Abolition of the electoral college

[greenforest32]

Hard to predict. I think it will depend on there being a certain political mood in the country (kind of like the era of EPA and all that environmental regulation). I don't think it will be gone by 2020 but I wouldn't be surprised to see the national popular vote compact adopted before the EC rightfully kicks the bucket.

Also this thread is weird. Where is the thread starter's first post?

[greenforest32]

Never

Tiny states like Nebraska benefit from the disproportional allocation of the electoral votes, of course...

And we've past laws to take away that advantage, if the big states did the same this would cease to be an issue.  But they don't.  Why?  Because it would, ironically, make them less important in Presidential elections.

Eh? The real benefitters (sp?) of the electoral college are the swing states. The big states should get more attention as they have more people, but since the Electoral College elects the president rather than the popular vote candidates spend most of their time in swing states.

How do you think Republicans in California or Democrats in Texas feel? You think they approve of the electoral college? Nope.

[greenforest32]

I hate this conversation. The electoral college is the least of ours worries. We have fptp, gerrymandering, and awful campaign finance laws and we choose to focus on this?

It's probably because it's the easiest to fix. Doesn't mean we can't focus on all those at once.

[greenforest32]

I hate this conversation. The electoral college is the least of ours worries. We have fptp, gerrymandering, and awful campaign finance laws and we choose to focus on this?

It's probably because it's the easiest to fix. Doesn't mean we can't focus on all those at once.

It is easy to fix if it isn't a real problem...I think bitterness about 2000 is way overstated and that the EC is an easy targets because it feels undemocratic. It is also a fix that is far less likely to change anything than the reforms I mentioned would.

I am not disputing that. I'd like to change them all. We haven't had any real electoral reform in decades.

And the electoral college did enable the Supreme Court to stop the Florida recount and hand Bush the Presidency in 2000. Certainly we could have done things better before that point (a better campaign and called for recounts right away), but it was still an option for them to use and they did.