The top fifteen states by population (California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, Indiana, Washington) have a population of 180,199,000. The bottom 35 states plus the District of Columbia have only 94,436,000. These numbers are from a population estimate document I found on the US Census Bureau website. Assuming for the moment that these populations are proportional to the number of persons eligible to vote, if you won 51% of the vote in the 15 most populous states you would have 91,901,490 votes. Your opponent would have to carry about 97.5% of the vote in the small states to beat you. What candidate would spend any money or campaign anywhere outside of the 15 or so most populous states under those conditions? Popular election of the president is a sure way to concentrate power in the most populous states. States ranking less than in the top 20 by population would effectively be disenfranchised. Minnesota is currently number 20, projected to slip to 21 by 2005. Glen Schumann Winona, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> H: 507.454.3056 W: 507.453.3567 W FAX: 507.454.1440 Visit my Family Home Page: <http://www.hbci.com/~gschuman/home.htm> -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Duane Peterson Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2000 7:29 PM To: Ed Thompson Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Winona] Electoral College [Winona Online Democracy] I listened today to MPR and several experts talking about the difficulty in amending the constitution to change the electoral college. The small states get at least 3 electors even though their population would not justify that many. Those states usually oppose the change. They usually can kill the amendment in the US Senate. At any rate it will be interesting to see how it develops this year. Look to see which senators oppose amending the constitution. Duane M. Peterson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2000 5:26 PM Subject: [Winona] Electoral College > [Winona Online Democracy] > > Just to get another interesting discussion going: I just heard on the radio > that Senator Arlen Specter (R, PA) will be proposing a constitutional > amendment to eliminate the electoral college and have voters directly elect > the president. There is, of course, precedence for this: The seventeenth > amendment, passed in 1913, changed the election of senators from state > legislatures to popular vote. So, what do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? > Why? > > Ed Thompson > > > > > > A timely witty saying for this week, from Dan Quayle: > "A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls." > > > ---------------- > This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. > Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. > Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. > Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. > Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ---------------- This message was posted to the Winona Online Democracy Project. Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe. Please sign all messages posted to this list with your actual name. Posting of commercial solicitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 N:Schumann;Glen FN:Glen Schumann ORG:Winona Daily News;Advertising TITLE:Account Representative TEL;WORK;VOICE:(507) 453-3567 TEL;HOME;VOICE:(507) 454-3056 TEL;WORK;FAX:(507) 454-1440 ADR;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;601 Franklin Street=0D=0AP.O. Box 5147;Winona;MN;55987 LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:601 Franklin Street=0D=0AP.O. Box 5147=0D=0AWinona, MN 55987 ADR;HOME:;;3774 West 7th Street;Gopodview;MN;55987-1777 LABEL;HOME;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:3774 West 7th Street=0D=0AGopodview, MN 55987-1777 URL:http://www.luminet.net/~gschuman/home.htm URL:http://www.winonadailynews.com EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] EMAIL;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] REV:20001013T115605Z END:VCARD
