Electoral Vote Predictor

Someone pointed out this site to me and I think it is worth looking at. It takes local and other polls and uses their data to build an ever evolving electoral picture.

Some people have said we should get rid of the Electoral College and after much thought I have to disagree. It is the way we decide a winner. The electoral college system means that candidates have to campaign even in smaller states to get their votes. I think that if we did away with the electoral college, candidates would stop campaigning in the rural or midwestern states. The fact is that the vast majority of our population is isolated to a very few regions.

I think if we make a change, we should consider the plan that Maine uses. Since the electoral votes are based on the number of congressional seats plus each states 2 senate seats, I think that the popular vote should decide each Congressional Electoral vote and the winner of the most Congressional Electoral votes should get the states 2 Senatorial Electoral votes. While it is not perfect, this would mean that states with decent electoral votes would still get people visiting them. The only drawback would be that most of the Congressional districts are centered around urban areas, so rural voters would see less of the candidates. This might be balanced out by the fact that most rural voters are more likely to vote than urban voters though too. The only side effect of this would be that Congressional Redistricting would be even more hotly contested.