I have seen several postings about different states wanting to do an end around with the electoral college. That is to say a legal means to subvert its' intended function by the founding fathers. The majority of these states are historically democratic. Still unhappy with the results of the last election it is an attempt to change the rules. And they can legally do so at the state level. They can pass legislation determining how the electors vote. It can be that they must vote in accordance with the popular vote or they can vote according to their conscience. The constitution does not bind them to either, it is up to the individual states. Remember it is the electoral votes that ultimately elect the president and the vice president, not the popular vote.
Now I'm certain the majority of you know about the electoral college to some degree. We have become far more aware and informed over the last three years about that. The debate rages on with both sides arguing their cases. I admit on the surface it would appear that the popular vote is the only fair way. Yes, that seems simple enough right, just count the votes and the one with the most wins. One and done. But then we wouldn't have a republic at all, what we would have is a simple democracy. That may very well work fine for the Boy scout troop or the church social ice cream social but hardly sufficient for a nation. And that is why we have a Constitutional Republic.
What is a republic? A government of the people, by the people and for the people is the standard answer. A representative government. Ours is founded in our constitution. When it comes to electing our president it is the electors that are our representatives! That is important to understand. We elect our congressional representatives by popular vote. Electors however are not. They are either appointed or elected by said representatives. The ones we elected by popular vote.
How many electors are there? Five hundred and thirty eight. Why that number? The house gets four hundred and thirty five chosen individually in their respective states. One hundred are chosen by the Congress in the same fashion and DC gets three. It takes 270 electoral votes to win. But why do we have these electors? Hamilton explained it best in the Federalist papers. In short he said it was a check against tyranny and mob rule. The electors would vote independently using the popular vote as an advisory. Each state gets to decide if there elector must go along with the popular vote or not. The thinking being the electors would act independently as they are not elected officials in the sense they are bound to a political party. Yes , they are supposed to be nonpartisan. These electors can change their vote anytime before the official ballot is cast. They can also be removed and replaced at any time before that vote.
It is the responsibility of your representative to either vote for or appoint the electors. That is one of their functions, perhaps, their most important one. That's because the electors will be the ones choosing the president. These electors are supposed to be chosen for their integrity, not political loyalty to a certain party. The electors are supposed to vote for the best candidate using the popular vote as a guide to what the people want. Those wants are to remain within the scope of the Constitution. If we were to solely use the popular vote a full 55% of the voting population wouldn't even be considered. That's because a full 55% of eligible voters do not vote! So that leaves 45% divided, for practical purposes by two, to choose our president. Is that fair? I know, I know, everyone should vote. The founding fathers knew that even if everyone that was eligible were to vote it is an impractical and unrealistic expectation that the votes would be accurately counted, indeed that the votes could even be collected. So that's one reason our representatives, elected by popular vote in each state, either appoints or elects an elector to represent the people in the presidential race. Those 538 electoral votes can easily be tabulated and a majority or 270 achieved. Each state receives equal representation thus making the election as fair as possible.
Of course there is much more to all of that. I don't pretend to be an expert in these matters. I do read and try to understand the who, what and were of things however. There is no reason I shouldn't given the technology I have before me. I can just type in a query and receive the answers. Truth is I can search for the answer I would like to get as easily as getting an answer I don't like. It's up to me to figure that part out though, possibly the more difficult part of the task of learning. So I looked up all this stuff to make sure I had the facts right. That's the way the electoral college is supposed to work and one of the reasons why we have it. I did learn that it would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college. Even if every state made it mandatory that their electoral representatives voted in line with the popular vote the college is still required by the constitution. It is a safeguard against mob rule.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators
Now I'm certain the majority of you know about the electoral college to some degree. We have become far more aware and informed over the last three years about that. The debate rages on with both sides arguing their cases. I admit on the surface it would appear that the popular vote is the only fair way. Yes, that seems simple enough right, just count the votes and the one with the most wins. One and done. But then we wouldn't have a republic at all, what we would have is a simple democracy. That may very well work fine for the Boy scout troop or the church social ice cream social but hardly sufficient for a nation. And that is why we have a Constitutional Republic.
What is a republic? A government of the people, by the people and for the people is the standard answer. A representative government. Ours is founded in our constitution. When it comes to electing our president it is the electors that are our representatives! That is important to understand. We elect our congressional representatives by popular vote. Electors however are not. They are either appointed or elected by said representatives. The ones we elected by popular vote.
How many electors are there? Five hundred and thirty eight. Why that number? The house gets four hundred and thirty five chosen individually in their respective states. One hundred are chosen by the Congress in the same fashion and DC gets three. It takes 270 electoral votes to win. But why do we have these electors? Hamilton explained it best in the Federalist papers. In short he said it was a check against tyranny and mob rule. The electors would vote independently using the popular vote as an advisory. Each state gets to decide if there elector must go along with the popular vote or not. The thinking being the electors would act independently as they are not elected officials in the sense they are bound to a political party. Yes , they are supposed to be nonpartisan. These electors can change their vote anytime before the official ballot is cast. They can also be removed and replaced at any time before that vote.
It is the responsibility of your representative to either vote for or appoint the electors. That is one of their functions, perhaps, their most important one. That's because the electors will be the ones choosing the president. These electors are supposed to be chosen for their integrity, not political loyalty to a certain party. The electors are supposed to vote for the best candidate using the popular vote as a guide to what the people want. Those wants are to remain within the scope of the Constitution. If we were to solely use the popular vote a full 55% of the voting population wouldn't even be considered. That's because a full 55% of eligible voters do not vote! So that leaves 45% divided, for practical purposes by two, to choose our president. Is that fair? I know, I know, everyone should vote. The founding fathers knew that even if everyone that was eligible were to vote it is an impractical and unrealistic expectation that the votes would be accurately counted, indeed that the votes could even be collected. So that's one reason our representatives, elected by popular vote in each state, either appoints or elects an elector to represent the people in the presidential race. Those 538 electoral votes can easily be tabulated and a majority or 270 achieved. Each state receives equal representation thus making the election as fair as possible.
Of course there is much more to all of that. I don't pretend to be an expert in these matters. I do read and try to understand the who, what and were of things however. There is no reason I shouldn't given the technology I have before me. I can just type in a query and receive the answers. Truth is I can search for the answer I would like to get as easily as getting an answer I don't like. It's up to me to figure that part out though, possibly the more difficult part of the task of learning. So I looked up all this stuff to make sure I had the facts right. That's the way the electoral college is supposed to work and one of the reasons why we have it. I did learn that it would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college. Even if every state made it mandatory that their electoral representatives voted in line with the popular vote the college is still required by the constitution. It is a safeguard against mob rule.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators
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