1992 Electoral Vote ratios

[Steve Eppley]

DEMOREP1 at aol.com wrote:
-snip-
>The Electoral [College] Vote ratios message was put on the EM list
>since Donald is trying to repair the unrepairable E.C. 

As I pointed out recently, the nonproportional ratios become
irrelevant when the electoral college is unanimous.  If all the
states pass the reform (and if its not held up in court) then the
electoral college will be unanimous, so in principle it's repairable.

As you pointed out, maybe Congress' consent will be required.  
Even if that's the case, that would be relatively much easier than
amending the Constitution.

So the following appears to be true:  the EC can be repaired (made 
obsolete) without amending the Constitution.

* *

In my opinion, the nonproportional ratios are somewhat undemocratic
but I find this far less significant than the electoral college
"two-party" effect, which prevents potential candidates from running
and prevents voters from voting for their true favorites for fear 
that if no one wins a majority in the EC the House would pick a 
greater evil.  Even if the states' ratios were all the same, the 
EC would desperately need to have the reform we've been discussing.

Our EC reform would kill both birds (nonproportional ratios and 
two-party system) with one stone.

---Steve     (Steve Eppley    seppley at alumni.caltech.edu)