Another election proves the need to abolish the Electoral College

[William Seger]

We have "battleground states" because we have an idiotic, undemocratic system that says "states" have voting rights over and above the rights of the people. It may look only slightly undemocratic on the surface, but the pragmatic effect is that most people live in states where their vote for president really doesn't matter.

[SheltieLover]

1. Ec needs to go!

[dalton99a]

2. We have the worst kind of democracy among democracies

when it comes to electing the most important office.

It is a stupid and cruel anachronism.

[WillowTree]

20. That's because the US is not and never was intended to be a true democracy,

We are a democratic or constitutional republic. Different thing, but many, if not most, people nowadays make that mistake.

[William Seger]

24. We can change our constitution if we do it democratically

It was deliberately made difficult, but that means that we can be as democratic as we choose to be, certainly in how we choose a president. We already did that for senators with the 17th Amendment.

[KS Toronado]

3. If we get rid of the Electoral College and had a national vote by mail system,

republiCONs would have a difficult time holding on to any sort of power.

[standingtall]

8. Which is why we are not likely to see national vote by mail after the covid crisis

again anytime soon, because republicans know it does not help them.

[Blue_true]

10. I don't agree with that conclusion.

Republican voters came out to vote and ended our hopes of a blue wave in the House and Senate. So, there is no certainty that having a national voting day on say Saturday or Sunday or two voting days will end the Republican Party. As long as that party has a core of morally dead people to draw from at the polls, it is going to be a problem, regardless of how voting is done.

[Blue_true]

4. The issue in this case was not the EC.

What the nation needs is uniform voting procedures for each state. Now things are a hodgepodge.

[standingtall]

5. Abolishing the electoral college will never happen

we need to get the Senate back so we can counter balance the electoral college by adding States which probably wont happen this election cycle, but it is more doable then getting rid of the electoral college.

[BComplex]

9. That's not so.

We can, and will, eventually abolish the electoral college.

[standingtall]

11. We going to get a constitutional amendment and like 3/4 of the states to ratify it

I don't think so. In fact I don't think there be another constitutional amendment passed of any kind period. Even if we did get to that point where where 2/3 population voted for the amendment and 3/4 of the states ratified it. We might not even be talking about this then, because we would probably winning almost every state in elections.

[meadowlander]

26. It will happen as soon as Texas goes blue and republicans realise they'll never win

another national race until they get rid of it.

[standingtall]

27. We would have to do better than just making Texas a swing State

We'd have to win it several times to make it a solid blue State.

[Bettie]

6. And that one fact keeps people

from both sides of the political divide from voting. Why bother if your vote doesn't matter.

I live in a red county in fucking Iowa. It doesn't matter who I vote for, my vote has zero impact on anything.

I'm ready to just give up, because it feels hopeless.

[BComplex]

12. If we got rid of the electoral college, your vote would count equally with every other

vote in the country.

[Bettie]

13. Yep, my vote in Iowa would

be equal to some right winger in Montana AND a person in California.

Right now, that guy in Montanta has much more power than either me or that person in CA.

[standingtall]

14. I hadn't thought about that

People who live in blue districts in red states at least have a congressional race that matters. There might be more rural voters in rural areas for Democrats to mine for then people think.

[Goodheart]

7. It pisses me off to no end someone in Wyoming has 10x the vote over a Californian.

And then, on top of that, that person in Wyoming is likely to scream that all the Federal land in his state should be ceded to him.

[regnaD kciN]

15. The EC could be regarded as an entertaining quirk...

...over the first two hundred years of this country, because it practically never came into play. But since 2000, it’s decided the election in favor of the popular vote loser 40% of the time (and there’s still a chance it might be 50% of the time after this election). And, while previous incidents have been in cases where the popular vote difference was minuscule, we now are seeing it come into play in races where several percentage points, not just tenths of a percent, divide the candidates. When you add in that the split is not random, but consistently favors the same minority faction each time, it becomes clear that, as the situation has become in this century, the U.S. can have the Electoral College, or it can have legitimate claims to be a democracy, but it can’t have both.

[William Seger]

28. Yeah, my problem with some people getting extra voting power

... is that they've been using it like a bunch of fucking idiots. In terms of quantifiable damage to the country as the direct result of shitty policy, Bush and Trump have no near rivals.

[crickets]

31. Well said. nt

[Windy City Charlie]

16. If anything

If anything, it shouldn't be winner takes all. It's rather silly to think there's no difference if you win a state by 40% or by 1%.

[Demsrule86]

17. That will never happen. Thus, we need to reach out to those states and win hearts and minds

in order to win the EC...when we get the Senate...this year or in 22, we need to add Puerto Rico and DC as states. That will help.

[colsohlibgal]

18. ASAP

No other Nation does this cockamamie system. It is ridiculous, and it runs directly against our supposed one person one vote saying. It’s nothing of the sort Presidential wise.

No Electoral College no Dufus Donnie.

[struggle4progress]

19. "Popular Vote for President 2024!"

[Marius25]

21. We have the dumbest election system of any "Democracy" in the world.

Biden is looking at the biggest popular vote win of anyone in US history, and yet he still can't be called as the winner.

[BannonsLiver]

22. Unless you're very young we'll all be worm food or in an urn by the time it's changed.

[albacore]

23. Biden is winning by about 4 million right now.

But trump has gotten 6 million more votes in this election than he got in 2016. If the Dems stay home in 2024, and the Repubs turn out, we're still fucked...EC or not.
Something is deeply wrong with this country, and removing the EC will help...like removing a cancerous tumor... but not cure the cancer that is widespread.

trump...
68,887,097 2020 .. so far.
62,984,828 2016

[mtnsnake]

25. It won't be abolished until the Repukes lose a couple elections in a row but win the popular vote

and even then they might not consider agreeing to do it.

[The Revolution]

29. Won't happen but we can repeal 1929 reapp. Act

We'll never pass an amendment. The constitutionality
of the national popular vote compact is questionable enough that this Supreme Court could certainly find an excuse to overturn it.

Instead, repeal the Reapportionment Act of 1929. This would go a long way to solving the problem. I think this should be done the second we have a majority in both houses of congress.

[Hortensis]

30. Also doable is moving from winner-takes-all to proportional

allocation of state electors in presidential elections. That way, in AZ Biden might be allocated 6 electors and Trump 5, reflecting the choices of the electorate.

For reasons I forgot long ago if I knew, all but 2 states are winner-take-all, but state legislatures decided that.