“Do away with the electoral college and just New York and California will decide all presidential elections.”
Currently, there are 538 electors, based on 435 representatives, 100 senators from the fifty states and three electors from Washington, D.C. The six states with the most electors are California (55), Texas (38), New York (29), Florida (29), Illinois (20), and Pennsylvania (20).
So, except for California’s abundance, the other states are closer than you might think and generate down by population to some having only 3.
But where the problem does lie, and it has happened, is in The Twelfth Amendment which requires the House of Representatives to go into session immediately to vote for a president if no candidate for president receives a majority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes).
In this event, the House of Representatives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for president. Each state delegation votes en bloc — each delegation having a single vote; the District of Columbia does not get to vote. A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (i.e., at present, a minimum of 26 votes) in order for that candidate to become the president-elect. Additionally, delegations from at least two thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a president.
The House of Representatives has chosen the president only twice: in 1801 under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3; and in 1825 under the Twelfth Amendment. But it is a loophole and one of the reasons the dems are so interested in controlling the house. And that can be worse than the electoral college which is made up of voters, not politicians with an agenda. (Most of the time)
rwood
Don’t you worry, the 12th Amendment will be changed when the Dems get into control of both Houses and the WH. There will be no tool unused, no decency not swept aside, for the Dems to force the legislatures of 37 states to ratify their new amendment...which will almost certainly make the vote in such a circumstance a simple majority of the House.