http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50133559n&tag=showDoorFlexGridLeft;flexGridModule
(From CBS News Sunday Morning)
Mo Rocca, host of the film "Electoral Dysfunction" airing on PBS, helps us understand just
what the Electoral College is, how it affects our choosing the president, and
introduces us to one lawmaker's plan to abolish it.
Because the Electoral College is still the big scoreboard in play, with two weeks before the election, Nate Silver's political calculus has Obama at 290.8 and Romney at 247.2 at 538 blog.
Does Mo Rocca's elementary example point out the need to abolish the Electoral College once and for all?
What if 269-269 tie?
17 comments:
I do think that the electoral college is a bit of a bizarre concept to most people. Personally, I don't think it's fair that a majority of citizens can say that they want a certain person to lead their country, but somebody else wins instead (i.e. Bush/Gore). Additionally, as far as historical purposes go, I think it can be a bit misleading. For example, an election could be 52/48 in the popular vote, but 75/25 in the electoral vote, and people in the future could misinterpret those numbers as the race being much more of a landslide than it was. I think that our distaste for the electoral college dates back to disapproving of virtual representation, and I just don't see the point of keeping the system in place.
I think what frustrates me the most is relating to the MSNBC video, if the electoral college ties, then the decision goes to Congress. The popular vote should decide who wins in a close race; the electoral college isnt a big deal when there is a clear winner and looser, but its too much of a pain and somewhat unfair if we had to decide a president with Congress, especially because Congress already has a 9 percent approval rate..........
No taxation without representation. Perhaps more appropriate would be no election without representation. I wholeheartedly agree with Taylor. The electoral college is sort of a virtual representation of the popular vote, a conveinent scape goat for D.C. politics to maintain control. I just really don't understand why we even have something that undermines the popular vote, especially not something that could eventually turn the decision over to congress. Which would be an absolute bloodbath in today's partisan government.
Ya this whole thing is pretty crazy. Although all of these videos concentrated on why the electoral college was bad but why was it put in in the first place? Also, if people realized that congress could end up deciding the president maybe people would be more careful of who they put into congress...
I think that this concept is still in modern society because the majority of people don't know what it is. Many think that their vote counted, but that's not the case. I completely agree with Taylor, the citizens have the right to elect the leader that they want. This system seems pretty legit on paper, but in reality, it's flawed. We don't need this kind of a system anymore, not with our society moving forward.
I think this will become a significant issue after this election since there actually is a chance of Obama losing the popular vote or there being a tie. As Mo Rocca's video showed, many people don't really understand the full extent of the electoral college role and this could get really ugly if one of those scenarios was to happen.
I totally agree with what other people have said regarding the flaws of the electoral college during a close race (and especially when the result of a tie would be for a Congressional decision). Outside of that however, what seems incredibly important to me is the way in which the electoral college divides the "importance" of states (in terms of swing states) and how much campaigning should be done in those states. I think the video said that 96% of campaigning has occurred in swing states exclusively (especially Ohio, with 18 votes), and I think the whole process is extremely dismissive of other states or individual Americans. Not only is their individual vote being devalued when the electoral college is being chosen over the majority vote, but they're being largely excluded from the entire campaigning/democratic process.
The thing that bothers me most about the Electoral College is the fact that it makes certain people's votes weigh more in an election than other's. A vote in Ohio for a Democrat counts much more than a vote in California for a Democrat. Similarly a vote in Ohio for a Republican counts much more than a vote in Texas for a Republican. In this day and age where citizens have the resources to go find out who candidates are (even though news sources can be/are biased) there should really be nothing preventing a popular vote for president. However, until another scenario like the Gore/Bush presidential race in 2000 comes up, I don't think there will be any action to change the system.
I personally believe that the electoral college shouldn't have a say in who is our next President. By having a popular vote, where all the citizens chose who they would like as a leader and then having the electoral college have such a large say in who IS the leader, it makes a popular vote completely unnecessary, and results in the people having no say in their lives. Especially since, we'll probably have a close vote this election, the idea that Congress would get to decide on our President is not only unfair but frightening.
Personally I think the whole idea of the electoral college is kind of stupid. What's the point of letting citizens vote if their votes don't really matter because the electoral college decides who wins? Get rid of the electoral college and actually let their votes matter for something
It seems redundant to have both the popular vote and the electoral college- with alot of government money and time put into the election process when the popular vote has little meaning anyway. I think that the popular vote should have more power in the election process, because then not only would people feel more inolved and nvested in their government, but the majority of everyday people who are most heavily impacted by new laws etc. are deciding who rules their country.
This pretty much sums up my opinion of the electoral college:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGlbJQP2tIQ
I definitely think that the electoral college doesn't make sense. What's the point of even having general popular elections if it really doesn't matter as much ultimately, and/or when some votes are more important than others? It kind of defeats the purpose. As was stated in the video, almost all nations with democracies/representative government have a direct popular vote that determines the next president. The electoral college seems pointless in the context of
having the people choose and in my opinion, should go - especially because most people want it abolished anyway, and even the founding fathers were wary about it.
The electoral college is just overall not a good idea. Although it provides some sort of medium, it completely removes the entire concept of voting. If others make the decision for us, what's the point of voting?
PARKER N
After reading through the article and skimming some of my classmates post, it is pretty clear that the majority is AGAINST the electoral college; myself included. I feel like it is something that not many people know about, and is kind of kept "under wraps" as opposed to other government functions. And I like what Cameron said about how if people realized that our oh so loved and adored congress could potentially end up deciding, we might care just a little more.
Looking at the reasons why the Electoral College was put into place I still can’t see why presidential candidates don’t try to debunk its validity in the elections. But I will agree that it tends to control where the candidate and the incumbent will visit during the remainder of the race.
If a national popular vote was created I feel like it would eliminate the disproportions found in each state. (because of the population issue)But at the same time I feel that it would probably cause even more money to be spent on campaigning because 3rd Parties would also become more involved in convincing the public to vote for them.
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