Adam Howitt's Blog - American History

How the World would vote in the US elections

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:03:27 -0400

A good friend of mine built a great Flash app to capture the world's votes for the upcoming US Election. It's a great idea for a site and executed really well. If you have 30 seconds to spare, please head over to theworldfor.com, place you vote and then adjust the sliders for the issues you care about most. Over 1,000 votes in the first day and counting...

Disenchanted Non-eligible voter

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 15:21:50 -0400

Like the airlines say - "we recognize you have a choice when flying and thank you for flying Delta"... That said I can still complain about the fact the my airline delayed the flight or I don't like their service or the website. I'm probably the most disenchanted non-eligible voter in America this morning. It's not that Bush won. It is the fact that I disagree with the electoral process. I alluded to this fact earlier this morning when I presented an alternate method for assigning Electoral College votes. Roughly speaking I'm proposing federally controlled elections and removing the electoral college system. Electing the leader of the government in my mind is a federal issue and should be co-ordinated at a federal level with no state interference. If a state doesn't like the election procedure, secede! Dual federalism just seems unconstitutional when applied to the right to vote. Democracy should ensure that every vote counts. Dual federalism has resulted in each state choosing it's own way to run elections instead of the government declaring that the elections should be performed in a specific way and the count should be returned by a specific time. Not to mention the Electoral College system. Yesterday 55 EC votes were placed for Kerry despite the fact that he won only 54% of the vote. Surely the 55 EC votes should have split 29/26 instead. Yet last night, Colorado voters elected not to move to this system. Why? I would love to hear a well reasoned argument besides a 200 year old document outlining this supreme logic which arbitrarily rounds up from 54 out of 100 voters to give 100% backing to one candidate. We should be thankful the same math doesn't apply to our taxes or we'd all be rounding our annual contributions up to the nearest 10,000 dollars. It wouldn't be right to finish without an honorable mention to Samuel J. Tilden who, despite beating Rutherford B. Hayes by a quarter of a million votes on the popular vote, was not elected as President in 1876. What is more interesting is that he lost on the electoral votes by a single vote 185 to 184. Why is this interesting? Rutherford B. Hayes received the Colorado electoral vote despite the fact that no-one voted there. At least Grover Cleveland was elected in the subsequent election after he won the popular vote by about 90,000 votes but lost on Electoral College votes by a margin of 233 to 168, hence electing Benjamin Harrison. Finally we have the last election when Bush was elected over Gore despite losing the popular vote by 500,000 votes - the population of DC, Wyoming or Vermont. Hmm. I'd like to see electoral reform and see the nation move to federally controlled elections where the popular vote is the only factor. My last is how can a nation remain so divided yet continue to be ruled by someone so wrong for me and the rest of the upper midwest/ north east / north west? I thought the idea behind dual federalism was to ensure that non of the states with their local issues are imposed upon unfairly.

Kerry ahead on Electoral Votes

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 13:13:29 -0400

*If* you believe that the electoral college system is the way to go, at least keep it current. Based on the population for July 2003, there are large discrepancies between the number of Electoral Votes (EV) and the number each state would have by current population. California would get 65 votes! The table below shows how, by a modernization of Electoral Vote allocations would leave Kerry ahead of Bush 260 to 247 based on the state victories to this minute with Iowa, New Mexico and Ohio in the balance. Methodology:
Population of state/Population of county = percent of allocated Electoral votes.
Percent EV * 538 (current total EV) = EV by Population. So here goes:

