[EM] Dimensions, Electoral College

[Dave Ketchum]

On Tue, 27 May 2003 01:32:04 +0200 (CEST) Kevin Venzke wrote in part:

>  --- josh at narins.net a écrit : 
> 
>>>>The Electoral College is _some_ defense, IF the malfeasance is traced
>>>>back to the opposition before the day they vote.
>>>>
>>>This made me laugh at you.  "A ballot of infinite pages would be ideal,
>>>but in the meantime, we have the Electoral College."
>>>
>>Actually, avoiding this type of problem is part of the stated reason for
>>the existence of the Electoral College, avoiding inflamed passions of
>>the voters.
>>
> 
> You honestly believe the voters will check their own passions if you let
> them explain their reasoning on a 3D ballot?
> 
> 
>>The situation is more difficult now because 1, the post in question
>>might be US President, a very high stakes gig and 2, a fake newspaper
>>story before is nothing compared to a worldwide fake internet campaign
>>
> 
> "Might" be U.S. President?
> 
> The Electoral College is useless for this because its members are
> elected to vote for a specific candidate in a single specific election.
> If the College was a standing body, or perhaps was elected in "waves"
> like the Senate, or had some job other than to elect a President,
> it would be more capable of checking the "inflamed passions" of voters.
> 
> I never saw the names of the people I was electing to the Electoral
> College.  Whoever they were, they had nothing to gain from voting
> contrary to the voters' wishes.  I'd be stunned to learn that the
> College even has debates.
> 

The way the states have chosen to operate, you have little interest in the 
  names of the members of the EC - you elect the slate hopefully committed 
to voting for the presidential candidate you want.

Beginning of this is Article II.2 of the US Constitution, which authorizes 
the LEGISLATURE of each state to see to appointing the electors authorized 
for that state.  A few words about New York State, though all states are 
similar:
      Most candidates are selected at party national conventions.  Each 
party state committee usually agrees with the convention decision, though 
one variation I have seen is for the state party to resign from the 
national party because they insisted on nominating a different candidate. 
  The state party then nominates a slate of electors to back their 
candidate - makes sense to have the electors pledge to vote for that 
candidate, though the US Constitution knows nothing of such details and, 
so far as I can find, nothing in NY law cares about this detail.
      Voters vote for a slate of electors, THINKING of the presidential 
candidate they expect those electors to vote for (since the state 
legislature CHOSE to let the voters in on this task).
      There are formalities as to when and where the electors meet, but 
the procedures provide them no opportunity for exercising intelligence. 
Since each state's electors meet in their own state, there is no provision 
for the whole EC to meet and debate.

BTW:  Since all of NY's electors get elected as a slate, and almost 
certainly are Democrats:
      The Democratic candidate has no need to campaign here or to make 
promises to NY voters.
      The Republican candidate cannot afford such campaigning or promises 
since they will not help - best to concentrate where it can do some good.
      IF each party got proportional representation according to vote 
count, ALL the candidates would find NY worth more attention.


> 
> 
> Kevin Venzke
> stepjak at yahoo.fr

-- 
  davek at clarityconnect.com    http://www.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/davek
   Dave Ketchum    108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708    607-687-5026
              Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
                    If you want peace, work for justice.