Would have just given a bunch of thumbs up just now

I was generally happy with the result (ie avoiding the nightmare of a Rommey administration) but the EC has got to go. Popular vote makes sense, but getting rid of the two party system is going to take more than that.

I think the problem is more the winner takes all approach that almost all states employ regarding the electoral votes. As it stands whichever candidate wins the popular vote in the state gets all the electoral votes for that state. Thus, Obama who only won 58% of the NJ popular vote gets all 14 electoral votes, completely disregarding those in NJ who voted for other candidates, which is 42%. That’s a huge number to essentially ignore. In this regard I can perfectly understand how you feel your vote doesn't count.

However, if it were instead that the votes are divvied up according to the popular vote; Obama would have received 8 of the 14, Romney 5, and Johnson 1. Take California, the candidate knows that they only have to get 51% of the vote to get all 55 electoral votes; Obama got 59% and netted all 55, which was a huge victory. Take a look at an election map of CA; there are huge swaths of red in there, to the tune of 38%, which could have meant 21 votes for Romney. That would have greatly changed the race.
Instead of a candidate putting in a minimum effort in each state or relying on a state that is usually staunchly Dem or Rep, they’d have to fight for every vote. Of course, no one in power wants it this way, so we get the broken system we have.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20178655

Interesting article I read on the BBC website earlier in the week. We have a similar issue in the UK. In England, there's really only 3 main parties to choose from. A couple of minor parties got some seats in England, but we really only have either the Conservatives or Labour as a government. Both seem to enjoy taking more away from the population

I always thought most European Countries, especially England, had more political parties to choose from than us here in the USA, Portchy.

I always thought most European Countries, especially England, had more political parties to choose from than us here in the USA, Portchy.

According to his post, they do, but apparently not enough.

According to his post, they do, but apparently not enough.

No, I meant like 10 or so parties. That's what I read anyway.

I strongly agree with the electoral college. For today's standards it should just be the popular vote that counts and nothing else. This government should have thought of this ever since the 2000 Gore/Bush election.

According to his post, they do, but apparently not enough.

In meaningful terms in the UK we have just 2 - labour (democrat) & conservative (republican). Periodically the Liberals (NOT libertarian - they are left of centre - but not as left as labour) hold the balance of power and form a coalition with one of the other parties. Currently we have a conservative & liberal coalition running the country - but I can just about remember a liberal / labour pact running the country in the late '70s

However we do have a number of other parties who will hold a couple of seats and maybe gain their 3 minutes of fame if there is a close vote and they can help a major party get the result they want

We do have a libertarian party - but it is new, very small.

"Annual accounts held by the Electoral Commission, show that the party had 314 members at the end of 2008, and a net annual income of £3,395. By December 2009 the party had 500 members.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][dead link][/SUP]The party participated in the United Kingdom general election, 2010.[SUP][4][/SUP][SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][6][/SUP]
Withers was elected as an independent Parish councillor for Clevedon Walton ward, North Somerset region in the May 2011 elections.[SUP][7][/SUP]resigning on or around March 2012." - From Wikipedia

We are generally a two party system, with a first past the post election mechanic. The smaller parties want some form of proportional representation as this would allow for more seats for the smaller parties. However the two main parties are concerned this would lead to a perpetually hung parliament - where small interest groups would ho;d the balance of power and use that to get their issue on the political agenda.

"After the 2010 election, with a hung parliament, and the Liberal Democrats potentially holding the balance of power, AV+ was again the subject of discussion, as a potential part of a coalition deal. However, the eventual coalition's deal - between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives - specified that there would be a referendum on "the introduction of the Alternative Vote".[SUP][4][/SUP] This was confirmed in February 2011, when the referendum on AV (not AV+) was approved by Parliament.[SUP][5][/SUP]
The referendum took place on Thursday 5 May 2011. The result was an overwhelming "no" in favour of keeping the current "first-past-the-post" (plurality) system and out of the 440 voting areas in the referendum 430 areas along with all twelve voting regions of the United Kingdom returned "no" votes and with only 10 areas returning "yes" votes in favour of AV. Six of the ten areas were in London with Oxford and Cambridge being the only areas outside of London in England to vote "yes". The other two areas that voted "yes" were in Scotland (Edinburgh Central and Glasgow Kelvin.)" - From Wikipedia

We had a chance to change things here - and we voted NO!

The two party system will continue to dominate UK politics

We do have a variety of political parties, but they very rarely get in. There are nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, and republican and nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. These parties tend to fare better in those countries. In England, most are Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem, but the Green Party do have 1 seat. I think there may be 1/2 independents who are MPs as well. The other parties tend to be a bit more extreme (e.g. UKIP who want us to leave the EU or the BNP who are the racist party); these generally struggle in the UK though because as a nation we tend to avoid extremes. It's pretty much part of the British psyche. The political parties can run for government, and local authorities (councils). Councils tend to have more variety in their political make-up, depending where they are. E.g. The Monster Raving Loony Party (bit of a joke party in the UK) have a few councilors in southern England.