Mar
14
2008

swing states

I did a quick interactive map this week for Chris Cillizza’s “Friday Line” on his washingtonpost.com politics blog The Fix. The topic: potential swing states this November.

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(Roll over a state to see its 2004 presidential election result.)
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Posted at 12:54 PM in politics & bureaucracy, portfolio

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Comments

The real issue is not how well Clinton, Obama, or McCain might do in battleground states, but that we shouldn’t have battleground states in the first place.

The major shortcoming of the current system of electing the President is that presidential candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, campaign, or worry about the voter concerns in states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind. The reason for this is the winner-take-all rule under which all of a state’s electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who gets the most votes in each separate state. Because of this rule, candidates concentrate their attention on a handful of closely divided “battleground” states. Two-thirds of the visits and money are focused in just six states; 88% on 9 states, and 99% of the money goes to just 16 states. Two-thirds of the states and people are merely spectators to the presidential election.

Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC). Every vote would be equal throughout the United States and every vote would be politically relevant. The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes — that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill is enacted by states possessing 270 or more electoral votes, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

The National Popular Vote bill has 419 legislative sponsors in 47 states. It has been signed into law in Maryland and New Jersey. Since its introduction in February 2006, the bill has passed by 15 legislative houses (one house in Colorado, Arkansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Vermont, and Washington, and two houses in Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, and California).

See www.NationalPopularVote.com

Posted by joreko on March 24, 2008 1:16 PM

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