At 03:02 PM 11/3/2004, AstroNerdBoy wrote:
>"Undeserved power"?  Boy, is that an elitist remark or what?  Obviously, 
>those backward hicks in the rural states are too dumb to know how to vote, 
>but since we can't legally take away their right to vote, let's make their 
>votes less effective.

Has nothing to do with elitism, as far as I can tell.  It would be if, by 
the current system, the vote of the rural areas carries the equal amount of 
power as that of the urban areas.  They don't.  They carry more.

The number of electoral votes each state receives is disproportionately 
distributed, with the lesser populated states receiving a higher proportion 
than that of a populous state.  Take, for instance, Ohio and Kansas.


Ohio
Population:  11,374,540
Electoral Votes:  20

Kansas
Population:  2,693,824
Electoral Votes:  6

So Ohio has roughly four times as many people as Kansas, but only about 
three times as many electoral votes.  To be proportionate, either Ohio 
should have 25 electoral votes, or Kansas should have just 4 (or maybe 
5).  Then the people of Ohio and Kansas would have equal voice on the 
matter.  As it stands, on a per person basis, Kansas carries more voting 
power than the people of Ohio.


On a more extreme scale, take a look at California and Wyoming, the unions 
most populous state, versus its least.


California
Population:  33,930,798
Electoral Votes:  55

Wyoming
Population:  495,304
Electoral Votes:  3

California has 68.5 times more people, but only 18.3 times the number of 
electoral votes.  That means for each voter in Wyoming, it takes four 
Californians to have an equal amount of voting power.


The disproportionate distribution of electoral votes does, however, give 
each state a slightly more equal amount of voice in the election.



-- 
Glenn Wang <brief@earthlink.net>, http://www.capcorphq.com/
       Proud member of #SAS# and Co-Founder of #WASHU#
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
didn't exist."                       -Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects