Electoral College: Keep It or Get Rid of It?

[MonstaThrilla]

Since my other thread was tainted by a three year old debate, let's have a serious discussion on the necessity of the Electoral College and the effects it has on our Presidental campaigns.

 

[PingSpike]

Popular vote would more accurately reflect the views of the entire country's population I feel. Plus, everyone ones vote would count. I don't feel my vote for the president counts since I live in Vermont. We have to few electoral votes no candidate bothers to campaign here.

It would definately change the way candidates campaigned for the primaries.

 

[conjur]

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/case/3pt/electoral.html

IOW, an emphatic NO.

 

[LordMagnusKain]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Popular vote would more accurately reflect the views of the entire country's population I feel. Plus, everyone ones vote would count. I don't feel my vote for the president counts since I live in Vermont. We have to few electoral votes no candidate bothers to campaign here.

It would definately change the way candidates campaigned for the primaries.

your vote counts a whole lot more than mine does in texas.

 

[SuperTool]

Leave it. It's stupid that only a few states end up deciding the presidential election every season.

 

[AEB]

Its fine, we need it becasue in some areas non-residants vote, and the people who are supposed to check ID and voter registration dont. I dont trust the popular vote.

 

[mugs]

I'd rather go back to a small federal government and decentralized power when the electoral college made a lot more sense.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: LordMagnusKain

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Popular vote would more accurately reflect the views of the entire country's population I feel. Plus, everyone ones vote would count. I don't feel my vote for the president counts since I live in Vermont. We have to few electoral votes no candidate bothers to campaign here.

It would definately change the way candidates campaigned for the primaries.

your vote counts a whole lot more than mine does in texas.

I suppose you are right in a way that I hadn't initially thought of...but I'd rather everyone's vote was just one vote. Even if my vote counts less. I just think the popular vote is fair and simple. No beaucratic nonesense about the house of representatives or electors voting for whoever they feel like. One citizen. One vote.

 

[nutxo]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
Leave it. It's stupid that only a few states end up deciding the presidential election every season.

:beer:

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: AEB
Its fine, we need it becasue in some areas non-residants vote, and the people who are supposed to check ID and voter registration dont. I dont trust the popular vote.

A valid point. But don't you think there's plenty of problems with the current system as well? A lot of people don't even understand it...its a holdover from a different time.

 

[ITJunkie]

I think at one time it made sense. It kept farmers, rural voters and those that couldn't get to the poles easily in the loop so to speak. Now with the advent of mail in ballots and other voting options, I don't think the electoral college makes much sense. It now has the opposite effect of taking certain voters out of the loop, as PingSpike mentioned in his post.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Who's trying to shred the constitution now?

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: ITJunkie
I think at one time it made sense. It kept farmers, rural voters and those that couldn't get to the poles easily in the loop so to speak. Now with the advent of mail in ballots and other voting options, I don't think the electoral college makes much sense. It now has the opposite effect of taking certain voters out of the loop, as PingSpike mentioned in his post.

Lets do away with the Senate while we are at it. I mean the reasons for having the electoral college and the Senate were similar when the constitution was drafted.

 

[ITJunkie]

Originally posted by: digitalsm

Originally posted by: ITJunkie
I think at one time it made sense. It kept farmers, rural voters and those that couldn't get to the poles easily in the loop so to speak. Now with the advent of mail in ballots and other voting options, I don't think the electoral college makes much sense. It now has the opposite effect of taking certain voters out of the loop, as PingSpike mentioned in his post.

Lets do away with the Senate while we are at it. I mean the reasons for having the electoral college and the Senate were similar when the constitution was drafted.

[big sigh...now must bring on sarcasm} Okay...works for me. Then we can dump the house of representatives and the supreme court and the constitution and....

What is with the "all or nothing" BS. One of the most brilliant parts about our founding fathers was their ability to know they don't have all the answers. They created a country and a document that can be expanded upon and/or changed when needed to suit the needs of its citizens. Life is not static...though many people would love to see it that way. To use "that's the way it was written" makes for poor policy when it has outlasted its usefulness and, ironically, goes against the "spirit" of what our founding fathers were doing. Change is and always will be a part of our country. That's the real beauty of this country!

 

[TheBDB]

Get rid of it. As it stands votes in states like Texas and Massachusetts don't matter, because everyone knows who is getting those electoral votes. If there was a popular vote every single person could impact the decision. I would certainly vote every time knowing my vote mattered.

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Get rid of it. As it stands votes in states like Texas and Massachusetts don't matter, because everyone knows who is getting those electoral votes. If there was a popular vote every single person could impact the decision. I would certainly vote every time knowing my vote mattered.

Oh, now that Texas trends republican, even though for over 100 years it didn't, we should do away with the electoral college. lets not mention its predicted Texas will be a democrat strong hold by 2020, as the hispanic population will be over 50% of the population.

 

[TheBDB]

Originally posted by: digitalsm

Originally posted by: TheBDB
Get rid of it. As it stands votes in states like Texas and Massachusetts don't matter, because everyone knows who is getting those electoral votes. If there was a popular vote every single person could impact the decision. I would certainly vote every time knowing my vote mattered.

Oh, now that Texas trends republican, even though for over 100 years it didn't, we should do away with the electoral college. lets not mention its predicted Texas will be a democrat strong hold by 2020, as the hispanic population will be over 50% of the population.

I could care less if Texas turns into a democratic stronghold by 2020. The bottom line is my vote doesn't matter now. What about all the Republicans in California, Massachusetts, and New York? They are getting cheated too.

 

[XZeroII]

How does this "popular vote" thing work? I bet 90% of the people will say that we should just vote in our state, then whoever wins the most states should be president.


*waits until someone finds what is GROSSLY wrong with that*

 

[Spencer278]

I don't think it should be eliminated. The problem with using popular vote is that if something happens with the vote in one state it can be isolated to that state. Imagen the FL crap from last year but every state would be forces to recount 27 and a half times.

 

[ElFenix]

the electoral college was designed to do exactly what it did. so we want to throw it out because it works as intended?

 

[GrGr]

Finland for example got rid of it's electoral college in the early 1980's because it was seen as a relic of the past and contrary to the principle of democracy. The US electoral college should be abolished.

 

[zephyrprime]

Leave it. It's stupid that only a few states end up deciding the presidential election every season.

Uhh, it's because of the electoral college that a few states end up deciding the election every season.

Its fine, we need it becasue in some areas non-residants vote, and the people who are supposed to check ID and voter registration dont. I dont trust the popular vote.

But that problem exist sometimes in the electoral college system also. A few fraudulant voters can tip the scales the wrong way in a state that's evenly divided.

How does this "popular vote" thing work? I bet 90% of the people will say that we should just vote in our state, then whoever wins the most states should be president.

Why would people think that? It's not at all obvious.

 

[dmcowen674]

Back in the day they came up with the Electoral College it was needed.

Today with the speed of information in less than blink of an eye and computers it "no longer holds the true weight it was meant to hold."

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: GrGr
Finland for example got rid of it's electoral college in the early 1980's because it was seen as a relic of the past and contrary to the principle of democracy. The US electoral college should be abolished.

we were founded as a republic. not a democracy. republics degenerate into democracies, and it does seem like that is happening here.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Back in the day they came up with the Electoral College it was needed.

Today with the speed of information in less than blink of an eye and computers it "no longer holds the true weight it was meant to hold."

they didn't come up with it because of bad information they came up with it so that new york and boston didn't completely dominate the rest of the country when it came to politics. given the colonial way the east and west coast treat the rest of the country i would say that it is needed as much now as when it was originally thought up.