02-18-2004, 08:02 PM
Quote:At the presidents election: after last elections it became clear in a painful way that the system of all votes in one state going to the winner (I forgot the name), is at least highly questionable. You can become president of the most powerful country in the world without being chosen by the majority.
Er, sort of. There is an intentional bias towards smaller states in the voting system, so that you have to win both a large population of people and a large number of states; Gore had a slight edge (about 0.5%) in population but only 21 out of 51 states. Also, being very popular in one state doesn't count for any more than being just popular enough to win, there are a bunch of reasons this can be a good thing or a bad thing.
Quote:Is it true that before you can vote, you have to register yourself somewhere as a voter (and that this costs money).?
In general, yes, you have to register to vote. This usually involves mailing a postcard to a county office when you move or filling out a form at the DMV when you get a driver's licence. In 1964 the 24th Amendment made it illegal to charge for voting (actually, it made it illegal to not let someone vote for not paying, I suppose you could still legally take it out of their paycheck or something but nobody does.) This was popular in the south for a while as a way of keeping poor blacks from voting.
Quote:And do you think that a candidate not backed up by representatives of large companies (so also does not get any campaign money) ( in other words really represents normal people) makes a chance of becoming president of the US?
Anybody who has a real chance at becoming President has companies (and individuals) throwing money at him. They'd have to get more votes for refusing the money than they could get by putting out all those TV ads... not likely anytime soon.
-- frink