ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland is poised to become the first state to approve giving its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote, rather than to the candidate chosen by state voters.
| "Ya'll go ahead and vote. Whatever you decide's good with us." |
The plan, passed Monday by the state House, would take effect only if states representing a majority of the nation's 538 electoral votes adopted the same change. Some states are considering the move as a way to avoid a scenario in which a candidate wins the national popular vote but loses in the Electoral College, as Democrat Al Gore lost to George W. Bush in 2000.
| They'll change their minds when the party designations are reversed... |
Supporters of the Maryland bill said the state, which has 10 electoral votes, gets passed over by presidential candidates who head to larger battleground states. Opponents say the change is unnecessary and constitutionally questionable. The final vote in the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates was 85-54, with only one Republican endorsing it. The Senate has already passed the bill, and Gov. Martin O'Malley, a pretty boy Democrat, plans to sign it, said spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.
| "I like signin' things. Makes me look decisive!" |
Delegate Jon Cardin argued that the measure would make Maryland more relevant in the presidential campaign. "If you want Florida and Ohio to continue to have all the attention, all the money and all the interaction with presidential candidates, and have us be overlooked, then don't vote for this bill," said Cardin, a Democrat.
| You idiot. Maryland gets overlooked because it was and is (for a reason that escapes me entirely) solidly blue, with the Big Blue Baltimore Machine ensuring that things will stay that way for years to come. Maryland's proximity to Washington DC and ample supply of bureaucrats and rich lobbists ensures that Maryland is always first in line for goodies like highway money and pretty marble buildings. I despise this bill and all y'all RB'ers not in MD please go tell your state legicritters to VOTE NO. Gah. |
| I fail to see the logic of why this bill would make anybody at all pay attention to Maryland. Get the rest of the country and Maryland will come along. |
But House Republican Leader Anthony O'Donnell called on lawmakers to reject the measure, which he argued would allow people outside Maryland to dictate the voters' choice and turn the state away from constitutional safeguards designed to protect smaller states. "In fact, the citizens of Maryland could vote overwhelmingly, 100 percent, for one candidate, and yet the electors of Maryland — the 10 electoral votes — could go for another candidate," O'Donnell said.
| But that'd be because more decisive states had made a different decision. |
Under the present system, voters support slates of electors, who then meet to choose the president. The Electoral College has 538 members, and the winning candidate needs at least 270 votes. National Popular Vote, a group that supports the change, says bills have been introduced in 22 states. The Arkansas House and Hawaii and Colorado senates have voted for the change. North Dakota and Montana voted against it this year.
| Pretty much comes down to an attempt to overturn the electoral college and make Wyoming irrelevant. |
California lawmakers adopted the measure last year, but Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it. "This opens the door to a national popular vote for president, which is something that people have wanted for a long time," Ryan O'Donnell, a spokesman for the group, said of the Maryland bill.
| Some people have. The rest of us have been content with a republic. Rather proud of it, in fact. Bangladesh had a democracy up until a month or two ago. |
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