
The Electoral College Is Hated by Many. So Why Does It Endure? - blondie9x
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/the-electoral-college-is-hated-by-many-so-why-does-it-endure.html
======
Nadya
In defense of the Electoral College [0].

 _> She was unequivocal. “I believe strongly that in a democracy, we should
respect the will of the people,” Hillary Clinton said, “and to me that means
it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular
election of our president.”_

The electoral college is _by design_ meant to avoid this tyranny of the
majority of a pure democratic system selected by popular votes.

 _> “If we really subscribe to the notion that ‘majority rules,’ then why do
we deny the majority their chosen candidate?” said Jennifer M. Granholm, a
former governor of Michigan._

But we don't subscribe to the notion that 'majority rules'. We are a Republic
not a Democracy.

[0] [http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/11/the-
elector...](http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/11/the-electoral-
college-enlightened-democracy)

~~~
DefaultUserHN
Exactly. The Electoral College is there to protect the smaller states, to make
sure that they also have a say in the elections.

For example, under a Popular Votes system, if one state has more than 51% of
the population, it will decide the whole election, and ALL the other states
won't even get a say (because they all only add up to 49% or less), which is
unfair to these smaller states.

------
sweezyjeezy
One problematic thing about looking at the popular vote is that voter turnout
is lower in non-swing states : here's a graph I just threw together for the
results vs voter turnout -
[http://imgur.com/a/i42cY](http://imgur.com/a/i42cY) . There is a clear trend
that the swing states had higher turnout.

This makes it basically impossible to tell what the real overall feeling of
the country was - you don't know how many people choose not to vote because
they think their vote counts for less.

~~~
blondie9x
You could argue that turnout would be lower though because voters in non swing
states feel their voice doesn't matter. Look at alternative case.

~~~
blondie9x
You could also say that because there was no compaigning in there state they
feel less involved in election. When you get down to it no matter what the
current electoral college system is isolating and is not representative of
true democracy.

~~~
DefaultUserHN
>...current electoral college system is... not representative of true
democracy.

True. But America is not a Democracy. It is a Republic.

There is a reason why The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College
system. Under a Popular Votes system, if one state has more than 51% of the
population, it will decide the whole election, and ALL the other states won't
even get a say (because they all only add up to 49% or less), which is unfair
to these smaller states.

This is why the Electoral College was created. It's there protect the smaller
states, to make sure that they also have a say in the election.

~~~
blondie9x
That assumes that all 51% vote the same way. Obviously that would never occur.
Especially if you have more than two candidates.

------
Spooky23
Everyone complains but many problems are solved by having 50 state elections
vs one big one.

All of the problems like voter suppression, fraud and pandering get amplified
by a straight popular vote. It's good for the country that the racist conduct
of elections in places like Alabama and the widespread fraud in places like
souther Texas and Chicago are firewalled behind the electoral college.

National popular elections also require harmonized rules, which are subject to
the whims of the Congress. You're better off letting States conduct the
elections.

------
jessaustin
It's funny that this tiny little insignificant pimple on the giant hairy
quivering ass of State, is the thing that _really_ bothers everybody (on the
losing side), because 0.1% of the votes "didn't count". The USA government
itself is detrimental to humanity. The nation ought to broken into smaller
pieces so its leaders will have less power to ruin the world. Good news! On
current trends, and because of far more consequential inherent problems than
the electoral college, the USA government will certainly collapse before hell
freezes over and some special constitutional amendment is passed to make 48%
of the electorate feel better once every couple of decades.

~~~
relics443
Taking a wild guess here, but I think most governments will collapse before
hell freezes over.

~~~
jessaustin
They'll be installing ski lifts and hockey rinks in hell before a
constitutional amendment passes to fix a "problem" that has:

1\. occurred four times in history

2\. the effect of increasing the influence of less populous states, which
states also have an outsize influence on whether amendments are approved.

