This was an unusual election for Washington state offices.
Three of the nine state executive offices changed hands, with two incumbents losing in November. Few years have brought that much change.
Republican state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland and Republican Assistant State Treasurer Allan Martin, running to replace his retiring boss, both were victims of a heavy Democratic turnout as they lost close elections.
The third office that changed hands was the non-partisan superintendent of public instruction. Incumbent Terry Bergeson lost to Randy Dorn, a change fueled by frustration over the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.
Election review: Nebraska’s split electoral vote
Nebraska’s five electoral votes went four to John McCain and one to Barack Obama.
That’s because Nebraska is one of two states that can divide its electoral votes. Nebraska gives two of its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the state popular vote and the other three to the winners of the presidential vote in each of the state’s congressional districts. Even though the Obama campaign knew it had little chance to win the state, it successfully put resources into the one district where it knew it could compete.
If our state had used such a system this year, Obama would have won nine of Washington’s electoral votes rather than all eleven. Obama easily would have won the statewide vote and six of the congressional districts. He also would have won the 8th District, but that district would have been competitive enough that both parties would have advertised in the Seattle market, and, while Obama certainly would have lost the 4th District (Central Washington), he would have made the 5th District (Eastern Washington) competitive enough to bring advertising to the Spokane market.
Why can Nebraska divide its vote? The U.S. Constitution says that each state can pick its electors “in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, … equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.
Allocating electors by district seems consistent with constitutional intent.
If Florida had used Nebraska’s system in the disputed election eight years ago, the dispute would have been over the electoral vote of that one district rather than over all of that state’s 25 electoral votes.
I’d like our state to allocate its electoral votes not by district but by proportion of the statewide vote, one electoral vote for each 9 percent of the statewide vote. This year, that would have meant six votes for Obama and five for McCain, but with a little more work Obama could have made it 7-4. Washington and most other states get ignored because they are clearly red or clearly blue, but a proportional system would bring us attention, as candidates would work for every vote in every part of this and any state that would adopt the system.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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