[Winona Online Democracy]
I am not sure that I have a very "legal" understanding of the process,
however during the night of the election I was listening (actually
throughout the night) to National Public Radio. During that time after it
was "projected" that one candidate would likely receive more of the popular
vote than the electoral vote, they were discussing with many political
"experts" this process.
>From what I heard, the parties appoint their electors. The select them
primarily from pools of party members who will in almost all cases, follow
the party line. They select them purposefully to avoid having an electorate
body that will "deal" or "barter" electoral votes. This again was the
opinion of political analysts. It certainly helps me understand how all
electoral votes go to the parties candidate. I don't necessarily agree that
it is correct however.
Regarding the closing of polls and projections by media, NPR analysts seemed
to indicate that the media has "gentleman" agreements NOT to make
projections in States where polls were still open. Interestingly in
Florida, part of what happened was that the "panhandle" area of Florida,
i.e., Tallahassee, Pensacola, etc... is in the Central time zone not
Eastern. This area was predominantly Bush supporters in line with the
neighboring southern states and therefore once those votes came in after 9PM
or later eastern time, the tallies for Bush changed measurably.
Another comment that I overheard that night, helped me understand how this
election could be so close, in that, both of these men are really
"centrists" and there individual ideologies, were not all that different.
There is a lot of speculation that should George W. become the President
Elect, once we know the outcome of the election, that he may in fact have a
very difficult time governing the "real" Republican party.
As with all else time will tell! Again this is all from the things I heard
from National Public Radio analysts during the long hours of Tuesday
evenining and Wednesday morning.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joliene Olson [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 10:33 PM
> To: onlinedemocracy
> Subject: [Winona] Electoral college
>
> I believed I understood how the electoral college process works. But now
> I will be the first to admit that I am fuzzy about one of the details.
> My question is about "how the person's who actually vote the votes for the
> states are selected". I think it has to do with the delegates that we
> select in the primary process to send to the state conventions but I am
> not sure. One reason I am not sure, is that I don't believe that every
> state has the primary system like Minnesota does. Does anyone know? If
> it does relate to the primary process, maybe that should be advertised and
> more people (myself included) might get involved in the primary process.
>
> Can someone help me clarify this? Thanks.
>
> The other point that really irritates me and I believe something should be
> done about is the practice by the news media making these "projections"
> that seem so official before the polls even close. This election in
> particular has demonstrated the problems that can occur when this is done.
>
>
> I especially was discouraged about this when I heard on CNN today that in
> Florida (only one example I am sure) that as soon as the state was
> announced to be won by one of the candidates, many people in line left the
> polls without voting. I know, I know, they should have voted anyway but I
> can see how they MIGHT have felt their votes wouldn't count.
>
> Joliene Olson
> 507-454-1236
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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