(June 29, 2018 at 12:14 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote:(June 29, 2018 at 11:51 am)RoadRunner79 Wrote: Some states have laws where the electoral representative must vote for the majority vote of the state.
Which is why there has been a movement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact which means that whomever wins the national popular vote gets all of a state's electors. If this policy is signed into law in enough states to equal more than 270 electoral votes then the electoral college would basically be obsolete and the US would, for all intents and purposes, become a nation that elects its presidents by popular vote.
For example, if states comprising 270 or more electoral votes had joined the NPVIC before 2016 Hillary Clinton would now be president regardless of whether Trump won the popular vote in any of those individual states.
Right now the NPVIC has passed in 12 states comprising 172 electoral votes. It has passed both houses of 2 more states (14 EVs), but in different years so it wasn't enacted into law, and passed in one house in 9 more states (75 EVs) and was approved by committee in 2 states (27 EVs).
It would have to be reintroduced, passed and enacted in ALL of the states above for the NPVIC to take effect which basically means it will never be passed because among the above states are Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, not to mention several Great Plains states and states with the minimum number of EVs who generally don't like the idea of going to a popular vote system because they would then lose their disproportionate representation in the Electoral College.
I think that there are downsides to the electoral college process as well. Often in PA here, all of our votes go to Pittsburgh and Philly as the largest population centers. I don't know if it would be legal for a state to break up its electoral representation and say have some for Democrats and some for Republicans out of their share. But popular vote has it's downside as well. It's not just about the majority of the people, but about the majority of the country as a whole. In the end, it really only comes into play in a close race anyway. I just don't see the point in complaining that the electoral college is not a popular vote; when it is not meant to be. And I think that you need to discuss the reasons for a change.
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If I am shown my error, I will be the first to throw my books into the fire. - Martin Luther