Indiana

Electoral Day

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Although we voted on November 4, today the members of the Electoral College cast their votes.  Indiana has 11 electoral votes and the ballots will be cast this morning at the Statehouse.

Barack Obama won the election, 365-173 electoral votes over John McCain and all of Indiana’s 11 electoral votes.  This is the first time a democrat has won Indiana since 1964 and the fifth time in nearly 120 years.

For a good primer on the Electoral College, click here.

A lot of people say we should get rid of the Electoral College, I disagree.  It’s a system that forces candidates to compete and the election isn’t decided by the populations of the five largest states in the Union.

There is an argument that instead of going winner take all, we should switch to a system where the votes are allotted by who wins the Congressional District and whoever gets the most votes wins the two at-large electoral votes (i.e. the ones represented by the two U.S. Senate seats).

It’s something worth thinking about.  

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on December 15, 2008 (boomark / email).