Electoral College Reform (with actual poll this time)

[pinqy]

Currently, all states except Nebraska and Maine use a Winner-Take-All system where whoever with a the popular vote in the state receives all that states electoral votes.

Nebraska uses a Congressional District method where a candidate record one electoral vote for each district won, and the two remains votes go to the winner of the state-owned popular vote.

Maine will use a ranked vote/congressional district method where voters vote for multiple candidates for President and vice President in order of preference. In the first round of voting, if no candidate has a majority, then the votes for the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and all 1st choice votes for that candidate will be replaced by that voter's second chor. This will repeat until there is a majority winner in each district and separately at the state level for the final two votes.

For the first few elections, at least some of the state legislatures would appoint the electors without a popular vote.

A few years ago a Congressional district variation was proposed in Virginia where the two extra votes would be give to the candidate who won the most districts, not popular vote.

 

[Slavister]

Eliminate EC: I don't mind if states preserve some sort of different weights - I can see it either way - but that can be done with simple math and there is no need to have actual human Electors.

Just as important - use ranking system like this one (STAR). This lets one truly express their vote rather than vote for one of two choices they don't like. It would also help with 3+ party system.

 

[2distracted]

Currently, all states except Nebraska and Maine use a Winner-Take-All system where whoever with a the popular vote in the state receives all that states electoral votes.

Nebraska uses a Congressional District method where a candidate record one electoral vote for each district won, and the two remains votes go to the winner of the state-owned popular vote.

Maine will use a ranked vote/congressional district method where voters vote for multiple candidates for President and vice President in order of preference. In the first round of voting, if no candidate has a majority, then the votes for the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and all 1st choice votes for that candidate will be replaced by that voter's second chor. This will repeat until there is a majority winner in each district and separately at the state level for the final two votes.

For the first few elections, at least some of the state legislatures would appoint the electors without a popular vote.

A few years ago a Congressional district variation was proposed in Virginia where the two extra votes would be give to the candidate who won the most districts, not popular vote.

I don't fully understand Maine's system

And states having multiple ppl on the ballet? When we're supposed to have 2???

 

[eman623]

I'm for whatever helps my side more.



Like everyone else.

 

[Cardinal]

There's no principled defense for the EC. Get rid of it.

Two arguments in favor of the EC that are frequently used and fail to perfection:

1)The founding fathers didn't want large population centers to choose the President (aka they didn't want cities to choose the President).

Problem: besides being an asinine argument because nobody can intelligently explain why a larger body of people would be worse in any way to smaller bodies of people, there is also zero evidence to support this.

2) We are a Republic and not a democracy.

Problem: It's a neat factoid, but that statement doesn't actually mean anything, at least as it pertains to the topic at hand.

Bonus argument: The founding fathers used the Electoral College in order to placate Southern slave states who didn't want to give slaves the right to vote (because duh) but didn't want their lower populations to count against them.

Problem: Aaaaaaand that's your defense of the Electoral College?

 

[pinqy]

I don't fully understand Maine's system

And states having multiple ppl on the ballet? When we're supposed to have 2???

Who says we’re supposed to have two? Many (most?) states have at least three, with the Libertarian and Green parties as the biggest minor parties.

Maine will work like this...there are 2 Congressional Districts, each with one electoral vote, and 2 state-wide electors.
There are three candidates on the ballot: Trump, Biden, and Jo Jurgensen (Libertarian)
Assuming two choices per voter, and assuming no one votes for Kanye West or other write-in, voters will vote for their first choice and their second choice. So possible votes would be
1. Trump 2 Jorgensen
1 Trump 2 Biden
1 Biden 2 Trump
1 Biden 2 Jorgensen
1 Jorgensen 2 Trump
1 Jorgensen 2 Biden

The votes will be counted, looking only at the first choice. District 1 is pretty Liberal, so let’s say Biden gets 52% of the vote . He’ll get the District 1 electoral vote. But if Biden only gets 48%, and Trump gets 47% and Jorgensen gets 5%, then the votes are counted again with Jorgensen eliminated for having the fewest votes and in the second count, they’ll look at votes for Biden as first choice, votes for Trump as first choice, and the second choice of everyone who voted for Jurgensen.

