Electoral College

[YorkHogRider]

I'm just pissed that I could only vote once in this poll.

[Homesick]

Originally Posted by YorkHogRider

I'm just pissed that I could only vote once in this poll.

Nice touch. Maybe if you went next door...?

joe

[Tequila SG]

The EV is a control tool, the popular vote is a true sentiment of how citizens feel about a candidate, if 52 % of Vermont votes for candidate A on a national election and 48% for candidate B how is their vote wasted, when you count all votes from all the states and add them all up and candidate B wins because the rest of the country found him more popular is just how it is, more citizens voted for candidate B, he wins period, a true sentiment of the voting populous.

[TKanaley]

Originally Posted by YorkHogRider

I'm just pissed that I could only vote once in this poll.

Tell me which way you want it to go? I haven't voted on this poll yet and I'll happily donate my vote...for the right price...

[streetg]

Originally Posted by Tequila SG

The EV is a control tool, the popular vote is a true sentiment of how citizens feel about a candidate, if 52 % of Vermont votes for candidate A on a national election and 48% for candidate B how is their vote wasted, when you count all votes from all the states and add them all up and candidate B wins because the rest of the country found him more popular is just how it is, more citizens voted for candidate B, he wins period, a true sentiment of the voting populous.

I get that, but it seems to me that by Michael's description, and maybe he worded it wrong, that however Vters vote, in the end it's irrelevant cause they're just gonna give their electoral votes in line with the popular vote majority in the other 56 Obamerican states. Why even bother with the voting process at all?

[DJW]

Electoral College is meant to protect the rights of the STATES. Americans worry too much about who the President is and not enough about who's on their own local school board. The STATES select their administrator. The people select their legislators. Control the House and the Senate, and you control the power of the President.

As for "democracy," we are a republic. The founders protected us from pure democracy because they knew their history. We are a constitutional republic, and I hope we keep it that way.

[HDSickness]

The problem I have with electoral college is in CA. if 60% vote for Obama and 40% for Romney, Obama gets 100% of the CA. votes.
Just not right.

[Thermodyne]

It needs to go. Actually, the states should gather and hold a constitutional convention to address several of the problem with the US Constitution related to the years that have passed and the way society has changed. Problem is that the political parties would bring along their platforms and sabotage the who affair.

The electoral college is nothing more than 18th century political corruption. Plain and simple. It insured that the more populous colonies would start out with an advantage over the smaller colonies, and not have to work overly hard to do it. Back then, having more votes was one thing, actually collecting the ballot was another. So the EC assigned votes based on census. All each state had to do was turn in the ballots collected, not poll each and every citizen. This gave agricultural states an edge over urban states. States like Virginia which stretched to the Ohio valley back then could basically poll in their urban centers and then apply the weight of their census numbers to the national election.

It's intent was to appease southern agricultural states like Virginia. The EC votes carry the influence of the whole population, while only a small percent might have been actually polled. Not to mention, allowed to vote. EC votes are applied by raw census data, not the number of ballots cast. The EC also insured that the true power rested in the hands of the political shot callers of the day. Five of the first ten presidents came from Virginia. Remember, this was all set up by a bunch of rich guys who didn't want to pay their taxes. And it worked well enough. Even today these early rules and regulations limit what the popular public can do to oppose the back room shot callers.

The rights of small states are not protected by the EC. No way, no how. Fact is that if you live in a fly-over state, YBF as far as electing a president goes. But on the bright side, you'll also get to skip the thousands of adds that run in other areas with more votes.

The Senate is the protector of small states. Each state has two votes regardless of population. It was intended that Senators would be appointed by each state. And hind sight would indicate that appointment functioned better than popular vote. Appointment insured that one point of the triad was free of campaign corruption, and as such, more willing to limit it.

[BOUTYM]

Originally Posted by streetg

The lefties would love to put our elections in the hands of those urban areas. Vermont? ? Ya, it's mostly rural but that state is chock full o sandle wearing tree huggers. Chit, those r the people who gave us Howard Dean. Nuff said there

Don't forget those Earth friendly composting toilets that have become popular in VT. Never did get the point of using those except in places where it's very costly or impossible to put a septic system.

[DJW]

The polls were essentially right to call it virtually tied within the margin of error, but failed to see that last 3% overwhelmingly fall in favor of Obama. They'll have to spend some time 'splaining that one.

[Lakerat]

Thank you Thermodyne for the great post!!!!!!

[thrasher]

Originally Posted by HDSickness

The problem I have with electoral college is in CA. if 60% vote for Obama and 40% for Romney, Obama gets 100% of the CA. votes.
Just not right.

If the scenario were reversed, meaning 60% vote for Romney and 40% for Obama, Romney gets 100% of the CA. votes, I doubt that you'd have a problem with it.

[BOUTYM]

Originally Posted by thrasher

If the scenario were reversed, meaning 60% vote for Romney and 40% for Obama, Romney gets 100% of the CA. votes, I doubt that you'd have a problem with it.

Probably not as much as you would think. Sure, there would be times when it didn't working out so well. We would have had Gore to contend with for a bit there, but could he really be that much worse than Obama? Well maybe, but for the most part the EC follows the popular vote so the few times it doesn't work out it is what it is. Same as when it goes the other way, but ditching the EC would ensure in this day and age that a couple of states couldn't control the outcome and it would force candidates to work harder for their supper.

[Z16Monte]

Originally Posted by Thermodyne

It needs to go. Actually, the states should gather and hold a constitutional convention to address several of the problem with the US Constitution related to the years that have passed and the way society has changed. Problem is that the political parties would bring along their platforms and sabotage the who affair.

The electoral college is nothing more than 18th century political corruption. Plain and simple. It insured that the more populous colonies would start out with an advantage over the smaller colonies, and not have to work overly hard to do it. Back then, having more votes was one thing, actually collecting the ballot was another. So the EC assigned votes based on census. All each state had to do was turn in the ballots collected, not poll each and every citizen. This gave agricultural states an edge over urban states. States like Virginia which stretched to the Ohio valley back then could basically poll in their urban centers and then apply the weight of their census numbers to the national election.

It's intent was to appease southern agricultural states like Virginia. The EC votes carry the influence of the whole population, while only a small percent might have been actually polled. Not to mention, allowed to vote. EC votes are applied by raw census data, not the number of ballots cast. The EC also insured that the true power rested in the hands of the political shot callers of the day. Five of the first ten presidents came from Virginia. Remember, this was all set up by a bunch of rich guys who didn't want to pay their taxes. And it worked well enough. Even today these early rules and regulations limit what the popular public can do to oppose the back room shot callers.

The rights of small states are not protected by the EC. No way, no how. Fact is that if you live in a fly-over state, YBF as far as electing a president goes. But on the bright side, you'll also get to skip the thousands of adds that run in other areas with more votes.

The Senate is the protector of small states. Each state has two votes regardless of population. It was intended that Senators would be appointed by each state. And hind sight would indicate that appointment functioned better than popular vote. Appointment insured that one point of the triad was free of campaign corruption, and as such, more willing to limit it.

I think I can say with absolute certainty that you have no clue what you are talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elector...ited_States%29

[Z16Monte]

On a similar note, I find this disturbing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...rstate_Compact