Fuck the electoral college, only the popular vote counts.
I agree.
Side Score: 8
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I disagree.
Side Score: 13
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The only reason the founding fathers made U.S. a republic was because it was impossible to gather every vote in an election, AT THAT TIME. Today it would be easy! Every phone would be a voting machine. Of course we would need "regulations" (that dirty word), and safeguards, but that could be done today! Most "republics" around the world have been a disaster. The USSR, The peoples Republic of China , The Republic of Cuba, The Peoples Republic of N. Korea, etc.. Give me a REAL Democracy any day! Fuck the Electoral College, and the lobbyists that go with it! Side: I agree.
It might (and probably did) make perfect sense in the day and age in which the Constitution was written, but it is now antiquated IMHO. Now, everybody who can vote has equal access to information to stay informed, and if we eliminated the whole "electorate" aspect as well and simply made it "whoever gets the highest necessary % of all the popular votes, wins" then everybody's vote counts equally. It wouldn't matter how many people live in your state, or if your live in a "Red", "Blue" or "Swing" state. I say that because by and large if you live in a "Red" state but are Democrat or a "Blue" state but are a Republican, then your vote is basically rendered meaningless by the fact that your candidate of choice will get no electoral college votes from your state - even though you DID vote for them. What's more, even though it was intended to give "equal significance" to states with smaller populations, as I alluded to above, the fact that we now have "blue states" and "red states" make some people's votes (at least feel like they are, if not legitimately being) meaningless - all because they happen to live in the wrong state. Side: I agree.
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Although I can follow the principle, I don't think you can go around the fact that the USA is formed by states united. All these states want representation in the union, and the consequence of not giving it could be states leaving it. One of the key factors to America as a union of states is that the political influence is fairly divided, and there are also measures taken to divide the wealth among the states. I truly believe this is the reason USA stands so strong as a union as opposed to other unions like EU. Side: I disagree.
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Because a popular vote is determined by a simple majority, and since some states are very much larger than others they would have more political influence, and some states might even not get represented at all. If a state isnt represented in the Union they're a part of, if they have no power or polticial influence on a legislativt power above them that would be reason enough for states to ditch the Union. Side: I agree.
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first, it doesn't tend to matter any way. if the popular vote is counted (All the absentees aren't counted if the gap is too big for them to matter) typically the electorate and the popular vote align. - but further the question becomes, who really matters when picking a candidate, and the answer should be "Everyone" Ignoring the electoral college means that the vote will always be skewed toward the desires and needs of the greatest population centers. and all their votes will essentially be counted three or four times over. it means that the voice and desires of those not in population centers, such as rural and suburban dwellers would get less say in what a government does, simply because there are less of them total across the whole nation. with an electoral college, and the spreading out of the votes over a wider area, it means that more votes only change the sample size taken in a specific area. which means typically, if all two million people in a city say they want the candidate with urban programs, it indicates that the urban program candidate aligns with the desires of this area. whereas a candidate with suburban and rural programs, would be favored by most of the other places that are not cities, which means the non-urban candidate actually has a chance to win, and additionally, if they're at least neutral toward urban programs they have a chance to win certain smaller cities as well which could feasibly be drowned out by the super city with large percentages of the population. this is a very simplified version but it should show some amount of why the college is needed. popular vote would drown out certain voter blocks and make them voiceless. Side: I disagree.
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