					EV		EV by Pop
State	Pop 2003	% of Pop	EV by Pop	Actual EV	Bush	Kerry	Bush	Kerry
Alabama	4500752	1.55%	8.3264208	9	9	0	8.3264208	0
Alaska	648818	0.22%	1.200317567	3	3	0	1.200317567	0
Arizona	5580811	1.92%	10.32453705	10	10	0	10.32453705	0
Arkansas	2725714	0.94%	5.042588826	6	6	0	5.042588826	0
California	35484453	12.20%	65.64647142	55	0	55	0	65.64647142
Colorado	4550688	1.56%	8.418802728	9	9	0	8.418802728	0
Connecticut	3483372	1.20%	6.444261109	7	0	7	0	6.444261109
Delaware	817491	0.28%	1.512363726	3	0	3	0	1.512363726
DC	563384	0.19%	1.042264105	3	0	3	0	1.042264105
Florida	17019068	5.85%	31.48538773	27	27	0	31.48538773	0
Georgia	8684715	2.99%	16.06677987	15	15	0	16.06677987	0
Hawaii	1257608	0.43%	2.326583071	4	0	4	0	2.326583071
Idaho	1366332	0.47%	2.527723186	4	4	0	2.527723186	0
Illinois	12653544	4.35%	23.40913962	21	0	21	0	23.40913962
Indiana	6195643	2.13%	11.4619803	11	11	0	11.4619803	0
Iowa	2944062	1.01%	5.446534062	7	---	---	0	0
Kansas	2723507	0.94%	5.038505862	6	6	0	5.038505862	0
Kentucky	4117827	1.42%	7.618007031	8	8	0	7.618007031	0
Louisiana	4496334	1.55%	8.318247471	9	9	0	8.318247471	0
Maine	1305728	0.45%	2.415605387	4	0	4	0	2.415605387
Maryland	5508909	1.89%	10.19151788	10	0	10	0	10.19151788
Massachusetts	6433422	2.21%	11.90187301	12	0	12	0	11.90187301
Michigan	10079985	3.47%	18.64803854	17	0	17	0	18.64803854
Minnesota	5059375	1.74%	9.359877024	10	0	10	0	9.359877024
Mississippi	2881281	0.99%	5.330388799	6	6	0	5.330388799	0
Missouri	5704484	1.96%	10.55333292	11	11	0	10.55333292	0
Montana	917621	0.32%	1.697604885	3	3	0	1.697604885	0
Nebraska	1739291	0.60%	3.217699789	5	5	0	3.217699789	0
Nevada	2241154	0.77%	4.146149639	5	5	0	4.146149639	0
New Hampshire	1287687	0.44%	2.382229419	4	0	4	0	2.382229419
New Jersey	8638396	2.97%	15.98108941	15	0	15	0	15.98108941
New Mexico	1874614	0.64%	3.468048229	5	---	---	0	0
New York	19190115	6.60%	35.50183896	31	0	31	0	35.50183896
North Carolina	8407248	2.89%	15.55346409	15	15	0	15.55346409	0
North Dakota	633837	0.22%	1.172602619	3	3	0	1.172602619	0
Ohio	11435798	3.93%	21.15630151	20	---	---	0	0
Oklahoma	3511532	1.21%	6.496357294	7	7	0	6.496357294	0
Oregon	3559596	1.22%	6.58527601	7	0	7	0	6.58527601
Pennsylvania	12365455	4.25%	22.87617307	21	0	21	0	22.87617307
Rhode Island	1076164	0.37%	1.990910478	4	0	4	0	1.990910478
South Carolina	4147152	1.43%	7.672258474	8	8	0	7.672258474	0
South Dakota	764309	0.26%	1.413976677	3	3	0	1.413976677	0
Tennessee	5841748	2.01%	10.80727222	11	11	0	10.80727222	0
Texas	22118509	7.61%	40.91938712	34	34	0	40.91938712	0
Utah	2351467	0.81%	4.350229415	5	5	0	4.350229415	0
Vermont	619107	0.21%	1.145352022	3	0	3	0	1.145352022
Virginia	7386330	2.54%	13.66475908	13	13	0	13.66475908	0
Washington	6131445	2.11%	11.34321357	11	0	11	0	11.34321357
West Virginia	1810354	0.62%	3.349166806	5	5	0	3.349166806	0
Wisconsin	5472299	1.88%	10.12378914	10	0	10	0	10.12378914
Wyoming	501242	0.17%	0.927300996	3	3	0	0.927300996	0
Total U.S.	290809777		538	538			247.1012492	260.827867

Vote for the World

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 03:55:31 -0400

It's no surprise to me that many Guardian readers in the UK signed up to write letters urging people in the US to vote. They didn't say vote Bush or Kerry, just vote and know what the rest of the world is hoping you think about. Some people were indignant about these interfering Brits, some welcomed the attention. I think many Americans don't appreciate the impact that the US presidency has on every other country in the world. After 4 years living in the US under Bush, I have been pulling for Kerry but at 12.50am CST it looks improbable. One thing it has brought to my attention is how out of touch I have become with British Politics since leaving in 2000. If you can excuse the fact that this is a part of the BBC for schools, here is a quick summary of the electoral process in the UK. For more depth visit this, wait for it, ColdFusion website for the Houses of Parliament.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Mon, 06 Oct 2003 11:30:38 -0400

They had their axes ready for the Braves Chop but it was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre as Kerry Wood (Texas) pitched 8 fine innings before being replaced by Tom Goodwin as pinch hitter. I'll put some pictures up at MyPhotopia later today from last nights game in Atlanta. It was great to see history in the making and such good humoured rivalry from the fans. Typical cat-calls of "Corky" were yelled at Sammy Sosa while the Braves multimedia crowd management system cranked out the Chop over and over to drum up some enthusiasm. Overall, I still think the majority of fans at the game were fair weather Braves fans. Last night was the best crowd in regular or post-season history because many of the cubs fans came back down from Chicago to see the game. Other Cubs fans, like myself, live in Atlanta and were priveleged enough to see history being made as the Cubs further buried the legend of the Goat. I know that the only thing that stopped "Wrigley South" from having more Cubs fans in attendance was the prohibitive cost of a last minute ticket to fly down. Well done Cubbies, lets take down the Marlins. The Cubs have a 4-2 record against them (2-1 Home, 2-1 Away) from two series in July so statistically we are stand a good chance. Heck, even against the Yankees the Cubs are 2-1 from the Interleague series...

American History

Tue, 29 Jul 2003 18:28:52 -0400

I'm trying to learn a little about the country I live in so I don't appear as ignorant as some of the people I have encountered here. One guy once asked me in Chicago if they speak English in England, which is much worse than the first question whether we celebrate July 4th or Thanksgiving. I'll start with the US Presidents song I used to remember the Presidents in order: To the tune of "Ten Little Indians": Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk and Taylor, Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan. Lincoln, Johnson, Grant and Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge. Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton, GW Bush is the President.

Tube vs Subway

Sun, 11 Aug 2002 13:32:00 -0400

After a lot of BS Darrin and I decided to look on the web for comparisons between the London Underground and the New York Subway. It turns out that the tube wins for:

oldest 1863 vs 1904

route miles 253 vs 233

deepest station 192ft vs 180ft while NY wins for:

stations 468 vs 275

% underground 67% vs 42%

passengers per year 1.3bn vs 1.0 bn