I think the vast majority of us on this forum agree that the Electoral College was one of the greatest gifts given to us by the founding fathers.

One thing they could not possibly foresee was how large some states would become. Today, 4 states generate over $1 trillion in GDP, and many state populations are at national levels.

So, here is the question: could the Electoral College be used at the state level to elect governors?

Could, for example, each county have 1 vote?

Could this balance out states like California and New York and make it more representative?

Could this prevent large cities from taking over Republican states?

And, more importantly, what would be some negative results if it was implemented?

Appreciate the thoughts.

Curious where in the Constitution would it allow this methodology to be applied to State Level elections?

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Originally posted by 2PAK:
Curious where in the Constitution would it allow this methodology to be applied to State Level elections?

It would be up to each state's Constitution, not the US Constitution.

I considered this a few years ago. I determined it’s too late for that. There’s no way blue State politicians would establish a system that would limit their power. Also you might get some States to do it but to be effective it would have to be all of them. When originally Senators were elected by State representatives, it was a more representative election by the whole State rather than by population centers.

This is never going to happen. The issue would be the inverse of getting rid of the electoral college at the national level.

At the state level, as mentioned, it would probably require a state constitutional amendment. These usually require a popular vote to approve (of course depending on the state.) This would mean the highly populated cities would have to approve a proposal that would reduce their power.

Also, I have to think this would likely run afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act, which pushes the one person one vote paradigm.

Since the big thing about the EC seems to be the “winner take all” concept, each State could allocate its votes based upon which candidate wins that specific Congressional District, with the remaining two (Senatorial allocations) to the overall popular vote winner of that State.

The US Constitution says that each State controls how the votes are determined. I believe both Maine and Nebraska do this already.

This would make for 538 (435 CDs + 50 States & WashDC) separate elections instead of the the most populous States having the outsized interests during the election campaigns.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:

quote:

Originally posted by 2PAK:
Curious where in the Constitution would it allow this methodology to be applied to State Level elections?

It would be up to each state's Constitution, not the US Constitution.

Exactly this. And yeah, I’d like to see the electoral college applied in states too.

I have had the idea of one senator elected by statewide popular vote. The other senator voted by one vote per county. This should give the rural population more voice.

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Originally posted by Hamden106:
I have had the idea of one senator elected by statewide popular vote. The other senator voted by one vote per county. This should give the rural population more voice.

Or, better yet, repeal the 17th Amendment and get it back to the way it should be.

Regarding state level electoral colleges, I have long thought that it would solve a lot of problems within the communist states by having parity between smaller towns/counties and large cities. It may be too late for some, but it may be just in time to save others.

CA has 58 counties. Alpine has 1200 residents. LA has over 10 million. One electoral vote for governor per county won’t fly.

The state assembly has 80 seats. One electoral vote per district would almost assuredly reflect what the assembly looks like. Currently there are 58 dems, 19 reps, 1 ind, 2 empty seats. Flip a few and it’s still an electoral vote landslide for one side.

People vote not geography. Make inroads with people. It’s difficult to compete with free stuff and no consequences but it’s the way.

There was an article over the weekend about rural Alpine county voting like SF. It’s drivable from SF. There’s a ski resort. A lot of SF Bay Area folks own ski houses. If you think that in a remote work world the wealthy leftist urbanites won’t decamp to second homes in rural areas and make them their permanent homes for voting purposes I’ve got some beachfront property in Phoenix for you.

What if each college elector had to vote the way of their congressional district. Some states would still go very red or blue but big states like Florida and NY and CA would at least make it interesting. End of the day it only matters who counts the votes however.

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
What if each college elector had to vote the way of their congressional district. Some states would still go very red or blue but big states like Florida and NY and CA would at least make it interesting. End of the day it only matters who counts the votes however.

I’ve had the same thought of elector by congressional district. The easy answer is it matches House results but I can see things getting interesting in a few districts where the voters go sideways and vote one party for president and the other for the House seat. It must happen but probably not often.

Thanks for all the replies, and I would like to focus on state governor elections and the potential use of the EC type system to do that.

With the flood of people from blue states into low population red states, there must be a way to hold the line.

In the end, there isn't. People vote for who they want to vote for. Some states try and control this though gerrymandering, but he courts are looking at this much more negatively than they used to.

In the end if a formerly red state gets inundated with liberal voters, it's going to turn blue. There's not much that can be done about it that's not going to get squashed legally.

quote:

Originally posted by sooma:
Thanks for all the replies, and I would like to focus on state governor elections and the potential use of the EC type system to do that.

With the flood of people from blue states into low population red states, there must be a way to hold the line.

Change the residency requirements to be at least a year in the state before one can vote there. Until then they have to vote where they left.

flashguy