District 2 is more conservative but let’s say there are a lot of Never-Trumpets so that Jorgensen actually gets more votes than Trump but no one has a majority. Then the race in The second round would be between Biden and Jorgensen using the second choice of Trump supporters.

The advantage is that it would allow those who don’t like Trump but like Biben less to vote for Jurgensen, knowing that if she doesn’t get enough votes, their vote will go to Trump and not be wasted. Same thing for those who don’t like Biden much but hate Trump.

The disadvantage is that the Maine vote won’t be decided until a few days after the election.

 

[BrotherFease]

I don't fully understand Maine's system

And states having multiple ppl on the ballet? When we're supposed to have 2???

In Nebraska and Maine, you get 1 elector for each district won, and 2 electors for whoever wins the state popular vote.

 

[Jay59]

There's no principled defense for the EC. Get rid of it.

Two arguments in favor of the EC that are frequently used and fail to perfection:
1)The founding fathers didn't want large population centers to choose the President (aka they didn't want cities to choose the President). Problem: besides being an asinine argument because nobody can intelligently explain why a larger body of people would be worse in any way to smaller bodies of people, there is also zero evidence to support this.
2) We are a Republic and not a democracy. Problem: It's a neat factoid, but that statement doesn't actually mean anything, at least as it pertains to the topic at hand.
Bonus argument: The founding fathers used the Electoral College in order to placate Southern slave states who didn't want to give slaves the right to vote (because duh) but didn't want their lower populations to count against them. Problem: Aaaaaaand that's your defense of the Electoral College?

Who needs to defend it? The founding fathers started be rejecting the option of direct vote. That places the burden on you.

Secondly, the EC has performed as intended. You do not fix what already works.

 

[Greenbeard]

Eliminate the EC. Short of that, substantially increase the size of the House of Representatives to reflect population growth since the last increase in the size of the House.

 

[Cardinal]

Who needs to defend it? The founding fathers started be rejecting the option of direct vote. That places the burden on you.

Secondly, the EC has performed as intended. You do not fix what already works.

All you’ve done is advertise your ignorance. If you had read the Federalist Papers 68, you’d know exactly why they rejected the option of a direct vote, and once again you’d be at a point where you’d have no principled defense of the Electoral College.

I’ll give you a hint: they didn’t think very highly of your judgment. Yes, that’s meant to be personal, but don’t report me to the mods — it’s the founding fathers you need to hit the report button for.

 

[Jay59]

All you’ve done is advertise your ignorance. If you had read the Federalist Papers 68, you’d know exactly why they rejected the option of a direct vote, and once again you’d be at a point where you’d have no principled defense of the Electoral College. I’ll give you a hint: they didn’t think very highly of your judgment. Yes, that’s meant to be personal, but don’t report me to the mods — it’s the founding fathers you need to hit the report button for.

You brought this up at least five times now. Hamilton does not support you and #68 does not say what you claim it says.

While it is true that Hamilton worried about foreign tampering, he was happy with the compromise--"if not perfect, then at least excellent"--and he felt it was clearly superior to popular vote.

 

[btthegreat]

You are never ever ever going to get a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate ,or a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures to come even remotely close to passing any amendment to change the EC. Hell you won't even get a simple majority of either. States are not in the habit of handing over political power to other states for philosophical or esoteric or high minded reasons.

Never ever ever.

 

[Cardinal]

You brought this up at least five times now. Hamilton does not support you and #68 does not say what you claim it says.

While it is true that Hamilton worried about foreign tampering, he was happy with the compromise--"if not perfect, then at least excellent"--and he felt it was clearly superior to popular vote.

