[EL] The Electoral College & NPV

Wed Aug 29 13:01:18 PDT 2012

The full GOP platform statement (below) is quite revealing. Here's the line
that jumps out to me: NPV is "a guarantee of corruption as every ballot box
in every state would become a chance to steal the presidency."

The logic of that concern is basically "when every vote counts, there's
more chances for fraud." Jonathan Swift might suggest that rather than
reduce 50-state elections to fewer than ten under the current rules, we
could take it further -- maybe just reduce meaningful voting to one state
in which we could try to prevent fraud and just let those voter decide for
the rest of us. Heck, we could just let the Dixville Notch folks in New
Hampshire make the choice every four years sitting around a wood stove.

But I did have a serious question for Jim. What does it meant to oppose
"any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral
College." Does "distort the procedures" mean the GOP is now against
Pennsylvania trying to change the winner-take-all rule to congressional
district allocation?  Does it mean changes to rules involving faithless
electors? Something else? I wasn't sure.

Thanks,
Rob

######
FULL GOP PLATFORM STATEMENT:

We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact or any other scheme
to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College. We recognize
that an unconstitutional effort to impose “national popular vote” would be
a mortal threat to our federal system and a guarantee of corruption as
every ballot box in every state would become a chance to steal the
presidency.

On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 3:36 PM, Jboppjr <jboppjr at aol.com> wrote:

>
> For those who are interested the Republican National platform specifically
> opposes the National Popular Vote Initiative. Jim Bopp
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note™, an AT&T LTE smartphone
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> Subject: Re: [EL] The Electoral College & NPV
> From: Rob Richie <rr at fairvote.org>
> To: Tara Ross <tara at taraross.com>
> CC: Re: [EL] The Electoral College & NPV
>
>
> Congratulations on your updated book, Tara -- I look forward to chances to
> discuss the issue with you this fall.
>
> To clarify on one point, you write: "Even for those who wish to do away
> with the Electoral College, a constitutional amendment is a far better
> route toward change."
>
> A constitutional amendment of course is required "to do away with the
> Electoral College" in any form. But to do away with states using the
> winner-take-all rule (a rule that founders like James Madison lamented as
> getting away from their vision), it simply takes a state law. State laws
> historically have been the means to change much involving selection of the
> president, including the very fact of having elections at all - -a change
> that back in 1812, perhaps, someone might have argued should best be done
> by constitutional amendment.
>
> I should note that while backers of a national popular vote for president
> seem able to unify behind the national popular vote for president, I
> suspect they right now would not unify in backing a constitutional
> amendment. Some backers of NPV want to keep power over presidential
> selection with the states, and would oppose any amendment mandating direct
> election. Some backers of a direct election amendment would like to see a
> plurality vote rule for president, while others would prefer a runoff or
> instant runoff system. Some backers of direct election would like to have a
> strong unitary election administration, others would like to see
> continuation of the decentralized approach to election administration that
> was part of the amendment drives a generation ago.
>
> Given that you clearly prefer the current rules to a national popular vote
> president, I'm surprised you would rather see a national popular vote
> enshrined in the Constitution rather than the product of state laws that
> much more easily  could be changed in the future.
>
> Rob
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Tara Ross <tara at taraross.com> wrote:
>
>> In a little bit of shameless self-promotion, I thought this listserv
>> might be interested to know that the 2nd edition of my book, *Enlightened
>> Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College *will be released on
>> September 3.  Yes, I am sorry to say that, back in January when the release
>> date was being set, none of us clued in that September 3 is Labor Day.  :)
>> The Amazon link is here: www.EnlightenedDemocracy.com ****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> I am sure that Rob Richie, John Koza and others are very excited to
>> receive this email and will have rave reviews of the book coming soon……Ha!
>> Yes, I am kidding! ****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> On a serious note, I hope the three new chapters in the book do a fair
>> job of articulating the philosophical, logistical, and legal concerns that
>> some of us have with NPV’s legislation.  Even for those who wish to do away
>> with the Electoral College, a constitutional amendment is a far better
>> route toward change.****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> I am sorry to miss several of you at the NPV panel in New Orleans this
>> weekend.   It would have been a good discussion, I don’t doubt.****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> Happy Labor Day!****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> Tara****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ============ ****
>>
>> *Tara Ross* ****
>>
>> 8409 Pickwick Ln, #280****
>>
>> Dallas, Texas 75225****
>>
>> (214) 750-4737****
>>
>> (214) 750-4633 (fax) ****
>>
>> tara at taraross.com****
>>
>> web <http://www.taraross.com/> / Facebook<http://facebook.com/TaraRoss.1787>/
>> Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/TaraRoss>****
>>
>>  ****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Respect for Every Vote and Every Voice"
>
> Rob Richie
> Executive Director
>
> FairVote
> 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
> Takoma Park, MD 20912
> www.fairvote.org  <http://www.fairvote.org/> rr at fairvote.org
> (301) 270-4616
>
> Please support FairVote through action and tax-deductible donations -- see
> http://fairvote.org/donate. For federal employees, please consider  a
> gift to us through the Combined Federal Campaign (FairVote's  CFC number is
> 10132.) Thank you!
>
>

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Respect for Every Vote and Every Voice"

Rob Richie
Executive Director

FairVote
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
www.fairvote.org  <http://www.fairvote.org> rr at fairvote.org
(301) 270-4616

Please support FairVote through action and tax-deductible donations -- see
http://fairvote.org/donate. For federal employees, please consider  a gift
to us through the Combined Federal Campaign (FairVote's  CFC number is
10132.) Thank you!
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