Note
This past Tuesday, the retiring Democrat senator from California, Barbara Boxer announced that she was planning on introducing a bill to abolish the Electoral College. During the presidential elections, Boxer was an avid supporter of Hillary Clinton and recently tweeted that "The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts." In a GOP-controlled Senate, it is very unlikely that such a bill would past, in addition to the 3/4 states ratification it would need, in order to amend the Constitution. However, such a bill further exemplifies the strong political divide within our nation, post-presidential election.
1. Donald Trump has previously tweeted AGAINST the Electoral College (before he won, of course). Is this in anyway a partisan issue? Or is it simply a party reaction to undesired results?
2. Do you believe we should abolish the electoral college? If so, what would be a better system? Note: Trump has proposed a "simple votes" system. In his 60 minutes interview he said, "I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win."
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ReplyDeleteThe founding fathers have originally created the elections with representative democracy in mind. If we interpret the constitution strictly, then I don't think the electoral college should be abolished. Also, the electoral college gives power to states with less population.
ReplyDeleteBefore Trump's victory, he has argued against the electoral college and claiming it as "rigged". I think he said it because he couldn't accept the fact that he was behind on the election, therefore convey that it was a party's reaction to undesired result. Trump's reaction at the time revealed him as a character who is immature and cannot accept obstacles. Even though the current electoral system is not the best representation of the desires of American population, but like Chan has said, it is originally established by our founding fathers. Also, it creates balance between the states with larger population with the states with a smaller population.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the electoral college will not change in the near future. The electoral college favors the small states, who now have more of a say rather than if it were to be based solely on the popular vote. Because of this all the small states would most likely not vote for it in Congress which means it would not pass. With this in mind, I believe that we should not change the system of voting because if it is changed, then the smaller states would feel underrepresented.
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ReplyDeleteThe issue of the electoral college at its core is not a partisan issue, as it was not created to favor one party over another. However, it may appear this way, as parties tend to grow increasingly upset with it after their nominee loses. The electoral college may be a flawed system, but it would be extremely hard to both remove it and find a replacement. Since small states favor this system, it is unlikely that we would be able to get the votes to amend it. While personally, I believe that abolishing it completely would be the most representative of the American population, I know that I am biased because of my residence in a large state. Additionally, many would oppose this system, as it is not what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the few issues about which I agree with Mr. Trump. He has advocated in the past against the electoral college and for a simple votes system, even after his victory which was, like the Bush Gore election, solely based on the electoral college; Hillary won the popular vote. I think that the electoral college made sense in the era in which it was created, but is completely out of date now and confuses and angers many Americans, as well as being completely unfair (in my opinion). I think if Trump were able to advocate for a change to the electoral college system, it could possibly pass, because with his Republican majority in Congress and the opposing side (Democrats) generally sharing the same view, (which is incredibly rare) it could possibly be something to pass. However, I do not believe that Trump will stand by his opinions on the electoral college enough to actually do something about it, as it is not a very popular or well known position of his, and would most likely anger his party.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the Electoral College would change, because America is very traditional and does not like change. The electoral college favors the small states not just the popular vote. Thus, the states that are less populated, still have a greater say.
ReplyDeleteI do not think we should abolish the electoral college as it has been in place for such a long time. As Sophia stated above, America holds its traditions near and dear to its heart, which the electoral college is. The electoral college system works since it provides adequate representation for smaller states, which is yet another reason why it will not be abolished anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteThe electoral college should not be removed. Anyone who reads the constitution with intent at understanding it sees that our country is not a democracy and democrats should stop using the misleading talking points that the electoral college hurts our democracy. We are a Federal Republic, many semi-autonomous states under one large federal government. The founders feared tyranny of the majority and created the electoral college to stop larger populations from being able to silence minorities.
ReplyDeleteI think the electoral college is not bad for the country it just needs to modified. Instead of having a winner take all system, we should award points by county. I believe the democratic party brought this up due to the fact that they lost the election. It is not a bad idea, but if they won this election, they would not be complaining.
ReplyDeleteI think that changing the electoral college would be interesting to say the least. I believe that it would help voter turnout, especially for those outside of swing states. If the US government was more capable of making change quickly, experimenting for several years, and then being able to change back if necessary, then I would be in full support of at least temporarily replacing the electoral college to see how other systems effected the country.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of the electoral college is a bad idea because it does more good than bad. Much of the American public is not reliable or educated when voting, so a straight up popular vote would not turn out well for the nation. Instead of eliminating the electoral college, we should refactor it so that it is not a winner-take-all system. If each candidate gets a number of electoral votes that is proportional to the number of votes they receive from each state, then it will be an accurate representation that mitigates the influence of uneducated voters.
ReplyDeleteAbolishing the electoral college would have a positive effect on our current election process. First, removing the electoral college would ensure that the candidate who wins the popular vote is the one who is elected. Also, removing the electoral college would increase voter turnout because more people would feel like there vote actually mattered.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of the electoral college would be a bad idea as small states would lose significant power to the big states. Also most Americans are not reliable voters and do not pay attention to politics. However, removing the electoral college would increase voter turnout as concentration of people who support a single party in an area would come out and vote for their party as their votes would actually count.
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