Kmarion wrote:

Spark wrote:

In any case, what's to stop one party secretly encouraging people in a certain area (where they know they'll get more votes) to vote? Is that not distorting the true view of the ENTIRE public?
It's called campaigning and it's not a secret.
I didn't mean campaigning, I meant more along the lines of bribing people just to vote (like, 'I'll give you ten bucks if you vote', or something like that).

In any case, the scenario I was imagining is 100 million people voting for one canidate and just 60 million voting for another, when in fact the majority of the country (if voting was compulsary) supports the second canidate (who loses).

Also, the 'electoral college' thing just runs rings around my head. I cannot understand why you want it, and I would be pleased to see it abolished.
The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
~ Richard Feynman