Electoral college and simple math

[Eugenia Carter]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Anderson" <greg@planetbeagle.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2000 3:14 PM
Subject: Electoral college and simple math

>
> And speaking of simple math, we can use it to demonstrate who benefits
most from the electoral college.  I live in California, the most populous
state in the nation.  The least populous state is Wyoming (whose state
population is roughly one-half the population of my city, San Jose).  Here's
how our two electoral counts stack up:
>
> State           Population      Electoral votes         Persons/elector
> CA              33,145,121      54                      613,799
> Wyoming 479,602         3                       159,867
>

Greg,

You seem to be really selective about which part of the system you
decry. Taking this thought a bit more thoroughly, and taking your figures as
fact, does it bother you that in CA each member of the House of
Representatives represents 637,406 constituents, while in Wyoming the one
and only member of the House of Representatives represents 479,602
constituents?

Or in the Senate that each Senator from CA must represent 33,145,121
constituents while the Wyoming Senators have only 479,602 constituents
between the two of them?

Looked at another way each Wyoming Member of the House has 1.3 times more
power than does a Member from CA. And a member of the Senate from Wyoming
has 69.1 times more power than does a Senator from CA. Talk about
disparity!!

If you are really concerned about this Electoral College disparity shouldn't
you be just as concerned about this imbalance/disparity in the Houses of
Congress?

However, I guess I must remember that the authority for all this disparity
comes from the U.S. Constitution, that little ol' document that makes our
great Nation a Republic.

:-)

Gina