‘American Idol’ fine model for presidential elections

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

Despite recent comparisons, there is a big difference between electing the next American Idol and electing the president of the United States. When people vote in the “American Idol” contest, every vote counts equally, and whoever gets the most votes wins. Unfortunately, those principles don’t hold true in presidential elections.

Our electoral college system skews the presidential vote in some weird ways. First, not everyone’s vote counts equally. Votes in the electoral college from less populous states are given more weight. For example, if you live in Nebraska, Rhode Island or Vermont, your vote counts about twice as much as our votes here in Missouri.

Currently, all but two states — Nebraska and Maine — give all their electoral votes to the statewide winner. If your candidate didn’t win statewide, your vote is essentially discarded. So presidential candidates are wise to avoid campaigning in states where the race is not close. Bush was smart to not campaign in California; he couldn’t win the state, and a million more votes there would not have helped him win the presidency. Likewise, Kerry didn’t try to get more votes in Texas because in the final tally it wouldn’t matter.

There are now only five to eight “battleground” states where the election is close. Presidential candidates focus all their attention on these states and concentrate on the issues that play well there. In the other…