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To: Dilbert San Diego
There’s a developing liberal meme, that “Hillary won the popular vote”.

It doesn't matter. It's really easy to shut these people down.

The Electoral College was designed by the Founding Fathers to prevent the Presidential election from turning into a popularity contest.

In this election, that's what exactly happened: the blue states had a very high margin for Hillary. But, the red states had a lower margin for Trump. And unexpected states turned purple, like Minnesota.

The EC was a compromise between the low-population and high-population states. They were (rightly) concerned that the high-population states could overwhelm the less-populated states, leaving them with no representation in the Presidency.

A Presidential candidate must build a coalition of states with a majority of electoral votes, campaigning and proposing policies that will appear to a set of states with a majority of EVs.

"But, my vote doesn't matter because I live in a deep red state! They don't even campaign here!"

No, your vote matters -- because the candidates must propose (and enact) policies that benefit a coalition of states. Otherwise, those states will turn purple, or the opposite color.

24 posted on 11/10/2016 7:02:03 AM PST by justlurking (#TurnOffCNN)
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To: justlurking
Two things about the Electoral College make for a complete disconnect between the way it was designed and the way it operates today:

1. If you read the Constitution, it looks like it was written with the expectation that candidates wouldn't usually get a clear majority in the Electoral College -- and presidents would usually be elected in the special elections in Congress for those cases.

2. It wasn't until the 1920s before all of the U.S. states selected Electoral College electors through popular votes. Before that, electors were selected through different measures -- including state legislatures, popular votes, etc.

32 posted on 11/10/2016 7:16:31 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Yo, bartender -- Jobu needs a refill!")
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