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How about a truly
national election?
Idaho State Journal
September 9, 2004
As we enter of the home stretch of the quadrennial horse race known
as the presidential election, it's time to remember that this is an
election for the president of the United States of America - all 50
states, not an election for the president of the Swing States of
America.
As debate waxes in Washington for constitutional amendments against
same-sex marriages and flag desecration, wouldn't it be novel for
our lawmakers to consider a measure that would enhance the very
democratic institution they were elected to protect?
All summer and now through autumn we will witness John Kerry and
John Edwards, the Democratic Party candidates, and incumbents George
W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the Republican candidates, take their
campaigns to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri and other states where
polls indicate the election could go either way. With more than 11/2
months of campaigning remaining until November 2, many voters'
participation in the election process has already been relegated to
the sidelines.
National issues of concern that should drive a presidential election
now
take a back seat to parochial issues involving individual swing
states that could tip the election results to one of the candidates
in the Electoral College.
It is unfortunate that as election campaigns become ever more
sophisticated, politicians and their advisors recognize the
uselessness of campaigning in states where the outcome is already a
fait accompli. The only time Idaho sees a presidential candidate is
when they're on vacation, or have lost directions to California or
Nevada.
Presidential candidates have abandoned their national campaigns for
the more pragmatic tactic of winning enough states to secure victory
in the Electoral College - and who can blame them? The Electoral
College trumps the popular vote, big time.
Candidates in this day and age have the ability to transmit their
messages across the country at the same time they sequester
themselves in the states that have heavy representation in the
Electoral College. But they don't.
A direct election of the president, counting votes from Maine to
Florida to California - and even Idaho - would even take some of the
wind out of third-party candidacies if voters nationwide found their
ballot had strength outside their state borders.
If we are to consider constitutional amendments,
then we should look at dumping the archaic Electoral College system
of electing a president. That would re-enfranchise millions of
voters throughout the nation. It would reinvigorate voter
participation nationally. Democratic voters in die-hard Republican
states, such as Idaho and Utah, and Republican voters in Democratic
strongholds such as Massachusetts and New York would see their
individual votes take on new strength in a truly national election.
What's New
Electoral College Table of
Contents
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