I never really understood why the Electoral College was necessary. As a matter of fact, I believe it usurps the will of the majority on election night. But in this election cycle I truly embrace the need for the Electoral College and I believe it will save the United States from a very vocal minority. The Electoral College is about the only thing that could save us all from a Donald Trump presidency. Last Thursday I discussed the facts that show that Donald Trump is neither the savior of the US political system nor is he a political outsider. Instead, the record shows that Donald Trump has destroyed the Republican Party and has hoodwinked supporters into believing that he will save the US from itself.
Thankfully, the United States has the Electoral College and it seems that it will save us from the nightmare of a Donald Trump presidency. The United States does not elect presidents based on the majority vote. Rather, the president is elected by a board of 538 electors appointed to cast a vote for one of the candidates. Two hundred and seventy votes are required to win the presidency.
The electors represent a proportionate amount of the nation’s electorate and are chosen by the states and the District of Columbia. Each elector casts a vote according to their state’s presidential winner. Maine and Nebraska use a similar process but their votes are based on congressional districts rather than on the state’s majority winner. Under the Electoral College, it is possible that Donald Trump could win the majority of the votes cast on Election Day but still not be sworn in as president.
This is because the Electoral College distributes the presidential votes proportionally among the states rather than upon the population of the nation. Because of the Electoral College, a state like California or Texas with a large population cannot skew the presidential election via its large population.
From my perspective, the Electoral College is about to save the country from a Trump presidency.
I still believe that the Electoral College does not truly represent the will of the electorate but in this case it might actually prove to be the thing that keeps Donald Trump out of the White House.
According to the Electoral College pundits there are several states that Donald Trump must win in order to become the president. There are various scenarios but all have Florida as the required key to the presidency. Donald Trump is facing a Floridian problem in the Cuban-American vote as well as the growing Puerto Rican vote. It seems that his attacks against Latinos may have created a vocal base for Trump but it is the Latinos that will likely keep him out office.
I realize that this may be hypocritical on my part – applauding the role it plays in keeping Trump out of the White House while acknowledging that it does not truly represent the will of the voters. I’ll happily accept that it is hypocritical on my part and rejoice in that it was the Latino vote that ultimately kept Donald Trump out of office.
Martin
If Trump wins out right and the Washington belt way elite try and steal the election you as a foreign national better be prepared to leave the U.S. quickly because it will cause the U.S. to descend into civil unrest and a civil war. People like you will no have long to to get out but the Washington belt way elite will just jet out to Europe and Asia and be immune to the chaos and suffering they created.
A little revolution is a good thing once in a while. It’s how we became America. Texas, too.
Folks, Hillary’s spin is that Trump’s followers are all crazy, angry folks. Today’s comments reinforce that spin. All that said, Trump’s supporters aren’t rioting, attacking the few that attend Hillary events or firebombing and putting threatening messages on Clinton’s regional campaign hq like some of Hillary’s supporters have done. Trump will be good for America, but there is value in not looking as crazy as Hillary’s minions because she does get votes when we talk revolution.
Anglocentric
Are you that naive to believed that if the Washington establishment belt way elite try and steal a election if Trump wins fairly that there will not be major civil unrest that can easily spiral into open civil war? Our fear is if this does happen that it will been taken into the court system quickly and the courts will drag their feet not for legal reasons but political. If this happen there will be conflict. If Hillary win fairly then the majority of voters have spoken and just have to live with the out comes. But do not be so foolish to think that if out right stealing of the election takes place, like happen in the DNC election process, then there will be big trouble.
The electors do NOT represent a proportionate amount of the nation’s electorate.
The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of members of Congress to which the state is entitled, while the Twenty-third Amendment grants the District of Columbia the same number of electors as the least populous state, currently three.
Maine and Nebraska electoral votes are based on congressional districts, which, except for once, have all been for the state’s pluralityt winner.
Now 48 states have winner-take-all state laws for awarding electoral votes.
2 award one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district, and two electoral votes statewide.
Neither method is mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
The electors are and will be dedicated party activist supporters of the winning party’s candidate who meet briefly in mid-December to cast their totally predictable rubberstamped votes in accordance with their pre-announced pledges.
The current system does not provide some kind of check on the “mobs.” There have been 22,991 electoral votes cast since presidential elections became competitive (in 1796), and only 17 have been cast in a deviant way, for someone other than the candidate nominated by the elector’s own political party (one clear faithless elector, 15 grand-standing votes, and one accidental vote). 1796 remains the only instance when the elector might have thought, at the time he voted, that his vote might affect the national outcome.
States have enacted and can enact laws that guarantee the votes of their presidential electors
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld state laws guaranteeing faithful voting by presidential electors (because the states have plenary power over presidential electors).
If Trump wins the popular vote in states with 270 electoral votes, there is no reason to think that the Electoral College would prevent Trump from being elected President of the United States
With the current state-by-state winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes (not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), it could only take winning a bare plurality of popular votes in only the 11 most populous states, containing 56% of the population of the United States, for a candidate to win the Presidency with less than 22% of the nation’s votes!
