Electoral College

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I feel the Electoral College system should move towards separating the votes by district as Nebraska and Main currently do. This could potentially solve many of the problems facing the current system. Instead of having battleground states, we would have battleground districts. This would make candidates campaign in many more states than they currently do. More people would be given the opportunity to have their voices heard. This would in turn feel more like a popular vote yet it wouldn’t open us up for potentially a nationwide recount.

Another positive of this would be the potential positive impact this would have on making a third party more viable. Most third parties are unable to compete on a statewide level however if the Electoral votes were distributed by district I believe some third parties could compete. This may be the turning point for 3 parties if they were to win some electoral votes thus gaining some recognition and increased support among voters. As it goes now most people feel a vote for a 3rd party candidate is just a wasted vote because the 3rd parties never take any electoral votes. A great example of this was in 1992 when Ross Perot, 3rd party candidate, won 19% of the popular vote yet took home no electoral votes. There has not been a 3rd party candidate since to garner as much support as Ross Perot and one has to wonder if that is because of the fact that so many felt they had wasted their votes. I personally would be in favor of this change if it meant we could successfully look at candidates outside of the current two party system.