Editorial: Two Electoral College schemes to dismiss now

Republican political operatives are seeking signatures for an initiative that would change the way California's Electoral College votes are cast to benefit the Republican candidate for president. In response, Democrats are pushing an initiative that would change the rules in ways they think counter the Republicans and favor the Democratic candidate for president.

While expressing skepticism about the Republican initiative, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to say whether he was definitely "against it" or "for it." Voters need to be more emphatic. Say No to both proposals.

The question is not whether the Electoral College needs reform. It does, sorely. But the California initiatives are merely partisan gamesmanship masquerading as reform.

The Republican measure is the more cynical. It scraps California's current winner-take-all rule that requires members of the Electoral College from our state to cast all 55 of California's electoral votes for whichever presidential candidate gets the most votes statewide. This winner-take-all system is the rule in all but two small states, Nebraska and Maine.

Under the proposed Republican initiative, California's electoral votes would be awarded proportionately based on vote totals in the state's 53 congressional districts. (The remaining two electoral votes, representing the state's two U.S. senators, would be awarded as they are now, to the highest vote-getter statewide.)

Because Republicans hold 19 of the state's 53 House seats, it's presumed that the Republican candidate for president under the new rules would collect a minimum of 19 of California's electoral votes. That's almost as many as Ohio's 20 Electoral College votes.

In a close election, 19 Electoral College votes would be more than enough to put a Republican in the White House even if that candidate lost the popular vote both in California and the nation.

With large Republican states such as Texas sticking to the winner-take-all system, a rule change in Democratic- leaning California tilts the election dramatically in favor of the Republican candidate. And that, not fairness, is the real goal here, despite the disingenuous claims of GOP operatives.

Democrats across the country are justifiably alarmed. To defend against the Republican initiative, they are pushing a rival measure that would require California electors to cast their Electoral College votes for whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote nationally. They are betting that the country, deeply disappointed with a Republican president's performance in an unpopular war, will vote Democratic next year.

They may be right in 2008, but what about four years from then, or eight? What if a Democrat wins California but loses the national popular vote? In that case, it would be as if the ballots of California voters didn't count at all. Will Democrats change the rules again to fit some new presidential political calculus?

This is a case of one bad partisan initiative spawning another. To place either on the June ballot, proponents must collect 433,971 signatures by Nov. 29. To preserve the possibility of real Electoral College reform, California voters should just say No when signature gatherers approach with either one of these schemes.