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Re: Bill\'s New Home
No, we vote for our choice for President and for the local officials separately. I can vote for Bush, a Republican, for President, and vote for Gene Taylor, a Democrat, for Congress, no problem.
nfortunately we also have a system called the Electoral College that sometimes thwarts the popular vote for President. Each state has a certain number of delegates, or electors, to the Electoral College, depending on its population. Mississippi might have 3, California might have 33, for example.
Each state's votes for President are totaled, and whoever gets a majority gets all the delegates for that state. So let's say Kerry
gets 51% of California's vote - he then gets all the delegates for that state, even if 49% of the people voted for Bush. This leads to occasional situations where the candidate who wins the popular vote loses the Electoral ollege vote and the one with fewer popular votes is elected. This happened in 2000 with Gore getting the Popular vote, Bush getting the EC vote, and the courts deciding in Bush's favor over the disputed vote in Florida. That's why the issue of a few thousand votes carried that election, because Florida has a lot of electoral votes and the election was very close elsewhere.
I personally feel the EC is a relic from the days when it took months to count votes from around the country and a decision was needed more quickly. Others disagree and say it gives smaller states relatively more influence since a election can come down to a very few electoral votes, thus every single state must be courted by the candidates. I can see the logic of that but disagree myself.
Probably more info than you wanted; it's a failing of mine! :=/
No, we vote for our choice for President and for the local officials separately. I can vote for Bush, a Republican, for President, and vote for Gene Taylor, a Democrat, for Congress, no problem.
nfortunately we also have a system called the Electoral College that sometimes thwarts the popular vote for President. Each state has a certain number of delegates, or electors, to the Electoral College, depending on its population. Mississippi might have 3, California might have 33, for example.
Each state's votes for President are totaled, and whoever gets a majority gets all the delegates for that state. So let's say Kerry
gets 51% of California's vote - he then gets all the delegates for that state, even if 49% of the people voted for Bush. This leads to occasional situations where the candidate who wins the popular vote loses the Electoral ollege vote and the one with fewer popular votes is elected. This happened in 2000 with Gore getting the Popular vote, Bush getting the EC vote, and the courts deciding in Bush's favor over the disputed vote in Florida. That's why the issue of a few thousand votes carried that election, because Florida has a lot of electoral votes and the election was very close elsewhere.
I personally feel the EC is a relic from the days when it took months to count votes from around the country and a decision was needed more quickly. Others disagree and say it gives smaller states relatively more influence since a election can come down to a very few electoral votes, thus every single state must be courted by the candidates. I can see the logic of that but disagree myself.
Probably more info than you wanted; it's a failing of mine! :=/
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