About Town
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Meeting location changes
P.E.O. Chapter DI meets at 1 p.m. Friday at the home of Janell North. This is a change in location from that published in Monday’s club agenda.
Republican women meet
The Santa Fe Trail Republican Women of North Lyon County will meet at 1 p.m. Feb 11 at the Allen Senior Center. The meeting time and days for 2009 are now at 1 p.m.on the second Wednesday of each month. Those who wish to eat lunch at the center before the meeting are to call site manager Wanda Spade at (620) 528-3414 by 1 p.m. Feb. 10.
Roll call will be answered by members naming the first presidential candidate for whom they voted. In observance of Presidents’ Day on Feb. 16, a Presidents’ Day program will be given by members who will talk about “their favorite President(s) and why.”
Visitors are welcome to come for lunch, stay for the meeting and participate in the program. For more information, call Alberta Brinkman at 342-2701 or Virginia Graham at (620) 699-3319.
League of Women Voters
Presidential popularity doesn’t mean much when votes are being counted.
“At least three presidents have been elected without either a majority or plurality of the popular vote,” a League of Women Voters news release stated.
The League will hold two forums to explain why U.S. presidents are not elected by popular vote and what is being proposed to change the system — if it is to be changed at all.
The first meeting, “How We Elect Our President — the Electoral College, the Good and the Bad,” will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11, in the Emporia Public Library.
The second meeting, “A Proposal for a National Popular Vote,” will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 11 at the library.
More information may be had by calling 342-7104.
mvymvy (anonymous) says...
The major shortcoming of the current system of electing the President is that presidential candidates concentrate their attention on a handful of closely divided "battleground" states. 98% of the 2008 campaign events involving a presidential or vice-presidential candidate occurred in just 15 closely divided “battleground” states. Over half (57%) of the events were in just four states (Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia). Similarly, 98% of ad spending took place in these 15 “battleground” states. Similarly, in 2004, candidates concentrated over two-thirds of their money and campaign visits in five states and over 99% of their money in 16 states. Two-thirds of the states and people have been merely spectators to the presidential elections. Candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, campaign, or worry about the voter concerns in states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind. The reason for this is the winner-take-all rule enacted by 48 states, under which all of a state's electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who gets the most votes in each separate state.
Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide. This has occurred in one of every 14 presidential elections.
In the past six decades, there have been six presidential elections in which a shift of a relatively small number of votes in one or two states would have elected (and, of course, in 2000, did elect) a presidential candidate who lost the popular vote nationwide.
February 5, 2009 at 3:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mvymvy (anonymous) says...
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
The Constitution gives every state the power to allocate its electoral votes for president, as well as to change state law on how those votes are awarded.
The bill is currently endorsed by 1,246 state legislators — 460 sponsors (in 48 states) and an additional 786 legislators who have cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.
The National Popular Vote bill has been endorsed by the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, Miami Herald, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Sacramento Bee, The Tennessean, Fayetteville Observer, Anderson Herald Bulletin, Wichita Falls Times, The Columbian, and other newspapers. The bill has been endorsed by Common Cause, Fair Vote, and numerous other organizations.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. This national result is similar to recent polls in Arkansas (80%), California (70%), Colorado (68%), Connecticut (73%), Delaware (75%), Kentucky (80%), Maine (71%), Massachusetts (73%), Michigan (73%), Mississippi (77%), Missouri (70%), New Hampshire (69%), Nebraska (74%), Nevada (72%), New Mexico (76%), New York (79%), North Carolina (74%), Ohio (70%), Pennsylvania (78%), Rhode Island (74%), Vermont (75%), Virginia (74%), Washington (77%), and Wisconsin (71%).
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 22 state legislative chambers, including one house in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington, and both houses in California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland. These four states possess 50 electoral votes — 19% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com
February 5, 2009 at 3:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )