Posted on 11/09/2016 3:43:18 PM PST by smokingfrog
Reviewing the presidential election results, many commentators note that Donald Trump — like several previous Republican presidential candidates — prevailed in the electoral college without winning the popular vote. This is true, but it’s also irrelevant. It’s irrelevant legally, of course, because the Constitution provides for the election of a president through the electoral college. But it’s also irrelevant in terms of the democratic legitimacy of the result.
In the election concluded Tuesday, Hillary Clinton received more popular votes than Trump. This does not mean, however, that Clinton would necessarily have prevailed in an election that was determined solely by the popular vote. This is because the popular vote total is itself a product of the electoral college system. As a consequence, we do not know what the result would have been under a popular vote system, let alone whether Clinton would have prevailed.
The reason for this is because the electoral college system encourages the campaigns (and their surrogates and allies) to concentrate their efforts on swing states — those states in which the electoral votes are up for grabs — at the expense of those states in which one party or the other has no meaningful chance to prevail. The presidential campaigns make no meaningful effort to turn out votes in populous, but non-competitive states such as California, New York and Texas. There is no advantage to running up the score in a state that is solidly in one camp, nor is there much benefit in trying to drive up turnout in pursuit of a hopeless cause.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Tim Kreepy Klown Kaine: “She won the popular vote!”
Yeah, and I drank more beer than both Hillary and Trump last night, so I want to be President.
Zactly.
The Electoral College evens the playing field by apportionment.
Hillary’s ground game wasn’t quite what it was cracked up to be.
liberals forget how the Civil War happened; regionalism. If your party gets schlonged in all of rural small-town America and can only win in rich suburbs and cities (Hillary), or for that matter, gets sclonged in suburbs and cities (like Romney) you don’t deserve to rule. Trump will be a bridge between rural/exurban and suburban, and potentially city as well. Thats why the electoral college should stay.
She said we are a constitutional democracy for a reason. She is going to use majority vote as a club.
Irrelevant my ass!
It is relevant because it demonstrates that the founding fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution.
They knew that some day the cities would become so large that only a few major cities would control the elections and had the wisdom and the experience with Europe to understand the dangers.
We should give thanks to the founders that we do not have Hillary for our next president.
How many of the Hag’s votes are ?able?
What about the 60,000 felons that were allowed to vote in Virginia? What about other shenanigans that the Democrats may have perpetrated to get votes for Hillary? If she got more of the popular vote, I’ll bet they weren’t legal votes.
That Document is fing amazing
Only because of Terry “Let the felons vote” McAuliffe
Popular vote? Which party holds more governorships, state legislative bodies and both houses and now the presidency? I’d say the morning POPULAR one.
Also Bullshiit.
Our form of government is similar to a corporation. The shareholders don’t elect the CEO. They choose the Board of Directors and the directors hire the CEO. This creates a balance of power that gives the shareholders some say so, but also helps prevent one or two rogue individuals from ruining a corporation. Of course, the shareholder can sell their stock as well if they don’t like the direction the company is taking, which is pretty much what happened yesterday.
A guy called a local talk show today, said he was one of the felons McAuliffe pardoned, and said he was so glad to be able to vote for Trump.
I try not to think about it too much.
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