[EM] electoral college/ two-party-duopoly

[Steve Eppley]

Hi, 

Sorry I don't have time to read the replies to Curt's comments 
about the Electoral College.  I just want to point out a couple 
of possibilities that leave the EC as is, yet could break up 
the "two party, one candidate per party" presidential system:

1. Suppose each state uses a good Condorcetian voting method 
(e.g., MAM), and suppose each state allows each candidate to 
withdraw from contention after the votes are cast (after the 
votes are published in a downloadable electronic format, but 
before the votes are officially tallied).  Then each party 
would have incentives to nominate more than one candidate, 
since by nominating more than one they would increase the 
turnout of their diverse supporters and they wouldn't have to 
guess months before the election which one of their contenders 
will be the most popular in November.

2. Suppose a state adopts a good Condorcetian voting method and 
also passes a law which says that, when tallying the votes to 
award their EC delegates winner-takes-all, they will also count 
the votes of any other state that uses the same voting system 
and passes the same law.  This would allow multiple states to 
become a large bloc, similar to the way several states have 
banded together to make the Super Tuesday primary.  This could 
become like a seed crystal, since other states could easily 
join the bloc.  Once the bloc grows to include more than half 
of the EC delegates, all the remaining states would immediately 
want to join too.  Then the EC is effectively eliminated,  
without a constitutional amendment.

> Hi, new subscriber - I'm glad this list is turning out to be
> tolerant to discussing election method subjects other than
> Condorcet approaches. I have a more general question about the
> Electoral College (EC). 
> 
> Due to the fact that the EC requires a majority (not plurality) to
> win outright, and due to the winner-take-all nature of the states,
> this is how the EC encourages a two-party system. 
-snip-

--Steve