Posted on 10/26/2017 3:06:23 AM PDT by markomalley
Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez incorrectly stated "the Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution" during a Tuesday night speech.
"The Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution," Perez said during a lecture at Indiana University Law School. "It doesnt have to be there."
The Electoral College, a mechanism for indirect election of the president created by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between smaller states and larger states, is clearly laid out in Article II of the Constitution: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress."
Perez has previously stated that President Donald Trump "didnt win" last Novembers election because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but he has never denied the fact that it is part of the Constitution.
The DNC did not respond to an inquiry into whether Perez truly thinks the "Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution."
There are many educational resources available on the Internet that provide clear explanations of what is in the document, including many from the National Constitution Center, which was established by Congress to provide a "non-partisan understanding of the Constitution among the American people."
"Rather than being elected directly by the people, the president is elected by members of the Electoral College, which is created by Article II, Section 1," it explains.
Following his comment, Perez went on to explain his hopes that states agree to a "national popular vote compact," in which states agree to give their allocated electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
"There's a national popular vote compact in which a number of states have passed a bill that says, we will allocate our vote, our electoral votes, to the person who wins the national popular vote once other states totaling 170 electoral votes do the same," Perez said. "Im frankly proud to tell you that the first state to pass such a law was Maryland."
The main supporters of the plan put forward by Perez seem to understand it is a plan to circumvent the system created by the Constitution, not an argument that the system doesnt exist.
Most critiques of the Electoral College, such as this one from Slate, which describes it as "a democratically indefensible anachronism that dilutes minority votes while disproportionately amplifying whites votes," also recognize that it is part of the Constitution.
"The Electoral College remains lodged in our Constitution, and this year, for the fourth time in history, it elevated to the presidency a candidate who lost the popular vote," writes Slate in its lead paragraph.
The comment from Perez came during a lecture honoring former Indiana Democratic Sen. Birch Bayh, who was accused last year of sexual assault by a writer who said Bayh groped her in the backseat of a limousine.
The DNC did not respond to an inquiry into whether Perez was aware of the allegations when he accepted the speaking opportunity.
The DNC was criticized earlier this month when it announced it would be keeping much of the money it was given by Hollywood megadonor Harvey Weinstein, who has been widely accused of rape and sexual assault.
Has anybody heard the Left’s new urban conspiracy theory? That the electoral college had something to do with slavery? It’s pushed regularly over at The Guardian.
The level of sheer idiocy in our political class, at least on the left, is breathtaking...
N.Y. Times' Fake News That Electoral College Was Created to Protect Slavery
-PJ
Slaves would not have been counted AT ALL, without the compromise that assigned 3/5 of a person for each slave within a given state, which made the populations of most of the slave-owner-legal states artificially larger than they were.
It used to be VERY difficult to become an elector in most states at the time, with requirements for property ownership and literacy standards.
And gender.
Thanks, PJT. One of the most pernicious and evil urban myths. And pushed by the “paper of record”!
Nowhere in the Constitution is there a requirement for a popular vote. The state legislature has the power to declare that there will be no popular vote in that state, and the legislature will appoint their state’s electors.
perez looks like a cross between a snake and a weasel.
Why not the international popular vote? The libs don’t like borders so let’s just have Mexico and Venezuela and Kenya elect our president. Of course, Russia gets a say too!
/idiots
Brent Scher — A man, a lie, a liberal.
But I can guarantee you that if in 2020 (or any year after) Trump or the Republican candidate would win the popular vote but would have lost the electoral college under the state by state system, democrats will be in court so fast trying to get a federal judge to throw out their own state compact as unconstitutional and free up the states to appoint electors based on the state by state vote.
smh
The democrat party is an enemy of the United States.
Abortion isn’t in the Constitution.
The Second Amendment doesn’t exist as written according to liberals. So, why not the Electoral College too?
Any state can pass a law now to award their Electoral College vote to the winner of the national popular vote on its own. Why will no state step up and unilaterally do this to be a leader for the cause?
Why are they hiding behind this need to have a compact of 270 votes lined up before making the change? Why won't some liberal state lead by example, take that first step, and just do it now?
-PJ
A better one, imo, is the 1960 World Series. The Yankees outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55 to 27. But guess what?
The Pirates won the series four games to three.
The Yanks ran the table in games 2,3 and 6—won by HUGE margins. The Yanks won each of their contests by almost twelve runs per game. They won like the DemonRats do in California and New York.
But the Pirates won in the other four games by closer margins! Much closer—less than 2 runs a game. But they won all four square and fair.
Champs? Pirates.
Also, look at it this way: Trump won 30 states. Shrillary only won 20.
Ok kids...this proves without a doubt Democrats are scum.....
>>So she won a game that nobody else was playing.
As late as 4 or 5 pm on Election Day, she and the lapdog media were still playing Electoral College Bingo, showing how Trumps massive popularity wouldnt matter because Hillary was set to run the table in the EC. They said that it was simply impossible for Trump to win those electoral votes regardless of his popular vote count because Hillary had played the electoral map game so masterfully.
Tom Perez is the most radical person in politics today.
A complete Marxist operative. Very dangerous.
That he is the head of the DNC is a sign that the Comunist takeover of the Democrat Party is now complete.
There is no hiding the fact any longer.
And with all the fraud in voting as it is, there is no way in hell the Electoral College is going anywhere.
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