Again, all you’re doing is revealing your ignorance and the fact that you’ve never read Federalist #68. Come back after you’ve read it.

 

[pinqy]

In Nebraska and Maine, you get 1 elector for each district won, and 2 electors for whoever wins the state popular vote.

Maine has changed to a ranked voting system starting this year. I have explained the new method.

 

[uptower]

It needs removal. One person, one vote - then politicians would need to earn votes rather than game the system.

 

[enderpotato00]

How about reforming the EC? Elimination gets rid of our republic

 

[Wayne Jr]

I'm for whatever helps my side more.



Like everyone else.

Do you support Giant Duche or Turd Sandwich this time around?

 

[Wayne Jr]

It needs removal. One person, one vote - then politicians would need to earn votes rather than game the system.

That would give the city of LA more power than the state of South Dakota.

 

[Wayne Jr]

Currently, all states except Nebraska and Maine use a Winner-Take-All system where whoever with a the popular vote in the state receives all that states electoral votes.

Nebraska uses a Congressional District method where a candidate record one electoral vote for each district won, and the two remains votes go to the winner of the state-owned popular vote.

Maine will use a ranked vote/congressional district method where voters vote for multiple candidates for President and vice President in order of preference. In the first round of voting, if no candidate has a majority, then the votes for the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and all 1st choice votes for that candidate will be replaced by that voter's second chor. This will repeat until there is a majority winner in each district and separately at the state level for the final two votes.

For the first few elections, at least some of the state legislatures would appoint the electors without a popular vote.

A few years ago a Congressional district variation was proposed in Virginia where the two extra votes would be given to the candidate who won the most districts, not popular vote.

Other.

I would change the Constitution such that we had a 'collective presidency' with representatives from each party who would change chairmanship each year. Not unlike Switzerland. Each party would hold a 'primary' to elect their party's representative in that collective presidency. Imagin Trump and Hillary and Sanders working together with equal authority.

With this, however, I would establish short term limits for all and completely abolish any form of compensation for those holding a seat. No more career politicians.

 

[blarg]

Currently, all states except Nebraska and Maine use a Winner-Take-All system where whoever with a the popular vote in the state receives all that states electoral votes.

Nebraska uses a Congressional District method where a candidate record one electoral vote for each district won, and the two remains votes go to the winner of the state-owned popular vote.

Maine will use a ranked vote/congressional district method where voters vote for multiple candidates for President and vice President in order of preference. In the first round of voting, if no candidate has a majority, then the votes for the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and all 1st choice votes for that candidate will be replaced by that voter's second chor. This will repeat until there is a majority winner in each district and separately at the state level for the final two votes.

For the first few elections, at least some of the state legislatures would appoint the electors without a popular vote.

A few years ago a Congressional district variation was proposed in Virginia where the two extra votes would be give to the candidate who won the most districts, not popular vote.

ranked voting and the elimination of the electoral college sound good to me

 

[Helix]

it's time to retire this archaic system.

 

[wellwisher]

The EC makes it harder to cheat and rig the election. Popular vote would only require you rig or win California, NY, Texas and maybe Illinois. The EC will require triple the amount of rigging. This math frustrates the Democrats.

 

[Slartibartfast]

The EC makes it harder to cheat and rig the election. Popular vote would only require you rig or win California, NY, Texas and maybe Illinois. The EC will require triple the amount of rigging. This math frustrates the Democrats.

The idea that a politician will win an entire state's popular vote is extremely unrealistic.

 

[haymarket]

Abolish the entire EC system and simply adapt a popular vote solution. No other way is fair to the principal of one person/one vote with all votes counting equally.

 

[uptower]

That would give the city of LA more power than the state of South Dakota.

Yes it would. A handful of white supremacists in the sticks voting for a demented authoritarian maniac should not have the power to take rights away from the rest of the country.