The Electoral College.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

As I have not been able to escape politics wherever I go something dangerous has begun to happen. I have started thinking. I live in Kansas and while I do like some of the down to earth people here most of them are less than political scholars. So talking politics with them always gets a bit dicey because while you try to remain unbiased and still have an intelligent debate. And then a stupid comment falls out of their mouth and you are left dumbfounded as someone could actually think it was appropriate to say. For instance if you ask people why they dont like Obama, the typical answer here is because he sucks or has done nothing.

 

What does this have to do with the electoral college you ask ? Well here it is, even if I were to vote Democrat ( really have not made up my mind but leaning dem ) it would not matter. If you are a democrat in this state it is not going to matter. Then a voter map showed up to identify battle ground states and I saw states that were already all but done voting. So is the electoral college a realistic representation of votes or is it just something to appease the masses ?

[seanbrock 1,684]

It's political suicide to vote against the person your state elects. It honestly doesn't really matter much either way.

[blotsfan 2,112]

I'm pretty sure in 2000 someone in the electoral college abstained when gore should've gotten his vote.

 

I don't see the point of it anymore though. I know my vote is mostly meaningless but the electoral college makes it completely meaningless.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

The electoral college is a fucking farce and is a large part of the reason why I am not very patriotic.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love this country, but as long as I've been alive and aware, the United States have been run by crooks and morons and the political system we have in place is a sham for the most part. I am happy for the liberties I have, but it is hard to beat my chest and chant "AMER-I-CA" when the people in charge are working to snatch those liberties away from us and run this country into the ground for their own personal gain.

[WindyCitySports 407]

This article was published a few days ago and is relavant.

 

One of the Republican appointees to the Electoral College abruptly resigned from her post Thursday after publicly questioning whether she would support the party's presidential ticket when casting official votes after the November election.

 

Melinda Wadsley of Ames, Iowa, told The Associated Press that she could not in good conscience vote for party nominee Mitt Romney. Wadsley was among three electors who had told the AP for a story published Thursday that they were exploring alternatives should Romney win their states.

 

"I have always been a straight ticket Republican, and for the first time in my life I am an undecided voter, therefore, I need to resign my position as a Republican presidential elector," Wadsley said in an email exchange.

 

Iowa GOP Chairman A.J. Spiker said in a statement that the state party's central committee would begin the process of selecting a replacement, essentially allowing the party to confirm a die-hard Romney supporter.

 

Wadsley and others had expressed frustration at how Republican leaders have worked to suppress Paul's conservative movement and his legion of loyal supporters.

 

"They've never given Ron Paul a fair shot, and I'm disgusted with that. I'd like to show them how disgusted I am," Wadsley had told the AP earlier, saying she was considering withholding her electoral vote from Romney. She is an Iowa mother of three who was selected as a Republican elector earlier this year and said Paul was the better choice.

 

She had also noted that the Electoral College was founded with the idea that electors wouldn't just mimic the popular vote.

 

Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/ron-paul-electoral-college_n_1880172.html

 

I think they should remain electors and vote against Romney if he wins Iowa. I don't agree with voting against your state in principal because that is who they voted for, but in this case the GOP broke the rules and badgered Ron Paul supporters out of the RNC. I bet we have at least a couple "faithless electors" this time around, and I hope we get many. It would show how fed up people are with the way things are going.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

[oochymp 2,393]

I'm currently at work (externship) so I can't watch the video Stevo posted, so sorry if this is repetitive or if you want commentary on that.

 

Anyway, for those who don't know I got my bachelors in American Studies and Math, the combination of which really provides a great insight into something like the electoral college. First, I will go ahead and get out of the way that the origin of the electoral college system is that the founding fathers didn't trust the actual people to know enough about the candidates/issues to cast an intelligent vote for president. Keeping in mind that the Constitution was originally drafting without political parties in mind (and Washington warned against parties in his farewell address) it does make a little more sense in the origin. With that in mind it's easy to say that we've outgrown that, the populace is more informed now than it was in 1789, and I'd generally agree, but I wouldn't agree that the Electoral College system as a whole is outdated and unnecessary. It still provides a benefit to the decision making process by ensuring that the winner of the election has a wide base of support across the country. Without the electoral college candidates could focus entirely on the highly populated areas and as long as they do well enough there it doesn't matter what the rest of the country thinks. Basically, under the Electoral College system you're going to do a lot better if everybody thinks you're good than if half the country thinks you're great and the other half thinks you're awful. It's definitely not a perfect system, and I would advocate some method of splitting a state's electoral votes (like has been adopted in Nebraska, Maine, and one other state I can't think of at the moment) but I don't think going to strictly a popular vote would be a great idea. The only problem I have with the electoral college as it's set up now is that it re-enforces the two party system, but switching to a popular vote will not fix that issue without other significant changes.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

One of the electors in Iowa has resigned her position so a Romney supporter can vote in her place.

 

http://www.thegridironpalace.com/forums/index.php?/topic/61357-iowa-elector-resigns-position-after-not-backing-romney/page__pid__2425383#entry2425383

[SteVo+ 3,702]

This is how I'd like to see America choose its President:

 

 

And this is how I'd like to see America choose its local representatives:

 

[oochymp 2,393]

Alright, I actually had time to look at the video, and it brings up some good points, but it ignores the benefit the electoral college provides of ensuring that the winner has appeal across the country rather than extremely strong support in one region while the rest of the country I still think a modified system would fix a lot of the issues, I also looked up the question of splitting, and Nebraska and Maine are the only two that allow split electoral votes. They basically choose electors by congressional district with two chosen by the overall state vote. I think that is a good way to do it, it preserves the bonus from winning a state, which promotes the interest of national appeal, but it also takes something away from the winner take all approach, and you'd see candidates taking interest in areas across the country (one of the concerns taken in that video) because even 'safe' states have at least one close district.

 

As for the alternative vote system, it's a good one, but it relies too much on everyone knowing all of the candidates, and I'm not sure I believe that's the case. Even with only two candidates it seems like most people don't really know much about the candidates other than their party affiliation. The system I like is the one run off French use, their first ballot typically has candidates from 10 or so parties then the top two go into a run off. By only putting two candidates on the final ballot, you guarantee that over half the country will vote for one of them and the initial ballot allows for exposure for third parties.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Shit, I thought we waited for white smoke and then they'd announce who was President.

[blotsfan 2,112]

Only when Kennedy was elected.