Saturday, August 14, 2004

You Call This Voting Reform?

It looks like Initiative 99 has made it onto the November Ballot as Amendment 36. You remember, the amendment that will split Colorado's electoral votes based on a percentage of the state's popular vote. You can read more about it over at BestDestiny.

A quick summary: This amendment would split up the electoral votes (Colorado has 9 and all of the votes - there were 8 at the time - went to Bush in 2000) and would be retroactive to the 2004 election.

The proponents claim that his will provide a more repsentative system of voting. However, the proponents are also from California (where they are NOT proposing a similar initiative), are Democrats, and need these electoral votes to deliver a close election victory for John Kerry.

The oppposition is a group called Coloradans Against a Really Stupid Idea. Unlike the initiative's Democratic proponents, they have no money yet.

If the whole country split up the electoral votes like this (Maine and Nebraska are the only 2 states that do this), then I would be less opposed, but this is simply an attempt to change the rules to suit the Demorcratic nominee. Even if John Kerry pulls ahead in Colorado, this is still a really stupid idea.