NationStates Jolt Archive

I was just thinking about this the other day and it kept bugging me. Some states have more elecoral votes than others because more people live there, but... not everyone in those states votes the same way. Basically, all those who vote for the minority in any state don't get their wishes represented at all. Wouldn't it be much more democratic just to rely on the popular vote? Then it really would be the candidate the most people wanted, not the candidate who managed to win the most electoral votes. It's not very democratic if half of people's votes don't get counted. And to complicate matters, look at Washington (DC, not the state). They don't even get their votes represented, no matter who they vote for. No senator = no say. Surely there must be a better way to do things!

The 2000 election vis-a-vis the electoral college marked the end of a long american tradition of government which represented and reflected the consent of the governed.

I don't belieev America basically has any democracy.

The Electoral College was made as a deterrent to democracy, which is mobocracy, tyranny by majority, lawlessness, and chaos. Our Founders, who strongly resented democracy, gave us a republic.

The entire purpose of the Electoral College is to prevent mob rule (which is extremely dangerous to a nation). What most people fail to realize is that the United States is NOT a democracy, but a republic. If you live in the US, the democracy you live in is your state. Also, the electoral college prevents massive voter problems that occured 200 years ago. Tallying accurate voter results was difficult because the vast distances between cities.

The electoral college is a good thing.

The electoral college worked hundreds of years ago when the biggest difference between the electoral votes was 6. Now its dozens upon dozens. There needs to be a change in the electoral college to make it fair and even instead of worse than mob rule. And no, the electoral college was not really meant to be anti-mob rule, it was supposed to make voting easier because of the huge distances between states and the large amount of time it would take everyone to vote and to get somewhere to vote, and the numbers were set up to make it relatively fair because of the inability for everyone to vote easily. It is long outdated and useless. Other parts of our voting system have been changed and the electoral college needs to be as well

The entire purpose of the Electoral College is to prevent mob rule (which is extremely dangerous to a nation). What most people fail to realize is that the United States is NOT a democracy, but a republic. If you live in the US, the democracy you live in is your state. Also, the electoral college prevents massive voter problems that occured 200 years ago. Tallying accurate voter results was difficult because the vast distances between cities.

The electoral college is a good thing.

But that was 200 years ago! With modern technology, and electronic voting machines, the entire country could have their vote counted in a day, and then give it another day to double check. The electoral college is out-dated and out-moded. It encourages candidates to set up battlegrounds in swing states so that other states get ignored. As we've seen, it all just comes down to how a few states turn out. Ohio and Florida to name but a few, have been key states in every recent election. Is that all a democratic republic boils down to? massive spending and campaigning in a few swing states?