The Electoral College

[HONDO74]

The Electoral College sets a high bar that irks politicians whose base is in the big cities. But this is by design. Right from the beginning, one reason for the Electoral College was to check the power of big cities and to require some geographic balance in our politics.

The Electoral College is a two-step, democratic process. Each state gets the same number of electoral votes as it has U.S. representatives and senators. This means small states get at least three, and big states get more. To win the White House requires a majority of electoral votes. All this means that no one can win the White House by running up huge support in just one region of the country or in a collection of big cities. Even overwhelming popularity in places like New York and Los Angeles is not enough to win. Middle America gets a say, too.

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), a clever plan to nullify the Electoral College without changing the Constitution.

NPV would change how states select presidential electors (the people who cast a state’s electoral votes). Under NPV, states would ignore their own voters and instead choose electors based on the national vote. This would manipulate the Constitution to create a direct election for president — an outcome rejected at the Constitutional Convention.

NPV takes effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes support it. So far, 15 states and D.C., with 196 electoral votes, have passed legislation to join the compact. This puts the compact nearly three-fourths of the way to taking effect.

NPV would shift more power to big cities. And because it has no majority requirement or runoff system, it would allow candidates to win with smaller and smaller pluralities. This would encourage splinter parties and spoiler candidates that could produce dramatically anti-democratic outcomes. These are some of the reasons why most major countries elect their presidents or prime ministers with a two-step process, like the parliamentary systems in Canada and Great Britain.

[sleepmac]

Hondo, thank you for that explanation.

Kinda off topic, but D.C. doesn't have real elected representation in Congress?

Dan Weinhold

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hondo, thank you for that explanation.

Yes, I wonder where he got that from,

Kinda off topic, but D.C. doesn't have real elected representation in Congress?

Non-voting.

[HONDO74]

Hondo, thank you for that explanation.

Yes, I wonder where he got that from,

Kinda off topic, but D.C. doesn't have real elected representation in Congress?

Non-voting.

A year ago my daughter who is taking some classes at WSU in Kansas to up her degree called me and asked questions about the electoral college. Seems the one class US Government was being taught by an anti-electoral college instructor. So I put this together for her. I also warned her to be careful about presenting an opposite view point as she could fail the class. Might be better just to agree with the instructor. That's what she did and got a good grade.

When I went to high school back in the 50s in California, Liberalism had not taken hold yet. My government classes were taught by intelligent instructors. They didn't try to sway you one way or the other. That was during my liberal days.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

When I went to high school back in the 50s in California, Liberalism had not taken hold yet.

Well, yes. Anybody that was not a raving anticommunist fascist in the 50's was automatically a communist or worse.

My government classes were taught by intelligent instructors. They didn't try to sway you one way or the other.

Right...............that's exactly what someone who's been swayed one way says!

[E7]

The exact problem with the state of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia run the state. There are 67 counties of which 60+ voted opposite the 2 cities to no avail. We gotta get some of those deer voting.