fecl,

Why do you say this is a Democrat supported measure, when the article quotes the Chairman as saying they don't have a position on it, and they think they will win the entire state???

 

[feclnogn]

I say the dems are behind it because they are. This came up a few months ago at the DU board and they were pushing it, supporting it and someone their claimed they were helping get signatures to place it on the ballot. This was at a time when Bush had a safe lead, now that it's falling the dems are more leary of it for the reasons above.

Why add another layer of BS government involvement?

How can you add a layer thats already there. This is how the constitution was written. The EC is a good thing, I don't want folks who live on the coasts dictating how we live and running the country. The guys who wrote the Documents which are our constitution did it right. I do agree however that if all states used CO's proposal that might be a good thing. If you look at CA all 55 of thier EC votes will go for Kerry, TX's 37 to Bush. If you are a dem in TX or a rep in CA your vote for pres is pretty much worhtless, this would give you a reason to vote and give meaning to your vote. I think the results would end up being about the same with a slight edge to the reps as the big blocks of EC votes are in CA, NY, IL and MI.

 

[Ithaca 37]

It's either gotta be all or nuthin'. If just a few states do it they won't make any difference. There will only be one or two votes to be won or lost and the candidates will ignore them.

 

[Hangar18]

Ithaca is right. Colorado has 9 electoral votes. If they pass this, a net gain of 4 or 5 will be up for grabs, and only that many in a statewide blowout. Votes would go 5-4, a net of one, with 55%-44% so why would anyone care about this state or any other state aside from the top six or seven most populated states. They would be stupid to pass this.

Does anyone really believe this discussion would be happening if Gore had won the electoral vote? Kerry is the only candidate that would benefit from this right now, so there's your answer Gunner.

Scrap the electoral college if you want to have the people served at the behest of big cities. I will continue to think that the founding fathers that put this in place as much smarter men than I or any sore loser liberal.