[djacobox372]

I think most americans would agree that it would be better if the popular vote of the nation decided the president and not the electoral college system.

However, changing this is tough. The electoral college is in the constitution; making it near impossible to overturn--especially when you consider that small states that are overrepresented by the electoral college will never agree.

But there is an alternative approach that doesn't require a federal change or agreement between all the states. Each state can individually amend their constitution so that all of their electoral votes go to the winner of the national popular vote.

Only a handful of battleground states would have to make this change for popular vote to gain enough power to be the ultimate decider in ANY presidential election. In fact, California tried to pass such a law a while back, but it was vetoed by Arnold.

[Pecorella]

Originally Posted by djacobox372

I think most americans would agree that it would be better if the popular vote of the nation decided the president and not the electoral college system.

Really? Somehow I doubt that Alaska, North/South Dakota, or any of the other smaller population states would agree.

[CardinalLaw]

Small states still would never agree to this, as it places all the power in the hands of the larger states, which is what the electoral college was designed to prevent (if I am reading it right, and I know this is already a proposed bill).
I personally favor a proportional vote, where if say, Illinois has 20 Electoral votes, and a candidate gets 60% of the vote, he would get 12 Electoral college votes. This system would circumvent may of the problems with the electoral college.

[magicman531]

Djac, what inspired this thread!??!!?


My opinion on it, they could do away with the electoral college. And just have each state's popular vote choose whom they wanted.