Good News on Electoral College Reform

[Mike Ossipoff]

donald at mich.com writes:
> 
> 
> G O O D    N E W S    F O R    T H E    P A I R  W I S E    P E O P L E
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> I am going to present a solution to Electoral College reform - a solution
> that will allow any single winner method to be used when the electoral
> votes of the reformed states reach fifty percent. The reformed states are

Thank you thank you! Forgive me for stealing your thunder, but
it's quite obvious, and has been said all along, that in that
case the reform states can simply give all their electoral votes
to the candidate who is the favorite of their voters, based on
whatever single-winner method is being used among those voters.

> the states that have agreed to work together by using this reform plan.
> 
> Electoral College reform in one or more states
> 
> What I am going to present here is a plan by which the voters in one or
> more states will in effect be allowed to have a runoff between the top two

> national candidates. This runoff may put these voters in the position of

By "top 2 national candidates", I take it that you mean the 2
candidates with the most total popular or electoral vote, counting
voters in all the states? It would be quite pointless to limit
the choice to those two. Suppose, for example, that the top
finisher in the reform states' election count were the 3rd
nationwide, by however you're counting national standing. But
say that candidate, though he's only 3rd nationwise, would
still have an electoral college majority if he were to receive
all of electoral votes of the reform states.  If the reform states
voters have the power to make their collective favorite win, then
why shouldn't they. Back to the drawing board, Don.

This concluces my reply to this message. The rest of the message
is copied here unavoidably, though I haven't replied below this
point.

Mike Ossipoff



> having the deciding electoral votes. It may be possible for them to become
> the King Makers. This is good because the King Maker power will attract
> more states to join the reformed states. When the power of the reformed
> states reaches majority the runoff of top two is dropped - instead a single
> winner method is used - your choice.
> 
> Lacking a national reform of the Electoral College the following is my plan.
> 
> The voters in the reformed states will be allowed to make a series of
> selections.
> 
> After the election the national standings of all the candidates are going
> to be used to pick the top two. The national standings include the votes
> from both the reformed states and the unreformed states - both groups have
> an influence on which candidates are the top two.
> 
> The top two candidates in the national standings are going to have a runoff
> in the reformed states. The balance of the candidates in the reformed
> states are dropped and their votes are reassigned to the top two
> candidates. This is done by using the other selections the voters made at
> election time. The winner of this runoff shall receive all the electoral
> votes of the reform states.
> 
> There will be Presidential elections in which this runoff in the reformed
> states decided the national election. This power will attract other states
> to join the reformed states. When the number of electoral votes of the
> reformed states reach fifty percent plus one of the national total, then we
> no longer have this runoff between only the top two candidates. Instead we
> pay no attention to the national standings. We merely work the reformed
> states numbers using some single winner method - your choice - or I should
> say the choice will be open to the decision of the reformed states.
> Whichever candidate wins by the chosen single winner method shall receive
> all the reformed states' electoral votes - a majority.
> 
> [Note: At this point the entire Electoral College system will no longer
> have any value - it will become moot. The actual popular vote is doing the
> electing of the President. This may be a concern to some people - think
> about it.]
> 
> Also at this point: If the other states wish to have a vote in the election
> of our Presidents they will have to join the reformed states. When all of
> the other states do join in, the entire nation will be reformed in regard
> to the Electoral College.
> 
> If this system had been used by a few states in the 1992 presidential
> election, Ross Perot being below the top two would have been dropped. The
> people who voted for Perot in these few reformed states would have received
> the freedom to have their votes salvaged and placed on either Bush or
> Clinton. This may have changed the electoral count for these few states.
> This may have changed the national results.
> 
> This plan is the best solution. Everyone will understand a runoff between
> the top two candidates. (this plan obeys the KISS rule - Keep It Simple
> Sailor)
> 
> This plan is also best for this Election-Methods-List because the plan
> allows any single-winner method to be used in the end. (how nice you are to
> those technical guys)
> 
> To technical guys: This runoff of the top two is not our cup of tea but it
> is an inprovement over the current method and this runoff will be able to
> carry electoral reform to a point where some single winner method will be
> used that is better than top two runoff.
> 
> Donald
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .-
> 


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