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Politico: Why the electoral college is important

Politico: Why the electoral college is important

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by: ALetterToElise Active Indicator LED Icon 2 OP 
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 6:05pm  
Interesting article from the 2012 election:
 
After a U.S. presidential election in which the Electoral College worked perfectly to enhance the popular vote outcome, a movement is now afoot to dismantle the college.
 
Instead of trying to amend the Constitution, the argument goes, the nation should opt for the National Popular Vote plan, which asks state legislatures to give their state’s electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote, no matter how their own citizens vote. Eight states and Washington, D.C., already have passed the plan.
 
It’s a bad idea.
 
Making this runaround of the Constitution will result in dire consequences for our nation’s ability to choose its top leader fairly and effectively.
 
Why? Because abolishing the current system will strongly tilt elections in favor of candidates who can win huge electoral margins in the country’s major metropolitan areas.
 
Some are calling for a “direct democracy” in which an 18-year-old voter in California and an 18-year-old voter in Oklahoma will not be ignored. But abolishing the Electoral College would mean ignoring every rural and small-state voter in our country. If you don’t believe it, just look at the electoral maps and the numbers.
 
Barack Obama received 3.3 million more votes than Mitt Romney in the Nov. 6 election, but won 3.6 million more votes than Romney in just four cities — Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles. He won those margins without much of a campaign. Now, imagine an Obama candidacy free of the need to appeal to Ohio factory workers, Colorado cattlemen, Iowa hog farmers and Virginia police officers, and you start to get the picture.
 
If the United States does away with the Electoral College, future presidential elections will go to candidates and parties willing to cater to urban voters and skew the nation’s policies toward big-city interests. Small-town issues and rural values will no longer be their concern.
 
Cities already are the homes of America’s major media, donor, academic and government centers. A simple, direct democracy will centralize all power — government, business, money, media and votes — in urban areas to the detriment of the rest of the nation.
 
The Electoral College has, on the other hand, given us competitive and fair elections for more than two centuries. One reason Republicans feel so bitter about the 2012 presidential election is that their party lost when it had a real shot at winning, and they know it. It wasn’t the fault of the Electoral College.
 
What’s more, supporters of the popular vote plan haven’t stopped to consider the problems inherent in managing such a system. Will we have to create and pay for a new federal agency to verify the accuracy of popular vote totals? Probably.
 
One can only guess at the other nightmare scenarios that could arise, such as runoff elections and precinct-by-precinct national recounts in close races.
 
If we want presidential elections to be fair and representative — as well as efficient — we should push to keep the Electoral College in place, not dissolve it.
 
It’s a balanced way to choose our presidents that has proved its value over time. 4951
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ALetterToElise Active Indicator LED Icon 2 OP 
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 6:08pm  
Loading Image... 4951
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ProblemAgain Active Indicator LED Icon 10
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 7:02pm  
there was also a move to do away with 17th amendment (the direct election of senators) and return to the appointment of senators by the legislators of each state. what that does is revert to the pet senators like there were in the days of the robber barons. the very wealthy or large employers and /or landowners etc then can bend the senate to their will as happened quite frequently.  4951
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KevinJ Active Indicator LED Icon
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 7:12pm  
 
Loading Image...
 
@ALetterToElise: One person, one vote that counts.  Don't fear it.
4951
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ProblemAgain Active Indicator LED Icon 10
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 7:29pm  

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@ALetterToElise: One person, one vote that counts.  Don't fear it.
 
@KevinJ:
the electoral college balances the power of the large populated states with the lack of population of the small states.without that the small states  such as wyoming , the dakotas, montana etc would have NO political clout, voice or power. this gets them the school funds the matching grants and etc that large population states like texas take for granted. 4951
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dac1842 Active Indicator LED Icon 3
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 7:32pm  
The states can't run counter to the Constitution.
The laws would not survive a legal challenge.
 
We go through this conversation every time a candidate loses by electoral college but garners the popular vote.
 
We have the best system in the world. Don't jack with it.
In our history we have had 5 instances where a candidate won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college.
I would say we have a great system, and it works 95% of the time. Not a bad average. 4951
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mdizzle Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 8:09pm  
Emoticon 4951
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MarT Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 8:14pm  
@mdizzle
Unblock me so I can see your comments, it's so annoying and I'm not that scary. Ha ha, well maybe.
 
Somebody needs to quote me so he sees my plea Emoticon 4951
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ALetterToElise Active Indicator LED Icon 2 OP 
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 8:45pm  
@KevinJ, lol I'm not a conservative or liberal. I consider myself to be a centrist. So no fear here. The point is that the electoral college is very important no matter which candidate wins. 4951
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MarT Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 8:49pm  
@KevinJ, lol I'm not a conservative or liberal. I consider myself to be a centrist. So no fear here. The point is that the electoral college is very important no matter which candidate wins.
 
@ALetterToElise:
 
I agree, the sometimes annoying electoral college is important.
 
4951
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mdizzle Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:00pm  
The point is that the electoral college is very important no matter which candidate wins.
are you SURE it isn't to keep racist/ignorant people in power?  i mean, if it gives a voice to ignorant/racist people, then...oh forget it.  worth noting that all the popular vote winners who lost the election were democrats. 4951
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mdizzle Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:11pm  
We go through this conversation every time a candidate loses by electoral college but garners the popular vote.
 
@dac1842: all 2 times in the last 130 years you mean?  (yes i realize that counts as every)
4951
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mdizzle Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:12pm  
oops double post
4951
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ALetterToElise Active Indicator LED Icon 2 OP 
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:42pm  
@mdizzle, the ignorant and/or racist amongst us are not confined to rural areas...they are unfortunately found everywhere. So no, I don't believe the EC helps them. It balances power and makes sure everyone is fairly represented, whether we like the outcome of that election cycle or not.Hillary lost because she didn't inspire her party to come out for her in droves like they did for Obama. Just looks at the numbers from 2012 and now. The D base either stayed home or voted Trump or third party. The rust belt areas of the country voted for Obama twice......so I don't believe they suddenly became racist, they just preferred Trump's job message. Michael Moore warned Democrats that Trump would win if they ignored the middle of the country and he was right. Trump swooped in an scooped up their voters.The DNC shouldn't have rigged the primary against Bernie. He may have been a viable candidate, and that would have been a great race. 4951
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ET Active Indicator LED Icon 17
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:46pm  
The DNC shouldn't have rigged the primary against Bernie. He may have been a viable candidate, and that would have been a great race.
 
@ALetterToElise: I thought this week's result was more about rejecting her than embracing Trump.
4951
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fudgiesmom2 Active Indicator LED Icon 6
~ 7 years ago   Nov 10, '16 9:48pm  
But why should a Democrat's vote in Texas, or a Republican's in a "Democrat" state, be worth less than anyone else's?  Is that fair to them? 4951
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