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View Full Version : Why the Focus on Florida in 2004?



Lenny
10-22-2004, 05:07 PM
Why is Florida such a hot-bed of pre-electoral voter issues?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136305,00.html

I am trying to get more "rounded" and locate different sources and slants on things, and in doing so I keep finding sooo much stuff on this State...

How many "seats" does it hold or represent and how many ridings are there in the USA in total? Why is it always such a focus of voters, President Bush, Sen Kerry. Why all the voter fraud? or perception of such? I can see having "swing" States and the need to pursue them to affect the balance from an electoral standpoint, but it seems everyone concentrates on this one? The two Candidates are working the swing states hard I agree, but this place seems rife with problems already?

gcarter
10-22-2004, 06:39 PM
Lenny, the first thing you have to understand is our electoral system. I think it's probably unlike anything else in the world. Unlike your Parliament, we have a three part government, Executive, Judicial, and Congressional.
We elect our president (Executive) directly, which I think is unique. This is NOT a popular vote. The Founders were wise enough to institute the Electoral College, which allows the smaller states to have more clout than their population would otherwise allow. So each state has a certain number of Electors, or Electoral Votes.
You can't win the presidency by just winning only the large states, you must have electoral votes from small states too.
Now Florida is a large state with (I think) 27 Electoral Votes.
But whats really unique about Florida is its diversity.
In Poodle country, there are Cubans (Republican), retired people from the New England states ( almost ALL Democrats).
Up here in the central part of the state, there are retired people from mainly the Mid-West (mostly Republicans). Then in the Northern part of the state is more conservative working class people (mostly Republicans).
By far the most densely populated part of the state is Poodle Country.
In 2000, Bush won by 560 someodd votes, which eventually gave him Floridas electoral votes.
Everyone knows this election will be close also. Neither candidate can win W/O Florida.
We're going to see some REALLY dirty tricks, like in 2000 when the Democrats wanted the State Attorny General to break the law and keep counting after the date set up in the FloridaConstitution.
There's lots more, but I don't want to hog the forum.

Lenny
10-22-2004, 07:33 PM
George, when you say, "win the State" does that mean if 51%, or tie plus 1, whomever gets all the Seats that the State has? or just the amount that he won in?

Also, why do you say "you need Florida to win? "

I really like the idea of having a weighted electoral system as you describe for the small States so that they are well represented and count for something.

Here, in our DISASTEROUS electoral layout, the Western Provinces hold very few electorate seats in the Parliament, the same goes for the Atlantic Provinces. Basically, if you make Quebec and Ontario somewhat happy you win in Canada and that is the Government you get. Very unfair. There is no need for any Party here to cater to the West or the East in any way, just provide huge handouts to Quebec and Ontario. I feel it would be far better served if each of the 10 Pronvinces had equal clout in Parliament as you suggest the small US States have. (or at least a better balance) Here is a pic of our 2004 election and seat allotment formula in the grand scheme.

http://www.nodice.ca/election2004/seatcounts.html

As you can see B.C has 36 seats in Parliament, and Ontario has 106, Quebec 75. So with 308 seats to form a Government one only has to look at the outcome in Ontario and Quebec and the rest is of no matter. :rolleyes:

gcarter
10-22-2004, 08:32 PM
Whichever candidate receives the most votes (it may not even be 50% since there may be votes for four or five candidates) receives ALL the Electoral Votes for President, or Executive (not "seats") in Florida (27 votes). Something over 300 Electoral Votes are needed to win the office. Remember the Red and Blue states? They are pretty well balanced on Electoral Votes. So the "swing" states become more important. Florida has more Electoral Votes than any other swing state (I think).
Our legilature (Congress-House of Representatives, Senate) are equal houses. There are 435 Representatives (fixed) the distribution is changed every decade after the census. As time goes by the NE becomes less influential as people retire and the Southern States population swells. Each representative represents about 200,000 people. Some states like N and S Dakota have only one representative. But each state has two Senators, for a total of 100. Each house will have a majority. It's possible for each house to have a DIFFERENT majority and the President to be of a THIRD party.
It's very difficult for one party to dominate like it is with a parliament. With a parliament, the party in power can just say "Screw You" and what are you going to do about it?
I think you would find our representatives to be among some of the most responsive "public servants" around, at least mine is.