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Should We Reform the Electoral College?

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2002-09-2011.mp3

The 2000 election illustrated the weirdness of our presidential voting system in several different dimensions. 

Yes, as we all remember, George W. Bush won by five electoral  votes while losing the popular vote. 
But imagine that Gore had won Florida and had lost Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine. He would have been president despite winning only 17 out of 50 states.
 
In fact, if you did it just right, I think you could win the presidency with small margins in the 11 biggest states, even as you badly lost the other 39 and got swamped in the popular vote. 
There's something wrong with that.
 
The longer we keep the current system, the more likely we are to have election aftermaths which leave one side or the other feeling weird and queasy. 
 
There seems to by bipartisan support for some kind of reform. We'll talk today about the version that seems to have legs.
 

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.

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