Should we abolish the electoral college? (user search)
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  Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
  Presidential Election Process (Moderator: muon2)
  Should we abolish the electoral college? (search mode)
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Poll
Question: Should the United States change its method of electing presidents from an electoral college to direct popular vote (and a runoff if no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the first round)?
#1
Yes
 
#2
No
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 57

Author Topic: Should we abolish the electoral college?  (Read 10646 times)
Badger
badger
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Posts: 40,317
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« on: June 22, 2011, 01:34:13 PM »

Hell yes.

Who are the 8 yes votes so far and what possible justification can they present in favor of such an anti-democratic anachronism? Huh
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Badger
badger
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 40,317
United States


« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2011, 12:51:55 PM »

Hell yes.

Who are the 8 yes votes so far and what possible justification can they present in favor of such an anti-democratic anachronism? Huh
Seems like you could ask yourself that question Smiley

D'OH!! Embarrassed I of course meant "no" votes....
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Badger
badger
Atlas Legend
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Posts: 40,317
United States


« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2011, 01:06:40 PM »

Hell yes.

Who are the 8 yes votes so far and what possible justification can they present in favor of such an anti-democratic anachronism? Huh

Well first off, until elections are handled at the Federal level instead of the State level so that voting eligibility is uniform (it's a lot more uniform than it was when the Constitution was adopted, but still not 100% uniform) It makes sense to weight voting power in a manner that who is eligible to vote does not skew the results.  I wouldn't mind seeing some tinkering to the Electoral College, such as making it be based purely on the House or requiring that States use a PR allocation of votes instead of winner take all.

The first suggestion is actually even less democratic a system than the current EC setup, and possibly the only way it could be made even worse. The second suggestion isn't so bad (something like assigning the states' electors for house representation based on popular vote, and assign the two electors representing its senators to the statewide winner?) Somewhat better I suppose, but if we're going to reconfigure the EC that much we might as well scrap the damn thing altogether.

While I see your point re: voting restrictions not being uniform, at the same time I don't see that as nearly sufficient justification for the EC's fundamentally undemocratic system. For that matter, loosening sufferage eligibility laws probably would be a generally good thing.

Currently a state's voting restrictions already does skew the results, albeit in a reverse way of what you are thinking. Take two states with similar adult populations and identically sized congressional delegations, but with vastly divergent voter eligibility laws and, thus, levels of registration and voting. State A's liberalized voting requirements allow (e.g.) 120-130% of the number of ballots cast compared to State B's exclusionary ballot laws, but both states are guaranteed the same level of input to the election? It seems to me that if a state is willing to live with the ramifications of such open voting standards for its own local and state elections, then it shouldn't be diluted in presidential elections by the EC.
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Badger
badger
Atlas Legend
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Posts: 40,317
United States


« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2011, 09:34:48 AM »

No, we should not abolish the electoral college.  That would require a constitutional amendment...the process would be drawn-out and result in the loss of much political capital.

Instead, the states are serious about ending the EC they ought to take advantage of the rights granted to them by the Constitution.  States can select electors however they see fit.  Currently, 48 states award their respective electoral votes to their statewide popular vote winner.  Any state could change their laws to where their electoral votes were allocated to the national popular vote winner.  This is what the NPVIC is trying to do.

So, in answer to the question...for anybody who seriously wants to end the "electoral college" the NPVIC is much more likely to happen than a constitutional amendment. 

However, semantically speaking, adopting the NPVIC would not result in the end of the EC, it would only change the way that states allocated their electoral votes...

That's.....actually a pretty good idea.
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