A presidential candidate could lose while winning 78%+ of the popular vote and 39 states.
But the political reality is that the 11 largest states, with a majority of the U.S. population and electoral votes, rarely agree on any political question. In terms of recent presidential elections, the 11 largest states have included five “red states (Texas, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Georgia) and six “blue” states (California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey). The fact is that the big states are just about as closely divided as the rest of the country. For example, among the four largest states, the two largest Republican states (Texas and Florida) generated a total margin of 2.1 million votes for Bush, while the two largest Democratic states generated a total margin of 2.1 million votes for Kerry.
In 2004, among the 11 most populous states, in the seven non-battleground states, % of winning party, and margin of “wasted” popular votes, from among the total 122 Million votes cast nationally:
* Texas (62% Republican), 1,691,267
* New York (59% Democratic), 1,192,436
* Georgia (58% Republican), 544,634
* North Carolina (56% Republican), 426,778
* California (55% Democratic), 1,023,560
* Illinois (55% Democratic), 513,342
* New Jersey (53% Democratic), 211,826
To put these numbers in perspective,
Oklahoma (7 electoral votes) generated a margin of 455,000 “wasted” votes for Bush in 2004 — larger than the margin generated by the 9th and 10th largest states, namely New Jersey and North Carolina (each with 15 electoral votes).
Utah (5 electoral votes) generated a margin of 385,000 “wasted” votes for Bush in 2004.
8 small western states, with less than a third of California’s population, provided Bush with a bigger margin (1,283,076) than California provided Kerry (1,235,659).
By 2020, the National Popular Vote bill could guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country, by changing state winner-take-all laws (not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), without changing anything in the Constitution, using the built-in method that the Constitution provides for states to make changes.
Every vote, everywhere, for every candidate, would be politically relevant and equal in every presidential election.
No more distorting and divisive red and blue state maps of predictable outcomes.
No more handful of ‘battleground’ states (where the two major political parties happen to have similar levels of support among voters) where voters and policies are more important than those of the voters in 38+ predictable states, like Texas, that have just been ‘spectators’ and ignored after the conventions.
The bill would take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes—270 of 538.
All of the presidential electors from the enacting states will be supporters of the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC)—thereby guaranteeing that candidate with an Electoral College majority.
The bill was approved this year by a unanimous bipartisan House committee vote in both Georgia (16 electoral votes) and Missouri (10).
The bill has passed 34 state legislative chambers in 23 rural, small, medium, large, red, blue, and purple states with 261 electoral votes.
The bill has been enacted by 11 small, medium, and large jurisdictions with 165 electoral votes – 61% of the 270 necessary to go into effect.
NationalPopularVote
This is what you expect from the “basket of deplorables”. They can not accept loosing; get used to it, it will be here soon.
Pedro
How does it feel that Hilary thinks you are the ignorant voter she is banking on to get elected? Must warm the cockles of your heart.
It’s just way too bad they don’t have an audio option to comment, or you would be hearing me LAUGH MY ASS OFF right now! 😂😂😂. How well are you taking your own advice there Pedro and getting used to losing??? 😂😂😂
You, mental midget, are the ignorant one. Have you seen some of the polls showing lately and I am not talking about trump’s own made up polls? Feeling a little under, there Thomas?
Pedro
Sorry to break the news the polls they are not biased and most fair show Trump and Hillary running neck and neck when taking in margin of error. You are the moron who supports an out right crook. Hillary lies,steals from you and you like it. Speaks volumes about you as a person, shallow, gullible,easily played and lead. Yep sparky seems you missed the boat when it comes to critical thinking.Oh Pedro we understand you are just having a short circuit. Oops!
It is very hypocritical on your part, and shows your bias in your comments on subject matter. Instead of blatant criminal acts conducted by the demoncrip party and the Clintons, you pretty much ignore that. Catering to a balkalinized group clearly demonstrates the power of the criminal left on your mindset. Trump is not not glib nor does he say the right things and he offends, but he bluntly honest about what is going on, and you don’t like that, apparently. I’m very disappointed in your lack of insight.
James, your boy is honest and you believe him. Right? When he said he can go out in the middle of the street, shoot someone and get away with it; there is your criminal mindset. The difference is that with your blindness you are blaming the wrong side. As for doubting Thomas, you too are like your hero, the one with the toilet mouth, trump said that he no longer watches the polls because they are dishonest. The polls that you are referring to are from the start of the month, before the debates. If you can bare it, look at the current polls, your dog is leading, FROM THE REAR! Even Texas is no longer Red, it is Pink. Watch the final debate tomorrow, Hillary should not try and debate. She should just let trump hang himself with his own tongue, which reminds me to get some popcorn for tomorrow.
Hello! How did this would out for you?