dubious.biz(ness)

Ok, this is fast turning in to a political blog. I’m trying to talk about interesting things, not just the political mudslinging that appears on the rest of the Internet.

This is for my foreign friends who are essentially baffled by the electoral college and electoral map. I personally find the electoral college system a very good one, save one little fact: electoral college members are under no obligation to vote with their state’s popular vote. This is a very thorny issue, but I think that at some point in the future it will become central to some electoral dispute. It was exactly the founders’ intent that the electoral college be independent of the people, and frankly at this point in the nation’s development, the concerns that led to this compromise (about dumb citizens, mob rule, and a deluded public) may be not be out of the question but they run against the spirit of democracy.

At any rate, the map as it appears on most websites is overwhelmingly red. This represents the fact that the center of America is both more conservative and much larger in area than in population. The electoral college assigns votes based on the total number of representatives in the House and Senate.

M. E. J. Newman in Michigan has created some cartograms that stretch the map based on population instead of based on land area. The most detailed of these (at the district level) clearly show that cities tend democratic and rural areas tend republican while suburban areas break either way.

Sized by state area equal to electoral votes

Sized by county area equal to population

Sized by county area equal to population, with shades of purple indicating close votes

If you’re familiar with America, the second map above basically has all cities, even those in the “big red middle” showing up blue. The states that voted red were often states without a significant metro area.