What is the true purpose of the Electoral college?

Why is it so outrageous to let the popular vote be the deciding factor in who our president is?
Is this not just another form of keeping the power from the people?

Originally, it was to give states with lesser populations a supposedly more equal vote. It's long since outlived it's usefulness. Now it's more of a mind#, which can be used to confuse voters should any conflicts arise.

If it werent for the Electoral college we might not have such a wise and skillful man leading the nation in our time of need

But gore is a jerk too.

we would have been better off drawing a name out of a hat than either of those idiots.

The problem is that you have two have one of the two major parties backing (owning) you or you dont get elected till we get rid of BOTH parties things will never change

This might be a little hindsight 20/20, but the fate of the electoral college gave us dubya.

It still has a purpose. I don’t want them to change it does protect us even if it’s a double edged sword. Say California everyone wanted Adolph Hitler as their leader and also New York and Texas. They all went to the polls and voted that way. Everyone else in the country wanted to stay with a middle of the road president. Yet since everyone in the big states voted for Adolph Hitler we all have to have him. Also if they did away with it many states would never even see the candidates.

It does now serve to add weight to less populated states. Or to lessen the weight of highly metropolitan centers.

BUT, it really came into existence because of the fear that people in remote ares wouldn't have any idea who a candidate was. There was NO MASS MEDIA when the electorate college came into existence.

There is now. It should be changed from representative republic to a real democracy now (just like we give countries we invade). We do have TV and the Internet you know. I think we know who's running, and where they stand.

The EC system is an insult to modern Americans.

Thank You, finally someone puts some sanity into this political discussion.
The problem that I do have with EC is that they actually have a person for each EC vote that makes the final vote. Why can't they just go with the people's EC vote instead of putting the final decision into a select few's decision?

Some states have laws that the person serving as the voter for the college has to vote the way the voters voted. But some don’t. It is possible for a state to have been won by a certain person and the college voters vote for someone else. I think this has happened before but I don’t know when. I’ll google it.

Well no luck googlin' it all I get is the Bush vs Gore #. I wish I could remember it involved only one EC vote.

Tilden v Rutherford I believe. That's the only other time the popular vote was reversed anyway.

If EC really did what some suggest though, and make up for voter "error" then whoever was the delegate for the South Florida areas in 2000 should have voted Gore. The butterfly ballot led Gore votes to Buchanon in the thousands. Unless there was a bizarre "Jews for Buchannon" group in Ft. Lauderdale, it was a mistake.

"Electoral College"
Link:
www.maitreg.com...

Excerpts:
"Shouldn't a presidential election be determined by a popular vote in a democracy?"

Yes. But we don't live in a democracy. We live in a federation/republic.


"What would happen if we abolished the Electoral College?"

This is basically common sense. What would happen when you decrease the power of government representation for a group of states? What if we abolished the U.S. Senate? This is exactly the same thing. Abolishing the Electoral College or Senate would reduce the government representation of the smallest states to make it illogical to remain in the Union. This has happened before, in 1860. I shouldn't need to remind you of the 620,000 deaths over the next five years after that."


Possible solution:
"Fixing the Electoral College"
Link:
www.jeffryfisher.net...

Excerpts:
"The original purpose of the electoral college was to insulate the office of the president from a populace that could be too easily swayed by personality and demagoguery. We are arrogant if we imagine our modern society to have risen above our predecessors in this respect. We can see today that voters are too often ignorant and too often swayed by emotional and other fallacious appeals.

Adding a buffer layer between voters and the presidency forces us to choose electors who can be expected to know or learn more than the average apathetic voter about each presidential candidate. Unfortunately, states have passed laws to frustrate that purpose, making the electoral college seem worthless and ready for the junk heap of history......"


Another interesting article:
"Has the Electoral College Flunked Out?"
Link:
www.pbs.org...





regards
seekerof

I used the butterfly ballot for that election and I figured it out. If someone couldn't figure out the "butterfly ballot" then I don't want them voting anyway. Stupid people shouldn't vote.

But they do vote. And those 'stupid' votes took one away from Gore each, effectively voting for Bush.

But I do agree with you on one thing, stupid people put Bush in the White House.

WOW! That's one of the best spins I've ever seen. The point is that if those stupid people had their way, Gore would be president. Correct? I mean come on, how stupid are you if you can't figure out a simple ballot?

If they supposedly voted for Buchanan due to their stupidity, then how does that equate to a vote for Bush?
Were you one of those people confused by the ballot RANT?

Just bustin your balls a little, don't take it too seriously.

That is such an ignorant blanket statement! There were just as many intellegent people that voted for Bush as there were stupid! You could say the same for Gore, Clinton, Bush Sr, Reagan, etc.. Just because you don't like Bush is no reason to say stupid people put him in the White House.

I assume you speak for yourself only, not as a voice of the populace!

To all people, who know NOTHING about The United States of America:

This nation was founded on the basis of a republic; a government for the people, elected by the people of their state, to represent the people in their sovereign state, in the national government. This was done to control the size, and power of the national government.

The United States of America is a unity of several free, sovereign, independent states. You do not live in the "corporate" United States.
Unless, you live in Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, or any other United States' States.

Everyone else, (in the u.s.A.) live in the states. Which are not "below", not a "lesser", but equal, if not stronger. It is these states that together formed the United States.

A large part of these states voice in the United States government was taken away by the 17th amendment.



To steal the voice they have in the Electoral College will totally destroy any remaining voice, and they(the states) will all be under the rule of the United States government, the people thereof.

To abolish the Electoral College, would destroy The United States of America (u.s.A) and replace it with a demonic democracy and all would be under the control of the United States (U.S.)

Any comment or questions on this, please, ask/comment away.

Edit: corrected amendment number. see bold

[Edited on 12-28-2003 by BeingWatchedByThem]

hows that so? dont look that way to me, i'd say it does the opposite..... "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Oops. thanks, it the 17th amendment. a little mis-type.

It's corrected now.

No worries. I was just busting yours when I said it. Yes, those people were less than all there. Though the consensus is they were quite old Jewish retirees, not necessarily stupid. But you called them stupid for not voting Gore when they meant to, and I just pointed out those votes helped Bush. I mean they really did.

Florida was very close!

The problem is, the people are supposed to be in charge of who their representatives are. With this system, they're not. I strongly believe that we have a much better chance of Adolf being elected with EC, than with a straight popular vote. We should actually revamp the electoral system. It should be a YES/NO vote. That way, no corrupt bastards could ever be forced upon our nation. We're all sick and tired of trying to choose the least stupid of the two or three candidates.



I agree 120%. It's worse than trying to tell me I don't have the common sense to know when I don't have to make a full complete stop at a god damn stop sign.

The election itself is a double edged sword. Why do we need to add another one to the process?

[Edited on 12-28-2003 by Satyr]