West Virginia Electoral College pledges to vote for Kerry even if Bush wins

South Charleston Mayor Richie Robb said today he may vote against George W. Bush in the Electoral College, even if the president carries West Virginia's popular vote.

Well not exactly, but in a tight race, not voting for Bush , is a vote for Kerry.

Electoral College Vote

[edit on 9-9-2004 by dnnx]

I am having a hard time to understand this....your apparently the worlds greatest democracy....but some random people get to ignore the popular vote in some electoral college and decide for themselves?? First your candidates are chosen by some really f**ked up system where your choice is limited, and then you dont really vote for anyone in the end, it is done in some dusty room somewhere by a small group of partisan old codgers.....

why not just go by the popular vote?? whats with all the f**king around?? Seems like it is over complicated and easy to rig to me......

Originally posted by stumason
I am having a hard time to understand this....your apparently the worlds greatest democracy....but some random people get to ignore the popular vote in some electoral college and decide for themselves?? First your candidates are chosen by some really f**ked up system where your choice is limited, and then you dont really vote for anyone in the end, it is done in some dusty room somewhere by a small group of partisan old codgers.....

why not just go by the popular vote?? whats with all the f**king around?? Seems like it is over complicated and easy to rig to me......

That's how Bush won in the first place!

please don't rehash the 2000 Election. Bush won, he did not steal it, he was not given it, It was a close race, but Bush won.

Regardless of what happened in the 2000 election, this is ridiculous. And it's proof why the electoral college is a crock of feces.

Without the electoral college system...NYC and California would completely control national politics.

The total population of many states is less than the populations of LA and NYC.

The voices of the people in the smaller states would be silenced.

This is why we have the electoral college system, to ensure broad-based representative government.

But surely that is democracy? The majority rules... not because some backward hick town wants to have the same voice as NYC, that doesn't seem fair somehow...

So, uh, isn't the electoral system based on population anyway? What's the difference?

But the US is NOT a democracy, come on folks. It's a representative republic. Always has been thats why we have an electoral college, to keep large centers of population from controlling the government. It was a decision made on purpose by the framers of the constitution.

And why should not large population centers control the govt?
I think they totally should. I don't live in one right now, but still.

Because what does someone in NYC or LA know about farm issues, or forestry issues? There are many things that need to be addressed that do not apply to urban dwellers.

It was also an issue of state's rights. The founding fathers were worried that the more populated states would have more power than the less populated ones. Since the US is a union of states, they wanted the different states to have the same power in the national government.

That's my understanding, anyway. I COULD be wrong!

Originally posted by Montana
Because what does someone in NYC or LA know about farm issues, or forestry issues? There are many things that need to be addressed that do not apply to urban dwellers.

It was also an issue of state's rights. The founding fathers were worried that the more populated states would have more power than the less populated ones. Since the US is a union of states, they wanted the different states to have the same power in the national government.

That's my understanding, anyway. I COULD be wrong!

That's already reflected in the structure of the Congress and the Senate. IMHO the effects of "digitization" in the electoral college are too large.

democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner.

we are a constitutional republic for a reason.

think about it.

Beleieve in the electoral college system all you want. Its a scam and a waste of money. And I don't consider the man with the 2nd most votes the winner. The people picked Gore. We got stuck with Bush. What is sad is that we may be faced with that again this time. We have had 3 elections in a row where the "winner" didn't get 50% or more of the popular vote. What that means is that more than half the poeple over the past 12 years didn't want the person that became president.

Montana is exactly right. That is why the system was created the way it is, and it is a good system compared to any alternative that I can think of. The founders of this nation were not dumb, and the necessity of the electoral college is the same now as it was back then.

I am happy to be "stuck w/ the electoral system".

and after all, Gore invented it, didn't he?

hopefully other states will follow suit in this and get bush out of office

Actually doesn't the winning party select the electoral representatives and are they not usually extremely partisan...is it different in WV

Before I saw this thread, I posted this one here.....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

If WV changes votes, that would make things interesting. It would end the potential tie if Kerry carries FL.

[edit on 11-9-2004 by loam]

Montana... what you fail to consider is that states don't get equal votes. Whether you get 5 electoral votes for 5,000,000 popular votes. Its based on a percentage of the population. So your state isn't going to be heard anymore via electoral system than popular vote. However.... the electoral college system screws the will of the voter. It tells the 49% in the state that your vote doesn't matter and even though you voted for the other guy your vote will really count for a different guy. If I don't vote for Guy A then why should my vote count towards him? But slice it up any way you want. The big cities in the big states will control the election. Because of the electoral college system the voices of the small states don't get heard. Its because of this system we have an election like 2000. The winner take all system for each state is a total joke. If Guy A didn't get 100% of the vote in a state then why should he get 100% of the electoral college vote? This is exactly how the 2nd best guy wins.