Electoral College

Above is a chart showing how much your vote is worth in the state that you live. (click to enlarge)

I have something to admit that for most of you will come as no surprise but I am a registered Democrat in Texas, I have to whisper that so when I leave work today I still have a car with functioning tires.This fact puts me at odds every 4 years as to whether I should brave the lines at the nearest voting station to cast a vote that makes no difference at all. I am a firm believer that if you don't vote then you have no reason to complain when your candidate of choice isn't elected but this is a mental battle I fight each time.

The all-or-nothing Electoral College system used by most states to assign electoral votes to a particular candidate can make for some absurd outcomes. For example, say all of the 213 million eligible voters cast a ballot, either McCain or Obama could win enough states to capture the White House with only 47.8 million strategically positioned votes. The presidency could be won with only 22% of the electorate's support which is only 16% of the population.

Each election cycle you get to hear from the media about the disgustingly low percentage of voter turnout at the polls and then you get compared to Australia which has 95% turnout, but they don't use the Electoral College and they can get fined for not voting so this is not a fair comparison. As a matter of fact there are no comparisons because the U.S. is the only country that still uses the Electoral College. I guarantee that if we did away with the all-or-nothing Electoral College system and awarded votes to candidates based on percentages that are won in each state you would see a dramatic spike in voter turnout.

I'm Patrick Stoddard and I approve this message.