Principles and Democracy

Colorado is going to hold referendum on constitutional changes that would, if passed, replace old "winner takes all" distribution of Electoral College seats with European-style proportional representation.

This proposal makes great deal of sense if the idea is to prevent future Florida fiascos. US President elected under those rules would have more legitimacy than President elected in 2000. The number of electoral seats is going to have less discrepancy with the number of actual votes being cast.

Unfortunately, for this proposal to make sense, all US states should adopt similar system. Current proposal in Colorado is motivated more with party politics and less with democratic principles. Colorado is Republican state and adoption of amendment could deny Republicans 3 or 4 of 9 seats they had in their pocket previously. Needless to say, some of the most ardent proponents of the new initiative are Colorado Democrats.

Needless to say, California Democrats are going to have very little understanding if some Republican proposes similar solution for their state.

And it is very likely that Colorado voters would vote on this issue on strictly party lines, making the passage of that amendment unlikely.