OpenEuphoria

Re: new project

• Posted by Matt Lewis <matthewwalkerlewis at yahoo.com> Oct 07, 2004
• 406 views

david wrote:

> Create a database that can handle statistics. Now enter all pertinent info
> on presidental elections since the electoral vote was introduced. If you 
> want comparisions, include data on the elections starting with Washington.
> include any candidate who ran up to the point the vote was counted & a 
> winner was announced.
>
> Word has it the electoral vote was introduced to keep the communists out
> of office. 

That's a pretty silly word.  I don't think there were any communists in 
the 18th century (at least not that Madison was worried about).

> I have reason to believe it's being abused by the Houses. 

What are the 'Houses' and how are they abusing the system?

> It 
> would be interesting to see these stats prove that even though a Democrat
> got the majority of the popular vote, he lost the election because the 
> majority of the houses were Republicans, & vice versa. I say it's a lot 
> more than coincidence. I say the government chooses who they want in 
> office, & they left the popular vote in to make people think they've 
> still got a voice. 

I think the idea was to put a damper on the possibility of a ridiculous
vote.  The Founding Fathers didn't have too much trust of raw democracy,
and wanted to allow for people with a better grasp of the situation
(the Electoral College) cast actual votes.  They were also worried about
Europeans coming over and taking over the country (the provision that
the president has to have been born in America was put in to keep European
monarchs out, and I think they were similarly worried that said monarchs
might try to influence the popular vote somehow).  Another example of this 
is that senators were originally chosen by state legislatures.  The way 
votes are allocated state by state aren't often changed (the pile of votes
is reallocated with each census, which is every 10 years, and it's very
rare that a state changes the way it converts popular vote to electoral
votes), so I don't quite see how it would be that 'the government' could 
choose--not even touching the issue of What part of govt (it's HUGE).

That said, I think everyone could find some reasons to criticize the
Electoral College, but yours seems a little odd.

What exactly are you trying to do 'with statistics', anyway?  If you want
to look at how state legislatures affect elections, then you should look
at all the gerrymandering that goes on in House of Reps elections.

Matt Lewis