Electoral Alternative

A Stanford University computer science professor has come up with an idea ....for an interstate compact that would require states to throw all of their electoral votes behind the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of which candidate wins in each state. Stanford professor stumps for electoral alternative SFGate.com by Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau July 24, 2006

GOP Sees Disturbing Reflection in The Mirror

Washington Post.com by Jim VandeHei and Juliet Eilperin April 9, 2006
Gingrich said the party became too preoccupied with creating and maintaining safe GOP districts as part of an effort to cement a lasting majority. Gingrich, who originally championed the idea, said he now thinks the tactic has had the effect of undermining democracy and distancing House members from their roots.

Democrats "get to rip off the public in the states where they control and protect their incumbents, and we get to rip off the public in the states we control and protect our incumbents, so the public gets ripped off in both circumstances," Gingrich said. "In the long run, there's a downward spiral of isolation."

When I read that Gingrich quote my first thought was, 'at last, somebody in the GOP gets it and will say so.

And then I came to this:
...During the last Congress, the 108th, only 22 percent of legislation was considered with an open rule allowing the minority to offer amendments from the floor, compared with 30 percent under the Democrats' 103rd Congress. When Democrats offered 29 amendments to a medical malpractice bill last Congress, GOP leaders blocked all of them from coming to a vote.

Well that casts a new light on the Republican complaint, 'Democrats don't have a plan'

read more

Proposal would subtract non citizens from redistricting count

Proposal would subtract illegal aliens from redistricting count The Beacon Journal Associated Press March 7, 2006

Republican Study Committee Members

Member Name Anne Northup Barbara Cubin Bob Beauprez Bob Goodlatte Bob Inglis Bobby Jindal Buck McKeon Cathy McMorris Charles Taylor Charlie Norwood Chris Cannon Chris Chocola Cliff Stearns Connie Mack Dan Burton Dan Lungren Dana Rohrabacher Darrell Issa Dave Camp Dave Weldon Denny Rehberg Don Manzullo Duncan Hunter Ed Royce Eric Cantor Ernest Istook Gary Miller Geoff Davis George Radanovich Gil Gutknecht Henry Brown J. Gresham Barrett J.D. Hayworth Jack Kingston Jeb Hensarling Jeff Flake Jeff Miller Jerry Moran Jim Ryun Jo Ann S. Davis Joe Barton Joe Pitts Joe Wilson John Boozman John Campbell John Carter John Culberson John Doolittle John Hostettler John Kline John Linder John Shadegg John Sullivan Kevin Brady Lee Terry Louie Gohmert Luis Fortuno Lynn Westmoreland Mac Thornberry Marilyn Musgrave Mario Diaz-Balart Mark Green Mark Souder Marsha Blackburn Michael Burgess Michael McCaul Mike Conaway Mike Pence, Chairman Mike Sodrel Patrick McHenry Paul Ryan Pete Sessions Phil Gingrey Randy Forbes Randy Neugebauer Richard Pombo Rob Bishop Robert Aderholt Rodney Alexander Roger Wicker Ron Lewis Roscoe Bartlett Sam Johnson Scott Garrett Spencer Bachus Steve Chabot Steve King Sue Myrick Ted Poe Tim Murphy Todd Akin Todd Tiahrt Tom Cole Tom Feeney Tom Price Tom Reynolds Tom Tancredo Trent Franks Virgil Goode Virginia Foxx Wally Herger Walter Jones Zach Wamp

