santa cruz wharf

19 September 2008

don't vote by rote

I don’t have enough substantive information in my brain these days.  Even during the normal times of my life I am a bit of an information addict.   So lately…when I hit upon a subject that interests me…I get just a tad obsessive compulsive. 

It annoys me when I hear or read about people who complain about the electoral college during a presidential election….and then do NOTHING during the next four years….until it is time to elect a new POTUS…and then they start whining again. 

My previous post…just one down… asked if you all knew who would be casting your state’s electoral college vote.  I don’t.  So I get to go hang out in the “clueless corner” with all of the cool kids in the comment section.  But I wanted to refresh my civics memory…and find out some of the details I had never learned about the United States Electoral College.

In case YOU want to totally geek out in a patriotic need-to-know obsessive-ness…here are a couple interesting web sources:

The federal government site on the US Electoral College, which includes FAQs, past results by state, 2008 Presidential calculators, and much, much more.

The Wikipedia page (need to check their sources sometimes) on which I also found helpful maps and statistics.  I always forget California has fifty five votes…more than any other state…and 10.2% of the whole.

Both sites explain the historical evolution of the Electoral College and the impact these changes have had on previous elections and the one we face in a few short weeks.

Even if you just scan through the available information you can glean interesting factoids such as the following:

The Electors in the following states have no legal requirement by their State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:

ARIZONA - 10 Electoral Votes
ARKANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes
DELAWARE - 3 Electoral Votes
GEORGIA - 15 Electoral Votes
IDAHO - 4 Electoral Votes
ILLINOIS - 21 Electoral Votes
INDIANA - 11 Electoral Votes
IOWA - 7 Electoral Votes
KANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes
KENTUCKY - 8 Electoral Votes
LOUISIANA - 9 Electoral Votes
MINNESOTA - 10 Electoral Votes
MISSOURI - 11 Electoral Votes
NEW HAMPSHIRE - 4 Electoral Votes
NEW JERSEY - 15 Electoral Votes
NEW YORK - 31 Electoral Votes
NORTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes
PENNSYLVANIA - 21 Electoral Votes
RHODE ISLAND - 4 Electoral Votes
SOUTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes
TENNESSEE - 11 Electoral Votes
TEXAS - 34 Electoral Votes
UTAH - 5 Electoral Votes
WEST VIRGINIA - 5 Electoral Votes

8 comments:

Desert Songbird said...

AZ sure has moved up in the world. Wow. I'm so clueless.

Schmoop said...

Oh sure the Electoral College is important but rarely do they field a very good football team. Cheers!!

Anndi said...

That's a buttload of votes that are left to the whimsy of a few people...

Mel said...

*munching on popcorn and waving from the clue-less corner*


At least I knew our seven weren't obligated by law to vote the popular vote?

Popcorn, anyone? :-/

Jeff B said...

Pass the popcorn over here please. I like it over here in this corner. Lots of friends to hang out with, and this pointy hat is kinda cool too.

Marilyn said...

That's a lot of uncommitted votes. Maybe my friend with the whole Illuminati conspiracy theory has a point.

katherine. said...

DS: I bet your kids know!

Mateo: ha...so many are like that this year.

anndi: yep. I just want to know who the people are...smile

mel: scoot over.

jeff: you do look good in the hat.

marilyn: did you post about that.... (heading over to look....)

Anonymous said...

Ugh...you even provided web sites...I'm the laziest person on earth. It should be noted, that while those states reps. don't have to vote according the preference of their states majority, they most likely will or risk being booted out of office themselves.