There are least two ways that’s possible. (A) The electoral college was added to the Constitution as an amendment and has been used only since the 1920s. The best that can be said for the interstate compact is that, perhaps, it is consistent (or at least not inconsistent) with the democratic principle. The Electoral College, a system seen as the bedrock of the U.S. constitution, was rejected by Streisand as “antiquated” during an interview with The Washington Post. Can anything be done about that? However, unless you’re a moral absolutist, you probably think that in some cases, it’s permissible to lie or break a promise. From the perspective of the writers of the U.S. Constitution, that’s a feature, not a bug. Yet the Electoral College has shown an amazing ability to adapt to modern-day America. Twice in the last 20 years the popular vote winner was denied the presidency. Rather, they thought republican democracy with checks on majority rule would do a better job realizing procedure-independent truth about what justice requires. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Maybe. In the other states, the law requires electors to vote for their pledged candidate, but such laws have never been enforced. How nice it would be if a voter’s clout, or lack thereof, was not hostage to geography. The 16 electoral college votes in Georgia go to the party that wins the state, but there are people like Johnson who actually cast those votes. The Electoral College gives disproportionate weight to the votes of citizens of small states. Consider the famous “murderer at the door” thought experiment. Quit sneering: 3 reasons why Trump voters won’t disappear after November, Electoral College confirms Joe Biden as president-elect amid threats of violence and Trump protests, Bill Gates on the next few months of the pandemic: ‘It’s bad news’, AstraZeneca stock tumbles as Alexion shares soar after companies agree on takeover deal, Bipartisan coronavirus aid bill includes $300 a week for jobless and extensions on student loan, eviction help, Trump adviser pushes for ‘alternate’ electors as Electoral College members gather to lock in Biden win, European stocks and U.S. futures rise despite the tightening of COVID-19 restrictions, Review: The ID.4, Volkswagen’s all-new electric compact SUV with a 250-mile range, 'Cyberpunk 2077' developer to offer refunds. Consider these factors while developing your position: • Should the Electoral College be scrapped in favor of a direct popular vote, or re-engineered to make it more consistent with the popular vote? Madison wanted a series of checks and balances and a multistep process for creating laws and choosing leaders, not just to force factions to compromise, but to slow down the decision-making process with the hope that cool heads will prevail. The Electoral College is mandated in the Constitution, so abolishing it would require a constitutional amendment. This past electoral season, there has been a lot of chatter about the value of the Electoral College with critics asking: is it time to get rid of the this institution? The possibility that a candidate who wins the most popular votes could lose in the electoral college. Photo-Illustration by Ben Park; From Everett Collection. This process was established by our Founding Fathers since the inception of our democracy for reasons that include mistrust of the American people and a greater inclusion of smaller states in the democratic process. Democratically the Electoral College is on a par with the Congress of the United States, (House and Senate). Then 2008 and 2012 were largely challenge-free, bringing us to 2016, with challenges to the results in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Suppose you’re hiding someone in your attic, when two would-be murderers knock and ask if you’re hiding their intended victim. These showed no promise of actually overturning the results, but gave us a few days of news during that hungry period between Thanksgiving and Christmas when demand for political controversy sometimes outweighs the system’s ability to supply it, even in this outlandish year. Does that mean that Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump have all been illegitimate because they lost the popular vote? Every candidate should be accurate competition. They might be overcome by prejudice and swayed by populist demagogues. Many argue that the Electoral College “violates democratic principles of fair elections.” Essentially, they contend that the “democratic standard of political equity—of one person, one vote,” is violated by the Electoral College. The disparity between the popular vote and the Electoral College vote in the 2016 election highlighted the disconnect between democratic and federalist principles. That’s right, but that’s the point. Save this story for later. Twitter. Electoral College Voters Demand More Information on Russian Meddling Before Meeting, This Group of Rogue Electors Have a Plan to Stop Trump, Obama Orders Investigation of Russian Hacking During 2016 Election. TEACHERS: Get your students in the discussion on KQED Learn, a safe place for middle and high school students to investigate controversial topics and share their voices. By and