UVA’s Larry Sabato offered an interesting op-ed in Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch on the unit rule.
Never heard of the unit rule? I hadn’t, either.
If no one has received a majority [of Electoral College votes] for president and/or for vice president — the Twelfth Amendment requires the separate counting of ballots for each office — then the House of Representatives gathers to elect a president and the Senate to elect a vice president. The House votes by state, with each delegation — regardless of size — having a single vote.
Can you imagine the uproar? California gets one vote, as does Rhode Island.
I agree with Sabato – fix the rule before it becomes a problem.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Question, VJP: did you decide it might become a problem before or after you learned what the partisan breakdown is among the states?
I honestly don’t know what it currently is, as I haven’t checked.
Unlike you, James, I don’t spend all my time thinking in a partisan manner. And to be perfectly honest, the thought never crossed my mind. I saw this article linked elsewhere and thought it important to share.
This is yet another reason it’s so important to win a few more Congressional seats here in Virginia this year. Gaining Davis’ seat, and then defeating two of the three Wolf, Nye and Goode would give the Democrats the delegation majority.
Sometimes partisanship matters. For the good of the Country, we need Democrats in charge for the next 4 years.
2000 2000 2000
Get rid of the Electoral College.
Sure, VJP. And I hear that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is up for sale.
Actually, you need to learn the difference between good-natured ribbing and partisan attack, and to consider whether a comment is the former before engaging in the latter. I had hoped for an honest answer to the question. Now, I merely wonder whether you doth protesteth too much.
Now that I’ve read Larry’s article (I hadn’t before), I confess that I don’t think much of his argument. It basically seems to be, well, we’re more democratic now, and therefore, we should make presidential elections more democratic.
And I suppose his suggestion for “one-man, one-vote” in the House in such a circumstance has nothing to do with the current and probable future makeup of the House of Representatives. Yeah. Sure. That ship sailed when he decided to give aid and comfort to Jim Webb in 2006.
My conservatism extends to the Constitution in particular. If you want to change it, you’re probably going to have to prove to me that you’ve got better ideas than Madison, Jay, Franklin, and Washington. Otherwise, probably not.
Larry’s a bright guy, but he’s no Madison.
paradox…
defeating two of the three Wolf, Nye and Goode would give the Democrats the delegation majority.
We cant DEFEAT Glenn Nye!?!?! You mean Thelma Drake….
We really need to defeat her!
Knew about the unit rule from way back in the 2000 election, where I learned more about that electoral college as a whole. But rather than fixing this one rule, we should just scrap the electoral college all together. We went to direct election of Senators some time ago and we need to finish off that progression and go to direct election of the president and vice president.
It’s probably unlikely to ever happen because small states would be required to meet the three-fourths needed for an amendment. And I don’t know that they would be too keen on the idea.
James,
I’m with you on this one.
Sabato’s idea seems to be a bad solution in search of a problem that doesn’t exist:
http://tinyurl.com/3tzghh
I’d also add that Sabato has written a book containing a whole bunch of proposed changes to the Constitution and putting forward the in my opinion absurd and dangerous idea of calling a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of considering the ideas that Larry has handed down from Mr. Olympus, I mean Charlottesville.
Not only is Larry Sabato no James Madison, I don’t think there are 55 people in America today that I would trust enough with the authority to completely re-write America’s founding document.
I’d agree with your addition, Doug. I attended a small, private dinner with him ’bout 22 years ago at Middlecourt at Hampden-Sydney, back when Josiah Bunting was President. The only two students there were me and Maurice Jones, now Publisher of the Virginian-Pilot, if memory serves, since we were what passed for the “stars” of H-SC’s Political Science Department. I remember thinking that Sabato struck me as a nice guy, and a competent political analyst, but he certainly didn’t dazzle me.
Larry’s the best at his primary mission, though, which is the promotion of Larry.
Mr. Olympus should’ve been Mt. Olympus by the way 😉
Good Lord — we learned about that rule in Junior High. That’s how Jefferson became President in 1800.
Actually James, there are reasons why things like 🙂 and 😦 exist. It is to avoid mistaking the serious from the tongue in cheek. Since you are an infrequent poster here, there was no way for me to know that you were being anything other than serious.
And no, I’m not protesting too much. I really hadn’t thought of it in partisan terms. Like so many of the things I post, I throw it out for folks to talk about. I’m no expert on the rule and since I didn’t have government in HS, I hadn’t heard of it before.
MB: Get rid of the Electoral College.
Terrible idea. It’s just about the last bit of proper Federalism that we have left.
Yeah. That whole democracy thing sucks.