Electoral College

[sfer]

Keeper or discard?

[El Barto]

Definitely Keep it.

If you thought recounting Florida was bad, just think what recounting the entire nation would be like when a very close popular vote result comes.

[sfer]

Wouldn't that create a strong incentive to get the count right the first time around? I think it is possible that the disconnectedness of the EC (maybe our state will be close, which means maybe our district will be close, which means maybe our accuracy is important) doesn't create a good incentive now.

[Dynasty]

This is a purely hypothetical question because there's 0% chance of the Electoral College being discarded. The small states which it benefits will never allow a change since 75% of the states have to agree to the necessary constitutional ammemdment to change the law.

My answer to the hypothetical: it doesn't matter. If the election is so close that one person wins the popular vote and another wins the electoral college, then there is no concensus about who should be President. Flip the coin and move on.

[El Barto]

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Wouldn't that create a strong incentive to get the count right the first time around?

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The states you got to watch out for are the 'one party" states where all the officials belong to one party. They would have nothing to stop them from "padding" the vote.

At least now, a one-party state is not likely to be a swing state, so there is no reason to create fraudulent votes.

[jslag]

Discard.

I'm not sure a popular vote is the proper solution, but I think we can have something more fair than the electoral college. You may find this interesting reading:

http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf

I think that the current system does not really live up to what it advertises: that each individual has a voice and a vote that actually counts. As it is now, state voting is somewhat strategic in a sense. I am attracted to the idea that MY vote for an individual actually goes into their column and counts towards getting them elected. If you're in a state that as a majority votes differently than you, then you're vote is basically null and void. It becomes a popular vote statistic and that's it. Doesn't seem wholey democratic to me.

[Jimbo]

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Doesn't seem wholey democratic to me.


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As I have pointed out in the past we live in a Republic, not a Democracy.

Jimbo

[IrishHand]

We directly elect our country's Executive, our Congressmen and our Senators - this is a democracy. It's not necessarily a good one - note the pathetic voting rates - but it's at least set up to be one.

[Jimbo]

Republic:


A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.

A nation that has such a political order.

A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
A nation that has such a political order.

Jimbo

[andyfox]

Shouldn't we be attempting, in 2004, to make our republic more democratic?