The electoral college and Trump's phony voter fraud crusade

[Yavin4]

Now that Biden has crossed the 81 million vote barrier and upped his percentage lead in the popular vote to 4.4%, we should keep in mind that if we didn't have the electoral college, it would have been pure folly for Trump to try to over turn the election.

However, because we do have this electoral college, our democracy is dependent upon various secretaries of states, state legislators, state courts, and governors. Sure, Trump's coup failed...THIS TIME, but the electoral college allows a path for a more devious, smarter coup attempt in the future. A corrupt secretary of state here, a state court there, a legistaure here, and Voila!, the presidential election is stolen and voters are disenfranchised. With a simple popular vote, a coup like this would be impossible.

The electoral college is a ticking time bomb in our democracy.

[Wounded Bear]

1. I think of it as a poison pill embedded in the Constitution...nt

[dchill]

2. It's a ticking time bomb that has already exploded several times.

[sandensea]

5. And pretty much, each one worse than the last

A scary thought for the next time.

[sandensea]

3. +1

This is precisely why most democracies who had an electoral college, have since ditched it.

[Laelth]

4. Very true. This is exactly how we lost the 2000 election.

But there’s no way to get rid of the electoral college. The electoral college is at the heart of the fundamental bargain between the states that allowed the formation of this republic. The small states agreed to sign on if, and only if, they were given disproportionate representation in the Senate and disproportionate power in selecting the President.

And, here we are.



-Laelth