Romney wins, 234-201

That was the subject of an e-mail i just received from Washington State Democrats. Apparently that's what the electoral votes would have been if all states allocated electoral votes by congressional district not by state. Here is an article about it: GOP lawmakers propose new rules to allocate Electoral College votes

So, what do you all think?

Republicans should be happy with the status quo, which gives many of the so-called red states an edge. I say that because the idea of changing to the popular vote is, well, very popular now.

Quote: miplet

That was the subject of an e-mail i just received from Washington State Democrats. Apparently that's what the electoral votes would have been if all states allocated electoral votes by congressional district not by state. Here is an article about it: GOP lawmakers propose new rules to allocate Electoral College votes

So, what do you all think?

I like it. Still gives smaller areas the attention that would be lost if we abandoned the EC altogether. Dilutes the effect of potential voter fraud in big areas like Philadelphia.

The really important thing is that, in my opinion (the) Baltimore (Ravens) must be destroyed.


Any rule that annoys the hell out of both parties has a lot going for it right there. Furhter, any rule change that would benefit one party now, will harm that party later. So if you change the electroal college becasue now it favors you to do so, it will hurt you later down the road. And that's before taking into account that for every intended consequence meant to be achieved, there is at elast one unintended consequence. Often, too, it's the latter that prevails, while the former ends up only meaning well.

Therefore, in my opinion (the) Baltimore (Ravens) must be destroyed.

Quote: miplet

That was the subject of an e-mail i just received from Washington State Democrats. Apparently that's what the electoral votes would have been if all states allocated electoral votes by congressional district not by state. Here is an article about it: GOP lawmakers propose new rules to allocate Electoral College votes

So, what do you all think?

It is an interesting concept, and one notes that the constitution leaves it up to each individual state to decide how to apportion its electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska already follow this process, for example.

However the subject line of your email seems disingenuous, if not factually incorrect. The total adds up to 435 electoral votes, and as we all know thanks to Nate Silver, there are 538 total electoral votes. The extra 103 vote discrepancy comes from the fact that the WA state democrats apparently only totaled up each congressional district across the nation, failing to account for the 2 electoral votes that each state gets for its 2 senators. In the proposal by the WA state GOP, those two votes would go to the statewide winner, which is the most logical way to do it, since these senators are elected by a statewide vote. The other 3 votes come from the District of Columbia.

What would the 538 split be in this scenario?

Quote: TheCesspit

What would the 538 split be in this scenario?

At first I thought it would be hard to calculate. Then I realized it's just a matter of looking at the states carried by each candidate. From Wikipedia, Obama carried 26 states and DC, while Romney carried 24 states. So if they are correct in their tallying of the congressional districts (something I'm not going to fact check), the total would be 282-256 for Romney.

I'm skeptical of their tally of the congressional districts though, to be honest. It may be that they counted them up according to the GOP passing this plan in predominantly blue states, so as to siphon off some electoral votes for Romney, while leaving red states untouched (and thus 100% for Romney). That is what this article claims is in the works for the GOP.

Of the eight votes, what are the odds every Democrat voted to keep things the same and every Republican voted to allocate electoral votes by congressional district?

Quote: Wizard

Of the eight votes, what are the odds every Democrat voted to keep things the same and every Republican voted to allocate electoral votes by congressional district?

I voted for change. I don't really like this whole winner take all thing.

Quote: Wizard

Of the eight votes, what are the odds every Democrat voted to keep things the same and every Republican voted to allocate electoral votes by congressional district?

About the same as a roulette ball landing on black, red, or green.