I'd gladly fight and die to preserve the last real vestige of the power of the Several States.
The electoral college is a necessity because it prevents massive voter fraud in one state (say, Illinois) from affecting the votes in the other 49 states. It’s essential to maintain a relatively fair election.
2. From a less esoteric perspective, the Electoral College limits the range of vote fraud. A given state can generate a zillion fraudulent ballots, but that doesn't give them any more electoral votes. With a "National Popular Vote" scheme, fraudulent votes affect the entire country.
The only thing I would like to see is the electoral votes awarded by district instead of by state. I am sick of Chicago manufacturing enough votes to award my EC vote to the Democrat every year.
The 17th amendment is a beautiful example of what is wrong with the popular vote.
Here in Michigan the state government is GOP from governor all the way down to the local dog catcher. Both houses of the legislature are firmly GOP but Detroit, Flint, and Ann Arbor elect our senators again and again.
Prior to choosing senators by popular vote they were chosen by those we elected to represent us from the local level. Those senators would mostly be republican and few would serve more than a term or two as our state legislature changed from year to year. Those senators represented the state or else and could be removed almost overnight if they stepped out of line.
The national popular vote is being sold under the empowerment snake oil label as the 17th amendment but means the exact opposite. Its about mob rule where the loudest and most aggressive wins in a system that was never intended to be that way.
Electoral college votes awarded to the candidate should be proportional to the popular vote in the state. The current winner takes all method gives a huge headstart to RATS before the first vote is cast. Unless it is modified it will only get worse for Repubs especially since RATS fleeing disfunctional blue states move to red states and turn them blue.
“I’d like it in the bag before the wee hours of Wednesday morning. I hope this is not asking too much.”
Probably is. Even though we have four more days (sounds like a fine chant — 4! More! Days!) to recover from Sandy, there will be outages and displaced people enough to impact the election, and that means lawyers will surface like rats and toads. They’ll argue, with the help of the media, that voters were “disenfranchised” by the storm. Polling stations that couldn’t open for lack of power, machines inaccessible or damaged, or some other eventuality not yet dreamed up.
If the overall results are in Romney’s favor, and NY and NJ go in his column, the Dems will challenge it for sure, and how hard is it to find a black-robed accomplice in either state?
Main reason to keep the Electoral College:
Over the next 35 years we could see the 2 Party system explode.
So, imagine a race with 4 Presidential Candidates:
1. Democrat
2. Republican
3. National Socialist
4. Green Party Candidate
The NAZI could win with 25.1% of the vote.
Because Liberals don’t know history, are too proud to admit it, and too stupid to look it up they always go for what’s easy instead of what’s wise.
Congress capped the size of the House in 1911 to 435 seats. The population of the United States has tripled since 1911, but the number of Representatives has not.
It would be interesting to analyze how an increased House would affect the balance of power in the Electoral College.
-PJ