LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Using popular vote would raise morale
Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.
I am fortunate to be living in a state that is considered a “toss-up.” The candidates still have to try and win over the voters in Nevada.
But what about people living in states that are given over as red or blue? If you are a Democrat in a red state, or a Republican in a blue state, you might think it is not important to bother voting this year.
Obviously there are other issues and candidates that will be important to voters in those states, and hopefully they will still turn out in record numbers.
If we did not have the Electoral College and simply used the popular vote to elect the president and vice president, everyone would feel like his vote meant something. I have had several friends and relatives over the years who have used the argument that their vote really did not matter or would not make a difference. It is often a hard sell to convince those people that their votes do matter.
I know it would require a constitutional amendment to change this process and it has been proposed many times with no success. I still think it is time for another look at this change.
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If the popular vote was all that counted Nevada would have no say in the election and our political will wont count as much as some counties in California. Do you think our views would ever be listened to by anyone in Washington. Small states are the ones that insisted on the current system. Under Obama it wont matter, this could be our last election. The rules will chance and freedom will be a distant memory
Mr. Neiman,
You are correct, sir. About the electoral college, at least. How you get from there to the last two sentences is a mystery, however.
If it was a popular vote then we will never see any prez candidate ever.
Also, no prez candidate would ever care about Nevada's issues.
Electoral college empowers small states, like Nevada, that are toss-ups.
In a popular vote system, the politicans would follow a marketing scheme that is based on the most efficient formula to reach the most voters on a cost efficient basis.......the big population states.
For some reason and i am not sure, people who are voting for obama feel that his new trillion dollars in spending will be paid by the rich or big corporations, this theory has no chance whatsoever.
corporations will send more jobs overseas, we will see hyper-inflation, two digit unemployment, a long deep recession, further drop in housing prices, our malls will look like swiss cheese.
no capitalist will be putting money in america, with election drawing closer and obama victory looking imminent, you will see stock market lose another twenty or twenty five percent of its value, just for capital gains reason only.
Do not spend your money right now, you are going to need it.
Both parties can say GOODBYE to Nevada if the Electoral College is abolished.
Nevada and the small-number-of-representatives States will be cast aside politically, for all for the "morale" raise this asinine idea would engender.
Typical liberal idea though - "feel good" politics replacing our Constitution.