large, Democrats have been good sports about how the electoral college turned their success into failure. The disparity between the popular vote and the Electoral College vote in the 2016 election highlighted the disconnect between democratic and federalist principles. Direct election is seen as more consistent with democratic principles than is the Electoral College system. It allows voters in small states to have more voting power than those in large states. Electors might have a presumptive duty to represent their states, and in most cases, that means doing what the state majority wants rather than what they personally judge is best. They’re called “irregularities” (a charming image), and someone will find one because at least one is always there. Associated Press ‘Democracy prevailed,’ Biden says after Electoral College affirms his ‘clear victory’ Last Updated: Dec. 14, 2020 at 9:35 p.m. Trump, meanwhile, shows no sign of conceding. The Electoral College is an anti-democratic institution. This is an assault on our democratic principles, where the dictum should hold true: one person, one vote.” Liberals Have Been Wanting to Get Rid of the Electoral College for a Long Time. By Michael Kinsle y. December 13, 2016. Why, why, why? Instead, when you “vote for president,” you actually vote for electors who are tasked with representing the majority vote in your state. In fact it is a proxy for the Congress in which the members are all elected in the same election. — Tom Giovanetti (@tgiovanetti) March 19, 2019 “There is little substantive difference between saying we should get rid of the Electoral College and saying we should get rid of the Senate,” he tweeted. The 2020 election has again raised the issue although from a different perspective. Leading expert George Edwards analyzes the consequences of the Electoral College for democracy and explains why it allows the candidate who loses the popular vote to win the election. First, Electoral College consistent with democratic principles is more impartial. Direct election is seen as more consistent with democratic principles than is the Electoral College system. (B) Third-party candidates are often overrepresented in the electoral college results. Direct election is seen as more consistent with democratic principles than is the Electoral College system. They denied that what counts as our rights or what counts as justice was decided by majority fiat. Streisand is by no means not the first progressive to bash the Electoral College. Second, many state legislators could directly appoint their own electors instead of allowing voters to choose electors. Then he explores possible justifications for this violation of democratic principles. In fact it is a proxy for the Congress in which the members are all elected in the same election. Is the Electoral College consistent with democratic principles, or is it an obsolete institution contrary to democratic principles? These electors form the Electoral College. It … And Democrats should remember that. All the verbiage in each day’s newspapers—about the suddenly discovered white working man; the self-flagellation of Democrats; the confident assertion by Republicans that people want the past eight years sent down the memory hole, A.S.A.P.—is based on the erroneous premise that more people voted Republican than Democratic last month. Is the Electoral College consistent with democratic principles, or is it an obsolete institution contrary to democratic principles? The U.S. constitution allows states to decide how electors are selected; there’s no requirement that you get any say this November. The Electoral College has on occasion produced controversial elections, the first of which can be dated back to 1800, when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both on the Democratic-Republican ticket, received the same number of electoral votes. From the perspective of the writers of the U.S. Constitution, that’s a feature, not a bug. There is determined for three reasons for that opinion. This is an assault on our democratic principles, where the dictum should hold true: one person, one vote.” Liberals Have Been Wanting to Get Rid of the Electoral College for a Long Time. It is no more accurate than a coin flip, but it’s no less accurate either. Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy. In 1876, 1888, and 2000, the winning candidate lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College. How fortunate we were to have the combined wisdom of our founders as the Constitution was … Is it consistent with democracy? Not at all. That is when I emphasize that, by design, the Electoral College fundamentally undermines the basic principle of one citizen-one vote mentioning democratic lowlights such as: (1) States with smaller populations have far more representatives per population than states with larger populations. Declaring who won an election on the basis of who got the most votes would seem to be a pretty good way of going about things. Nevertheless, we should be glad the Electoral College is in place. violates the principle of political equality – in particular the basic democratic principle of one person, one vote.
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