An initiative to alter the way California distributes its electoral votes has national democrats nervous. SemDem of DailyKos’ diary on this initiative has attracted massive amounts of attention. As The Christian Science Monitor reports, the measure is being pushed by GOP strategists in order to influence the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election.
Aside from the typical grassroots opposition, there is hope that someone will step forward to include another similar, yet protective initiative that states something like: “California shall petition the Federal Government to alter the Electoral College System. California shall not split its electoral votes until national legislation to alter the electoral college has been implemented.”
The point of this, first and foremost, is to create confusion. And if it passes, great, then California will have electoral reform on the books as one of the state’s priorities, as well as a guarantee that Republicans cannot take another stab at this anytime they feel it would help them get elected.
Additionally, SemDem suggests taking the folowing measures:
- Contact AG Jerry Brown and have him declare it unconstitutional: http://ag.ca.gov/…
- Text networks to spread the word at places gathering signatures for the opposition
- Supporting http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/…
- Contact the CA Dems, the CA Representatives, organizations like MoveON.org
Even still, the key will be to launch, organize, and fund a counter-initiative to place on the ballot. Updates will be forthcoming.
by ARN
