In today’s NYtimes, an interesting article / chart that scrutinizes the ‘one person, one vote’ principle of our democracy. While the electoral college was been derided for ages now, the writers look at the three factors which give votes value relative the electoral bounty of their state. First, since electoral votes equal the numbers or senators plus the number of representatives, this provides an obvious bias toward small states like South Dakota. Second, and a factor I had never considered before, is that representatives are apportioned based on how many residents of a state, not how many eligible votes. This means that in a state like California every 10 votes represent 16 residents whereas in Vermont 10 voters carry the weight of 12 residents. Third, of course would be actually voter turnout; if fewer people vote in a state, then the votes of those who do vote will carry less weight overall.
