Black Irish
Wise Guy
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After this recent presidential election, the Electoral College is a hot topic again. I’d like to see where IE posters stand on it and try to get some good pro and con discussion going. Let me say first that I don’t want this thread to turn into a partisan, feces-throwing brouhaha. We already have threads for that and all the “I love or hate Trump/Hillary/Obama/Republicans/Democrats” can stay in those threads. I want to keep this thread on topic with regard to debating the merits of the Electoral College. It’s a long post, but I tried to keep it as concise as possible.
I am firmly in the camp that the EC needs to go. I’ve read and heard the arguments in favor of it and none of them strike me as convincing. The pro EC arguments are either much too abstract and have little to no bearing on how our presidential elections work. Or the pro arguments contradict themselves. I’ll list the two main pro EC arguments followed by my rebuttals.
1.) We need the EC because direct, popular voting will allow for mob rule.
I know the USA isn’t a true democracy, but this argument is silly and outdated. As far as I know, the EC votes almost always have fallen into lockstep with how each individual state’s popular voting has gone. If the state goes GOP, so do the EC voters and vice-versa. The only thing the EC does in this regard is to create situations like we have now where, because of the peculiar math of the EC, one candidate has more popular votes and another will have more EC votes. This does our country no good. Elections are divisive and contentious enough; we don’t need a two-tiered voting system that can produce contradictory results. Furthermore, I haven’t heard anyone offer a credible example of how the EC system has prevented a grand catastrophe of mob rule. Mostly, the EC follows the popular vote. And occasionally, it doesn’t, which IMO does nothing to enhance and improve the process but only creates needless division and disaffection.
2.) If we eliminate the EC, then candidates will ignore smaller, less densely populated areas and focus on the large, densely populated areas of the country.
This is the main argument I hear in favor of the EC, and I find it particularly laughable because, this is what’s already happening! I know firsthand. I lived most of my life in Delaware, which has a measly 3 electoral votes. Guess how often presidential candidates visit Delaware to campaign? Hardly at all. I think the only reason Obama went to Delaware is because Biden is his VP. As far as I know, neither Hillary nor Trump made a stop in Delaware. Now contrast that with how many campaign stops a candidate makes in states like: California, New York, Florida. And who can blame them? Elections are numbers games and candidates are going to focus their time and resources on cities & states that offer the biggest population density. Sure, they’ll make the obligatory “Small Town, USA” stop and visit a factory in a little working-class burg. But mostly, the candidates are going where the numbers are.
I’ll offer up another plus to getting rid of the EC and going to direct voting. Every election, many people like to beat you over the head with statements like “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain” and “every vote counts.” But with the EC, every vote doesn’t count. I’ll go back to Delaware as an example. Delaware has gone for the Democrat candidate in every presidential election since 1992 including this current election. So for a GOP voter in Delaware, his vote doesn’t count in the overall scheme. His vote did nothing to help Trump win because Mr. GOP’s vote got negated by his state going majority Democrat and Clinton getting the EC votes. Direct elections will change that. Every vote will truly count and no one’s vote will be negated by an outmoded system that create a needless layer of bureaucracy that does nothing to enhance our system of representative government.
I am firmly in the camp that the EC needs to go. I’ve read and heard the arguments in favor of it and none of them strike me as convincing. The pro EC arguments are either much too abstract and have little to no bearing on how our presidential elections work. Or the pro arguments contradict themselves. I’ll list the two main pro EC arguments followed by my rebuttals.
1.) We need the EC because direct, popular voting will allow for mob rule.
I know the USA isn’t a true democracy, but this argument is silly and outdated. As far as I know, the EC votes almost always have fallen into lockstep with how each individual state’s popular voting has gone. If the state goes GOP, so do the EC voters and vice-versa. The only thing the EC does in this regard is to create situations like we have now where, because of the peculiar math of the EC, one candidate has more popular votes and another will have more EC votes. This does our country no good. Elections are divisive and contentious enough; we don’t need a two-tiered voting system that can produce contradictory results. Furthermore, I haven’t heard anyone offer a credible example of how the EC system has prevented a grand catastrophe of mob rule. Mostly, the EC follows the popular vote. And occasionally, it doesn’t, which IMO does nothing to enhance and improve the process but only creates needless division and disaffection.
2.) If we eliminate the EC, then candidates will ignore smaller, less densely populated areas and focus on the large, densely populated areas of the country.
This is the main argument I hear in favor of the EC, and I find it particularly laughable because, this is what’s already happening! I know firsthand. I lived most of my life in Delaware, which has a measly 3 electoral votes. Guess how often presidential candidates visit Delaware to campaign? Hardly at all. I think the only reason Obama went to Delaware is because Biden is his VP. As far as I know, neither Hillary nor Trump made a stop in Delaware. Now contrast that with how many campaign stops a candidate makes in states like: California, New York, Florida. And who can blame them? Elections are numbers games and candidates are going to focus their time and resources on cities & states that offer the biggest population density. Sure, they’ll make the obligatory “Small Town, USA” stop and visit a factory in a little working-class burg. But mostly, the candidates are going where the numbers are.
I’ll offer up another plus to getting rid of the EC and going to direct voting. Every election, many people like to beat you over the head with statements like “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain” and “every vote counts.” But with the EC, every vote doesn’t count. I’ll go back to Delaware as an example. Delaware has gone for the Democrat candidate in every presidential election since 1992 including this current election. So for a GOP voter in Delaware, his vote doesn’t count in the overall scheme. His vote did nothing to help Trump win because Mr. GOP’s vote got negated by his state going majority Democrat and Clinton getting the EC votes. Direct elections will change that. Every vote will truly count and no one’s vote will be negated by an outmoded system that create a needless layer of bureaucracy that does nothing to enhance our system of representative government.
