Is there any plausible argument in favor of the electoral college?
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  Talk Elections
  Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
  Presidential Election Process (Moderator: muon2)
  Is there any plausible argument in favor of the electoral college?
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Author Topic: Is there any plausible argument in favor of the electoral college?  (Read 65441 times)
rbt48
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« Reply #175 on: August 19, 2015, 10:04:31 PM »

Elections are held within states according to each state's laws.  In order to have the popular vote decide the Presidency, there would need to be a Federal law governing the voting for President and Vice President.  Unless all elections were federalized (from Congress down to county officials), there would need to be separate elections for Pres/VP as distinct from all other electoral contests.  Otherwise a vote in one state would note equal a vote in another state.  Factors causing this lack of equality are numerous, but here are a few to consider (viewed from the standpoint of differing electoral laws among the states):
-Different candidates on the ballot from state to state,
-Different voting hours,
-Different residency requirements in a state and precinct,
-Diverse absentee ballot rules,
-All mail-in voting versus polling place voting,
-Registration requirements (same day versus X days before an election deadlines),
-Different voting systems (paper ballots, voting machines, format of ballots),
-Other distinctions that all are welcome to chime in with.

The key factor is that in order for a vote in (pick any state, say Illinois) to be equal to a vote in, say, Rhode Island, the rules for voting (eligibility, candidates to choose from, voting format, and other factors I've mentioned) need to be identical.

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bobloblaw
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« Reply #176 on: August 28, 2015, 10:06:17 PM »

As opposed to election by national popular-vote.

None of the conventional arguments strike me as persuasive. But conventional or unconventional, line 'em up.

Well very few nations actually elect their leaders via NPV. NPV would be fun. I suspect both the GOP and Dems would split off and have multiple parties. One could get elected with 25% of the vote if there was no runoff
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