Let's abolish the Electoral College

NY Newsday ^ | April 20, 2004 | WILLIAM BENOIT

[presidio9]

The Electoral College should be abolished for two important reasons.

First, the Electoral College may be reducing voter turnout. Everyone knows that Vice President Al Gore received a half-million more votes than Gov. George W. Bush, but Bush became president.

What most people do not realize is the effect this could have on voters. Political observers have lamented a steady decline in the percentage of voters who turn out for presidential elections. One potential reason for declining turnout is a feeling of powerlessness among voters.

[KellyAdmirer]

Why am I not surprised that this argument would appear in Newsday?

[Fierce Allegiance]

Everyone knows that Vice President Al Gore received a half-million more votes than Gov. George W. Bush,

Omly if you don't include the absentee ballots that were never counted, either by being thrown out for technicalities or in states that weren't close enought to bother counting.

[PetroniDE]

How about we just ban campaigning and elections all together. Appoint them for life???

ROFLMAO...

[ken5050]

Me, I'm waiting for Tom Daschle and Harry Reid to endorse this proposal.....(g)

[Phantom Lord]

Could someone with better research skills than me to some searching and find out how many articles calling for the elimination of the electoral college were published in major news outlets from say 1870 to 1999?

[onedoug]

Ignorance is as ignorance does.

[PetroniDE]

Sounds like democrat whining for the 2004 election has begun....

[Puppage]

Let's abolish the Electoral College

Now, WHY would we want to do that.....so 6 or 7 major cities can determine elections for the whole country?

[Badeye]

The Electoral College should be maintained for two reasons:

1. Hillary Clinton wants it done away with, because she knows there is zero chance of her ever becomming President as long as it stands.

2. Al Gore almost became President.

[kcar]

Nah, let's not do that. The Constitution seems to have been crafted pretty well, constructing a hedge against large-state media-centers dominating the smaller or less populous states.

Bad idea, Red States. Nice try though.

[freedomlover]

Let's abolish the first amendment while we're at it. I mean I don't feel like my voice is being heard anyway.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I would like the endorse the Mundt plan (of some years ago.) Electoral votes are assigned as now; each congressional district gets one EV; each state gets two. (No electoral college, but the EV concepts is still used.) The idea is that corruption in one district (for example,in Miami or Chicago) may change one vote (and influence two others) but other districts are not changed.

The Democrats hate this plan.

[SGCOS]

...Everyone knows that Vice President Al Gore received a half-million more votes

How many of them were valid?

[Core_Conservative]

Nope - absolutely not!

[Still Thinking]

But others may think instead that their votes did not count when a candidate who received a 500,000 majority was declared the loser.

Hell, I knew tree boy was a loser before even before election day. I mean, we'd been living with the guy's superior attitude and bizarre beliefs for eight long, long years.

[APFel]

"Let's abolish the Electoral College"

There is no "F" in "way".

[mwl1]

one crude measure of frequency is after every presidential election that is close, particularly those that the RATS lose... like 1968 and 2000.

Ironically, one of the best summaries for the rationale and preservation of the Electoral College was written by the late Theodore White, the author of the Making of the President Series, and who was a Kennedy Democrat. His prose in the Making of the President - 1960 points out that the Constitutional founders of our nation were most astute to preserve a presidential election based on a union of state-specific decisions, so that elections did not degenerate into corrupt and raw head-counting.

[kevkrom]

The official vote tallies from the most recent (2000) election were close enough to have required a nationwide recount... does anyone really want to see Florida redux on a national scale?

As already mentioned on this thread, the best proposal is to use a system like Maine's, where each congressional district is a separate race, with a 2 EV bonus (for the Senate count) going to the winner of the state.

[Howlin]

Hillary Clinton already did -- within days of November 2000.