District KY 3rd Wy AL CO 7th VA 6th SC 4th LA 1st CA 25th WA 5th NC 11th GA 9th UT 3rd IN 2nd FL 6th FL 14th IN 5th CA 3rd CA 46th CA 49th MI 4th FL 15th MT AL IL 16th CA 52nd CA 40th VA 7th OK 5th CA 42nd KY 4th CA 19th MN 1st SC 1st SC 3rd AZ 5th GA 1st TX 5th AZ 6th FL 1st KS 1st KS 2nd VA 1st TX 6th PA 16th SC 2nd AR 3rd CA 48th TX 31st TX 7th CA 4th IN 8th MN 2nd GA 7th AZ 3rd OK 1st TX 8th NE 2nd TX 1st PR RC GA 8th TX 13th CO 4th FL 25th WI 8th IN 3rd TN 7th TX 26th TX 10th TX 11th IN 6th IN 9th NC 10th WI 1st TX 32nd GA 11th VA 4th TX 19th CA 11th UT 1st AL 4th LA 5th MS 1st KY 2nd MD 6th TX 3rd NJ 5th AL 6th OH 1st IA 5th NC 9th TX 2nd PA 18th MO 2nd KS 4th OK 4th FL 24th GA 6th NY 26th CO 6th AZ 2nd VA 5th NC 5th CA 2nd NC 3rd TN 3rd

Opponent Miller Ladd Thomas unopposed Brown not determined Willoughby not determined Keever Ellis Babka Donnelly Bruderly Neeld Carr Castillo Brandt Byron Huckleberry Pristoop Velazquez Kutsch Keliher Williams unopposed Smith Myers Clooney Bufford unopposed unopposed unopposed unopposed unopposed Bernstein unopposed Coutu unopposed Boyda Davies Meyer Herr Ellisor Judy Graham Porter Martinez Winters Jennings Luther unopposed unopposed Dodd Wright Thompson Sandlin ??? Delamar unopposed Matsunaka unopposed unopposed Parra unopposed Reyes Sadun Raasch Fox Hill Fischer unopposed Frost Crawford Menefee Stenholm McNerney Thomson Cole blakes unopposed Smith Bosley unopposed Wolfe unopposed Harris Schulte Flynn Lampson Boles weber Mork unopposed unopposed unopposed Davis Conti unopposed Weed Harrell Johnson Eaton Wolfe

sign ATR pledge yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes ??? yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes ??? yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

Supreme Court to review Texas redistricting

San Jose Mercury News by Gina Holland Dec. 12, 2005 quote: "..Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of arguments in four separate appeals. Lawyers have been told the case will be argued March 1, so the outcome could affect 2006 elections..." ....read more...
the Link:
AP Wire | 12/12/2005 | Supreme Court to review Texas redistricting

Congresswoman Candice S. Miller | Serving Michigan's 10th District

quote: "United States Representative Candice Miller's bold proposal to amend the United States Constitution so that only legal citizens are represented in Congress and in Presidential elections was heard on Tuesday, December 6 by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census." ....read more...
the Link:
Congresswoman Candice S. Miller | Serving Michigan's 10th District

Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

House Joint Resolution 53 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide that Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the number of persons in each state who are citizens of the United States.
the Link:
Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

NEWS REPORTS

March 15, 2005 - December 4, 2005

1994 CQ Report - The Court That Forgot About Politics by Alan Ehrenhalt in Governing Magazine - quote: We don't choose governors or senators to be justices any more, and we've paid a price for that.

1997 Governing Magazine - Redistricting Goes Digital by Geoff Earle quote: Drawing political maps is now a high-tech game. But almost anybody can play.

2001 Governing Magazine - The Mapmaking Mess by Alan Greenblatt quote: Drawing new political districts is always chaotic, but this round promises to be the wildest yet. Everyone at the table has an agenda.

2004 Governing Magazine - Frankfurter's Curse by Alan Ehrenhalt quote: Fifty-eight years ago, Justice Felix Frankfurter told his brethren to stay out of the business of drawing political maps. "Courts ought not to enter this political thicket," Frankfurter warned in Colegrove v. Green. "The fulfillment of this duty cannot be judicially enforced."

2004 Governing Magazine - Whatever Happened To Competitive Elections? by Alan Greenblatt quote: Nearly 6,000 state legislators will be elected next month. Most of
them face little or no opposition.


WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE 50 STATE LEGISLATURES?

Democrats Control:
1. Alabama 63 - 42 -- 2. Arkansas 72 - 28 -- 3. California 47 - 32 -- 4. Colorado 35 - 30
5. Connecticut 99 -52 -- 6. Hawaii 41 - 10 -- 7. Illinois 65 - 53 -- 8. Kentucky 57 - 43
9. Louisiana 67 - 37 -- 10. Maine 76 - 73 -- 11. Maryland 98 - 43 -- 12. Massachusetts 139 - 21
13. Mississippi 72 - 47 -- 14. New Jersey 47 - 33 -- 15. New Mexico 42 - 28 -- 16. Nevada 26 - 15
17. New York 104 - 44 -- 18. North Carolina 63 - 57 -- 19. Rhode Island 60 - 15
20. Tennessee 53 - 46 -- 21. Vermont 83 - 60 -- 22. Washington 55 - 43 -- 23. West Virginia 68 - 32

Republicans Control:

24. Alaska 14 - 26 -- 25. Arizona 22 - 38 -- 26. Delaware 15 - 26 -- 27. Florida 36 - 84 -- 28. Georgia 80 - 100
29. Idaho 13 - 57 -- 30. Iowa 49 - 51 -- 31. Indiana 48 - 52 -- 32. Kansas 42 - 83 -- 33. Michigan 52 - 58
34. Minnesota 66 - 68 -- 35. Missouri 64 - 97 -- 36. New Hampshire 149 - 251 -- (the 3rd largest parliamentary body in the English speaking world BTW) -- 37. North Dakota 27 - 67 -- 38. Ohio 39 - 60 -- 39. Oklahoma 44 - 57
40. Oregon 27 - 33 -- 41. Pennsylvania 92 - 110 -- 42. South Carolina 49 - 73 -- 43. South Dakota 19 - 51
44. Texas 62 - 87 -- 45. Utah 19 - 56 -- 46. Virginia 38 - 60 -- 47. Wisconsin 39 - 60
48. Wyoming 14 - 46

Split
49. Montana 50 - 50

Non Partisan
50. Nebraska

I hope I got all those number right -- JB Feucht :o)


July, 2005 Toledo Blade Amendments would shift authority over Ohio elections by Jim Provance Blade Columbus Bureau

August 2005 USA TODAY Editorial/Opinion - Revolt builds to force competitive elections

August 2005 USA TODAY Redistricting plans (bi)czar by Greg Hartmann Editorial/Opinion

October 2005 Governing Magazine Redistricting Monster Maps by Alan Greenblatt quote: There's a growing consensus among good-government reformers that
partisan mapmaking is the cause of many, if not most, contemporary political problems.

November 2005 Boston Globe Alito disagreed with court decisions on reapportionment by Michael Kranish and Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

December 2005 Washington Post Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal by Dan Eggen Staff Writer

December 2005 C-Span Series Q & A 12/04/05 guest U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer quote "what I believe so much, that people have to participate in this democracy for it to work. I can‘t prove that, but I can say that the document, the Constitution foresees that they will participate. And if they don‘t participate themselves, I don‘t see how that system is going to work.".... read transcript or watch program... click on "Past Programs" at top of page

December 2005 Dallas Morning News AG says Texas remap approval not political quote: "Attorney General Al Gonzales said Friday that the Justice Department was not motivated by politics when it approved a controversial Texas congressional redistricting plan in 2003, overriding objections within the Civil Rights Division that minority voters would be harmed."..

ELECTION HISTORY & RESOURCES & REFORMS

SOME ELECTION HISTORY

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy

Robert Richie Executive Director of the Center for Voting and Democracy discusses voting systems - designer districts - packing and cracking

Frequently Asked Questions about the U.S. Electoral College

Federal Elections Commission The Electoral College brief history

CONGRESS

Session Dates of Congress 1st to Current Congress

Congressional Bills Search Access all published versions of bills from the 103rd Congress forward.

