Comments on: Nebraska Likely to Cast a Split Electoral College Vote

By: Coming back to the LP

Coming back to the LP — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:04:25 +0000

Richard,

French elections may be free in the sense that everyone can vote, but the candidates that become the rulers and lawmakers as a result of their terrible electoral systemn insure that the country itself and the people living in it are NOT free.

The system has a great deal to do with who the winners will be. Single district plurality elections are the best way to insure liberty.

The various forms of runoff voting are a bad idea.

By: Demo Rep

Demo Rep — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:34:45 +0000

Half the votes in half the gerrymander areas = about 25 percent minority rule.

Each Prez is de facto elected by about 28-30 percent of the votes in the States/DC that he/she wins.

2008 math shortly.

By: NE

NE — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:54:14 +0000

“Wait, the Nebraska legislature is non-partisan though.”

What that means is that during the elections they do not print party labels on the ballot, which means everyone has to spend extra time researching the candidates to find out which party they are members of. In actuality, 63% of the seats are held by Republican Party members (before this last election anyway).

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:03:47 +0000

American citizens living abroad, even permanently, can continue to vote in the last state in which they lived. In about one-third of the states, even young U.S. citizens who were born to U.S. citizens can vote in their parents’ state, even though these children have never set foot in the U.S.

By: Deemer from California

Deemer from California — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:58:09 +0000

Richard, you left out the Americans living abroad.
The Democrats grant them a few delegates in their
Convention so they recognize the difficulty of just
which state they should be able to vote in. When the
U. S. Constitution was written, with the slow pace
of travel it was not an issue of being able to vote
on Election Day if you were away from home. Ironi-
cally, a Presidential Elector who spends most of
their time abroad & so not even be within these United
States on Election Day gets to vote for President in
December when their state delegation officially votes.
One thing else, it will be interesting to see how many
news/information organizations will report the Obama
Nebraska Elector vote as “faithless” if Obama succeeds
in winning Nebraska #2.

By: MPM

MPM — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:23:55 +0000

“I guess the Republican legislature would probably revert to the old system, still used in 48 other states, if that happens though.”

Wait, the Nebraska legislature is non-partisan though.

“This shows why we need to adopt the Maine/Nebraska system to fix the Electoral College system”

No, if that happened then you could potentially have a situation where one candidate narrowly wins all but one district, and then in the one district the other guy wins by blowout, thus giving him the overall edge in the state. Then that candidate has won the state but only gets 3 electors to show for it, how’s that fair? I think larger states should go to proportional allocation of House of Rep. electors and then give the winner the bonus 2 Senate electors (so it’s not totally proportional overall). This would make it easy for third parties to get electors in say California. I think the Electoral College is important for situations where the president-elect dies (ie, Horace Greeley) or the leading VP pick is pretty bad and the electors think someone else is better (ie, election of 1836).

Hey wouldn’t be nice if some of the electors prove faithless in January? Maybe a few from Georgia will go for Barr haha

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:21:02 +0000

How can one say the French elections aren’t free? Every French citizen, even those living in overseas parts of France (in the South Pacific, in South America, in the Caribbean, in two tiny islands next to Canada, on islands in the Indian Ocean) get a free choice for president. Ex-felons can vote.

By contrast, in the U.S., U.S. citizens living in Oklahoma can’t vote for anyone but Democrats and Republicans for president, and U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Samoa, can’t vote at all for presidential electors. Also in some states ex-felons can’t vote.

By: Publius Jr.

Publius Jr. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Great to see that even one of the reddest states is not a monolith. In addition to Douglas County (Omaha), three other Nebraska counties gave Obama a majority — Lancaster (Lincoln) and two less populous counties, Saline and Thurston. We’d be better off without the Electoral College entirely, but since it would require a Constitutional amendment to change, we’re probably stuck with it.

By: Coming back to the LP

Coming back to the LP — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:55:59 +0000

Long ago I lived in France and studied at a French University. The French electoral system is horrible. The government is caught up in a permanent, Marxist, left-right tug-of-war and the people will never be free until they radically change their system.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:37:31 +0000

French voters always have a free choice in presidential elections. Candidates for president get on the ballot in France if they submit a petition signed by 500 mayors. Since even the smallest communities in France have mayors (so that there are tens of thousands of mayors), there are usually 15 or so presidential candidates on the ballot in the first round.