Legislature plays electoral politics
MEMBERS of the gerrymandered California Senate, the great champions of democracy that they are, (once again) want to change the way Californians vote for president.
On Monday, the Senate approved legislation that would effectively bypass the Electoral College. If enough other states passed similar legislation, California's electoral votes wouldn't go to the presidential candidate more Californians voted for, but the one who took the most votes nationwide.
In other words, in 2004, Californians, despite voting overwhelmingly for John Kerry, would have handed a landslide electoral victory to George W. Bush.
In theory, anyway. That's assuming that electors - rabid partisans chosen by the Republican and Democratic establishments, respectively - could somehow be coerced into voting against their party loyalty. And that's an optimistic assumption, at best.
If this cockamamie idea sounds familiar, it's because the Legislature passed (and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely vetoed) identical legislation last year.
If legislators are serious about getting rid of the Electoral College, they ought to push for doing so by the means the Constitution prescribes - a constitutional amendment. Meanwhile, legislation that's sure to be vetoed, and which would only disenfranchise the state's voters if signed into law, is a futile effort in the name of democracy.
Let's see our legislators do something about democracy where they actually can make a difference. Instead of passing this ill-fated symbolic gesture a second time, it would be nice if the Legislature would pass redistricting reform even once.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.