Election Day Forecast/Electoral College versus Popular Vote

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Say Marco (we said when that tiny stormed was in the southern Gulf of Mexico). Well, now there is Polo in the eastern Pacific--not theatening any land area and giving me something silly to say.

Election Day weather--some trouble spots around the nation. To the right is the National Weather Service's warning map. The pink areas are one of the toughest locations because that is where there could be treacherous driving due to wintery weather. Here is just one of the warnings:

A STRONG WINTER STORM WILL BRING 8 TO 16 INCHES OF SNOW...WITHLOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE...TO THE SAN JUAN...WEST ELK ANDSAWATCH MOUNTAINS AS WELL AS THE GRAND MESA. EXPECT SOUTHWEST WINDSTO INCREASE TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH CREATINGWIDESPREAD AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WINDS WILL SHIFTTO THE WEST AND DECREASE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

The winter weather advisories (shown in blue) are also important but not as critical as the pink (warned) areas. There will be also be some showers and thunderstorms from D.C. to Norfolk to Charlotte, NC. It will be chilly or the northwest and intermountain region with highs in the 30s and 40s.

Houston weather looks great for voting...lows in the 50s and highs in the 80s. Look for a line of storms late Thursday into early Friday. Weekend looks nice and dry.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Can you believe I want to do election or eleccíon, pronounced ay-leck-SIOWN. Tomorrow is a big day, the eleccíon of a new president and others.

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AND MORE
We saw one today...one of those FEMA people. We were strolling down the path that runs along Oyster Creek and saw a man coming toward us with a safety vest on. When we got closer we asked him if he was inspecting the work which had been done to remove all the debris. He said very somberly but politely, "I'm with FEMA". And that was it and he passed us and kept on going. Maybe he was trying to say that he wasn't inspecting the debris removal. He is just some poor overworked FEMA guy who was taking a stroll to relax. I guess we'll never know. I had no idea that FEMA had anything to do with debris removal along a creek area.

The electoral college vs. the popular vote. Rarely does one not agree with the other. But as we all remember from the 2000 election...they can be at odds. In that election George W. Bush won with 271 electoral votes and a popular vote of 50,456,002 (47.9%). Al Gore had fewer electoral votes: 266 with a higher popular vote of 50,999,897 (48.4%).

Now, I'm a numbers kind of person and I like the idea of the popular vote deciding it. I think each vote should be exactly equal in value. The way it works now is that your state has so many electoral votes. Whatever way your state decides, the electors are "pledged" to represent the will of their state voters in December with their actual vote. Some states (not all) have laws which require the electors to do as the population of the state indicated through their vote.

The whole reason the electoral college came about was that during the early part of our country's history, states or areas with lean populations would not have enough to have any voice at all during an election. So, that is when the electoral votes were assigned. They didn't want the few largely populated areas deciding everything.

I personally think there is little need of this any more. But there are probably those from primarily agriculatural or lower populated starts who might disagree.

For more on the electoral college, see this link: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege.htm

So, I'm putting up a poll--do you think the election should be based on popular vote--yes or no.

Happy voting everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman