Posted on 04/15/2021 2:32:51 PM PDT by USA Conservative
The founders created the electoral college to make sure that large states did not dominate small ones in presidential elections, that power between Congress and state legislatures will be balanced, and that there would be checks and balances in the constitutional system.
This spring, numerous candidates for president expressed support for either abolishing or changing the Electoral College and today House Democrats have introduced a resolution to abolish the electoral college.
The National Archives reports that over the past 200 years more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College – without any becoming law.
In part, that is because the Electoral College is constitutionally mandated, and abolishing it would require a constitutional amendment. But the Constitution and the courts have allowed the states some leeway to make changes to how their Electoral College representatives are chosen.
The current system for electing a U.S. president traces back to 1787. That’s when the Founding Fathers crafted a compromise between those who argued for the election of the president by a vote of Congress and the election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. Debate renewed in 2016 after the election of the fifth U.S. president who won the presidency despite losing the popular vote.
The basis for the Electoral College is found in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, which spells out how the president shall be chosen. It gives each state “in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct” electors equal to its representation in Congress. The Constitution originally stipulated that the top vote-getter chosen by these electors would become president and the individual with the second-most votes would be vice president.
But after the presidential election in 1800 resulted in an acrimonious tie vote between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the 12th Amendment was ratified in 1804. It provides for separate votes for president and vice president and specified that those individuals must be from different states.
Fully overhauling the way the president is selected would take a Constitutional amendment, which would require the votes of two-thirds of the U.S. House of Representatives, two-thirds of the Senate, and three-fourths of the states.
Support of that magnitude has become rare for anything in a sharply divided United States. An amendment hasn’t been adopted since the 27th, in 1992, and one hasn’t been adopted relatively quickly since the 26th, which took 100 days from proposal to adoption in 1971.
A number of states have signed onto a pact that guarantees their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote, no matter the outcome in their individual states.
The compact would only go into effect once the number of states involved surpasses the 270 Electoral College vote threshold that is required to win the presidency.
Today the pact has the support of states — and Washington D.C. — that total 181 electoral votes, largely those that have gone for Democrats in recent years.
However in short terms here’s what the Democrats would need to do to abolish the electoral college.
-To abolish the Electoral College would take 67 Senators, 290 Representatives, and 38 States.
-So, yeah, if all Democrats, plus a boatload of Republicans support it and can convince about 18 Republican states (like Texas and Florida) to ratify it, it can happen.
My message to the Dems: If you abolish the Electoral College then you might as well abolish the Senate and get rid of Statehood as State Sovereignty and the 10th Amendment becomes meaningless. This is just short-sighted.
My what a clever response
The hostage letter formatting is quite charming too
Now you hit the nail on the head. The Democrats, imo, really would like to see the Constitution burned and start over with their rules and their rules only.
If that happens, the Republic is indeed dead and we will never get it back.
Hopefully before that would happen a number of the Red States would form a new and separate Republic. That would end up with war in the streets.
this only ends in a BIG mess
whats amazing to me is how many fail to see and acknowledge the UniParty (D) and UniParty (R) right under their noses.
They “get away with it” by pretending a Red-Blue game while they are really united in an ologarchic dictatorship
A number of states have signed onto a pact that guarantees their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote, no matter the outcome in their individual states.
then why have a vote? wait, that’s the plan, one more and done...
the electoral college is an element of American cultural heritage.
Lets say manage to do that WITHOUT an amendment per the constitution. Lets say they pack the court, which they intend to do.
All that happens, right?
Therefore, the states that want to can simply say since there is no longer a constitution and the contract has been broken, we no longer abide by any laws or rules issued by Washington DC.
It would take a Constitutional amendment if we still had a Constitution.
Too bad both parties abrogated it when they swore in the ineligible Kenyan from Indonesia.
They need 2/3 of each house of Congress, then 3/4 of the states.
You mean re-electing Assistant Democrats is not the path to success that we keep being told it is?
We are rapidly reaching a point where the Democrats will attempt to arrogate to themselves the power to amend the Constitution by Decree.
They have taken control of the voting procedure nationally and can produce whatever totals they want now but they still worry that that all might be circumvented in 2022 somehow so they will try to establish unassailable power in every way they can think of before that election..
They have taken control of the voting procedure nationally
and can produce whatever totals they want now
**************
Pretty much standard in the world today. Those that got
control make the rules. But history shows past history
to be much the same.
They'd probably love to...except the Senate they would change to nationwide Senate "districts."
I was shocked too to find out that doesnt work
Let them do it.
It’ll just bring us closer to civil war and the resulting break up that will divide decent people from the tyrants and sycophants.
As long as Arkansas makes the right decision... and I think they will, I’ll be ok.
The rest of the country - if they are very lucky - will join back when they see the results.
Like north and south Korea.
Suck it up, peasants!
Bow down!... Obey!... Snitch!...
The way it’s going, Ol’ Joe will just issue an Executive Order..
Why is this BREAKING news?
We knew this all was going to roll out, fast, the day after they stole the election.
Old news....or, at least Expected news.
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