I have a confession to make: I still haven't decided for whom to cast my vote. Not that it matters, because New York State voters are effectively disenfranchised; I'd have to live in Ohio or Missouri for my (presidential) vote to really have any meaning.

I'm glad that people are more aware of the phenomenon of the electoral college this time around. I recall that after the 2000 election, my American Politics professor noted that with the same minority of the popular vote, Bush would have won with 16 more electoral votes had the 2000 election been held after the Congressional reappropriations. People are moving out of the traditionally urban "blue" states and into more suburban "red" states, and their votes are being sublimated.

Recently I read somewhere that it is entirely possible that Kerry could win the Electoral College with a minority of the popular vote, which I think would be hilarious. When will America figure out that the Electoral College is an outdated piece of governmental technology? Not only is it ill-equipped to deal with demographic shifts, but it effectively disenfranchises poor city dwellers more than anything else (unless you live in Miami, where there are more direct mechanisms to disenfranchise urban voters).

The truth is that this problem started with the New Jersey plan, which gave smaller states greater representation than they ought have. I have to share senators and a congressman with far more constituents than, say, if I lived in Cheyenne.

If I lived in a swing state, I wouldn't have the slightest doubt about voting for (substitute Democratic candidate for president here), but in New York I have the opportunity to voice my dissatisfaction with our two-party system. (The truth is that Duverger's Law states that first-past-the-post voting systems almost always result in two-party systems, which has nothing to do with the Electoral College.) Hey, I did my part by convincing one Wisconsin voter to vote for Kerry by promising I would vote for Nader… but I'm not sure he's even on the ballot in this state (I know the Green party lost ballot access after a dismal showing in 2000).

Comments? Suggestions?