Redistricting Resource Center

Distribution of Electoral Votes 1981 - 2010

LAW - Election of Senators and Representatives

Number of Congressional Districts Number of Representatives from each District

Section 2a Reapportionment of Representatives; time and manner; existing decennial census figures as basis;

Section 2b Number of Representatives from each State in 78th and subsequent Congresses

U.S. Code Title 13 - Census

U.S. Code Title 2 - The Congress

List of Electors Bound by State Law and Pledges

Moritz - The Ohio State University College of Law information and insight on the laws governing federal, state and local elections

Two links to United States Code BrowseU.S. Code

United States Code - beta site

RESOURCES - Apportionment Information

CENSUS:
Census 2000: Apportionment & Representation

U.S. Census Gateway

Computing Apportionment

HR 1753 Public law 94-171

Electoral College Calculator Try your hand at predicting who will win the next presidential election. You can create your own election results by clicking on a different button in one of three columns, Democrat (D), Republican (R), and Third Party (O).

Since the landmark Supreme Court decisions of the 1960s that established the one-person, one-vote principle, a number of states have shifted redistricting of state legislative district lines from the legislature to a board or commission. National Conference of State Legislatures Redistricting Commissions Overview

Commissions with Primary Responsibility for Drawing a Plan

Congressional Plans

Administration and Cost of Elections Project - ACE Electronic PublicationThis publication contains comprehensive information on various aspects of organising elections and is divided into twelve major topic areas. To access information on apportionment, click on "Boundry Delimination" when the new page opens.

FAQ's - Teaching Resources - Historical Resources - Calculator

UC Irvine - the Center for the Study of Democracy ..provide access to a variety of internet information sources dealing with issues of democratization and democratic politics. The listing includes is broadly international in its content, including both U.S. and international sources.

REFORMS

The Century Foundation Balancing Access and Integrity The Report of The Century Foundation Working group on State Implementation of Election Reform looks at how states can implement future elections in a way that balances ballot integrity with voting rights and accessibility. More...

Project Vote Smart The Voter's Self-Defense Manual....to protect all of us from the selfish interests that strip us of the most crucial component in our struggle to self-govern -- access to abundant, accurate, and relevant information. read more....

FairVote - National Popular Elections FairVote seeks elections that promote voter turnout, fair representation, inclusive policy and meaningful choices by building on our nation's history of improving upon the American experiment.

NARA | Federal Register | U. S. Electoral College

Electoral College Calculator - Predict who will win the next Presidential election.

Using the list, "Which Party Controls the Legislature" ( next item ) the Democrats reap 268 electoral votes, the Republicans receive 270 electoral votes.

It is important to remember that a statewide election for President does not always go to the party that controls the State Legislature. Ohio was close for Bush. A few thousand more voting for Kerry would have turned the election around.

Why were more voters there for Bush? Because the Republican Party is the winning team in Ohio. They have largely acheived this dominance through two rounds of gerrymandered redistricting. ( The Democrats did the same thing when they had the power BTW. ) As a result, among the 18 Congressional districts, 12 are considered "safe-seats" for Republicans and six for Democrats. It is even worse at the State House, where we have 99 legislative districts. Current split is 60 - 39 favoring the Republican party.

November 2, 2004, of the 99 House legislative races, 9 Republicans and 13 Democrats ran unopposed. Among the 77 seats remaining, the winner won by less then 2 percent in two districts; 1 and 63. Five district races (21, 41, 57, 91, and 93) resulted in a winning margin under 6 percent. Look at it the other way, Ohio politicians gave the voters 7 competitive elections and 92 safe seat ceremonial inductions.

"Why weren't the voters there for Kerry?" Voter apathy maybe? Tired of losing every two years they just say to heck with it.

the Link:

NARA | Federal Register | U. S. Electoral College