CA Electoral Vote Initiative: A Teapot in a Tempest?
Republican political operatives linked in this Forbes article to the notorious "Swift Boating" campaign in the 2004 elections are attempting to put an initiative on California's June ballot that would all but guarantee a Republican victory in next year's presidential election.
If the initiative were to pass and be implemented, the electoral college votes would be allocated by congressional district, rather than the current "winner take all" method currently in place. The result - given how the state has been gerrymandered over the years - would mean an electoral vote swing toward the red side of Tim Russert's whiteboard equal to Ohio's votes.
Only one small problem... the US Constitution.
Here's the unfortunate (for the Swift Boaters) section:
Article II Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
This initiative should be snuffed out by Debra Bowen, the Secretary of State for California, before it goes any further. Ballot initiatives may trump the legislature, but the US Constitution always wins the hand.