Over the past few weeks I have been asked about the popular vote and the electoral vote. So this is an issue I have with the elections. I understand why the electoral college was established, it was done so that heavily populated states do not have more representation/votes than rural areas. So lets get to it. The popular vote is just that, the candidate wins the popular vote by accumulating more votes then his/her competition. Very simple, requires no committees, no voting or choosing delegates, no voting districts or other bureaucracy, no gerrymandering
The electoral college, however, is not quite so simple. First you have to have a progression of votes, citizens vote for their delegate(s) along party lines then the next vote is by the delegates and the winner becomes president. The electoral college requires bureaucracy, the college itself is a bureaucracy, then there are oversight committees. Then the electoral college requires voting districts which creates more bureaucracy and leads to gerrymandering( the manipulation of voting district boundaries for vote garnering). The system is not fair to people who live in states that historically vote one way, like California, in California if you vote Republican your vote will not count, period. This system is designed for large parties, it is not a system that lends itself to having Joe Public jump into the election, large sums of money are required along with a healthy dose of butt schmoozing. So a person could completely win the popular vote and still lose the election, it has happened. Here are examples:
- George Bush (electoral vote winner) vs. Al Gore in 2000: Al Gore won the popular vote by 543,816 votes
- Benjamin Harrison (electoral vote winner) vs. Grover Cleveland in 1888
- Rutherford B. Hayes (winner) vs. Samuel J. Tilden in 1876: Tilden won the popular vote by 264,292 votes
- John Quincy Adams won the electoral vote in 1824 but lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson by 44,804 votes in 1824
Here is the electoral breakdown per state, the winner requires only 270 electoral votes to win.
| State | Electoral Votes |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 9 |
| Alaska | 3 |
| Arizona | 11 |
| Arkansas | 6 |
| California | 55 |
| Colorado | 9 |
| Connecticut | 7 |
| Delaware | 3 |
| Washington, D.C. | 3 |
| Florida | 29 |
| Georgia | 16 |
| Hawaii | 4 |
| Idaho | 4 |
| Illinois | 20 |
| Indiana | 11 |
| Iowa | 6 |
| Kansas | 6 |
| Kentucky | 8 |
| Louisiana | 8 |
| Maine | 4 |
| Maryland | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 11 |
| Michigan | 16 |
| Minnesota | 10 |
| Mississippi | 6 |
| Missouri | 10 |
| Montana | 3 |
| Nebraska | 5 |
| Nevada | 6 |
| New Hampshire | 4 |
| New Jersey | 14 |
| New Mexico | 5 |
| New York | 29 |
| North Carolina | 15 |
| North Dakota | 3 |
| Ohio | 18 |
| Oklahoma | 7 |
| Oregon | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 20 |
| Rhode Island | 4 |
| South Carolina | 9 |
| South Dakota | 3 |
| Tennessee | 11 |
| Texas | 38 |
| Utah | 6 |
| Vermont | 3 |
| Virginia | 13 |
| Washington | 12 |
| West Virginia | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 10 |
| Wyoming | 3 |
Heavily populated states, of course, DO have more representation/votes than rural areas. California has 55 electoral votes, Wyoming 3.
ReplyDeleteIn 1789, in the nation's first election, a majority of the states appointed their presidential electors by appointment by the legislature or by the governor and his cabinet, the people had no vote for President in most states, and in them, only men who owned a substantial amount of property could vote, and only three states used the state-by-state winner-take-all method to award electoral votes.
The electoral college does not require voting districts. 48 states award all their electors to the winner of their state.
The system is not fair, period.
Because of state-by-state winner-take-all laws, the predictability of the winner of the state you live in, determines how much, if at all, your vote matters.
Each state’s winning presidential electors travel to their State Capitol on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The results are sent to Congress.
There are not "oversight committees."
The electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on January 6.
Not a bureaucracy.
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, the National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country.
ReplyDeleteEvery 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 pre-determined outcomes. There would no longer be a 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 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 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.
National Popular Vote
Thanks for the info toto, it is greatly appreciated! People need to understand what they are dealing with.....
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