{"id":5755,"date":"2016-12-21T23:56:10","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T05:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5755"},"modified":"2016-12-22T09:28:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T15:28:10","slug":"abandon-electoral-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html","title":{"rendered":"Should we abandon the Electoral College?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"I<\/p>\n

So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article doesn\u2019t call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the National Popular Vote Compact, an agreement that each signing state will direct its electors to vote for the winner of the national popular vote. \u00a0This seems like a clever solution, until you consider that states would be bound to vote for a candidate that perhaps carried only a small portion of the votes in their own state \u2014 which seems to me, makes it rather likely that one or more states will abandon the agreement.<\/p>\n

Now, I had previously offered a replacement system<\/a>, though it didn\u2019t generate an awful lot of excitement.<\/p>\n

Mathematically, the Electoral College system advantages the smallest states, insofar as their residents have a disproportionate level of influence by the fact that each state always gets two \u201cextra\u201d electors, beyond those assigned them in proportion to the state\u2019s population, because each state has two senators. \u00a0It also advantages voters in states with large non-voting populations<\/a>, which may have been slaves in 1789 but is now a matter of non-citizens and minors. \u00a0(Yes, I know there are claims that this was the entire purpose of the Electoral College; quite honestly, it strikes me as more of a by-product but I haven\u2019t dug into source documents \u2013 any more than those making this claim have, either.) \u00a0But in terms of the actual impact of the Electoral College, and the winner-take-all system applied nearly everywhere, the states which have a genuine level of greater influence are the battlegrounds \u2014 that is, states which are more evenly divided between the two parties are in a position where each vote is meaningful. \u00a0In states which favor one party over the other by a substantial margin, each individual vote is \u201cworth\u201d less because votes beyond that needed to give\u00a0the winning candidate the majority (or is it plurality? \u00a0I can never remember) don\u2019t have any extra value.<\/p>\n

Hence, everyone always says that Wyoming and Alaska and other small states would prevent a constitutional amendment eliminating the Electoral College in favor of a pure popular vote system. \u00a0But I would imagine that traditional \u201cBattleground\u201d states would object just as much.<\/p>\n

Does this characteristic of the Electoral College offer a benefit? \u00a0In a way, it disadvantages states which are too politically homogeneous, and advantages\u00a0voters in politically divided states. \u00a0Perhaps that\u2019s a good thing, insofar as the latter voters might be more likely to have really wrestled with their choice, rather than voting the same way as every last one of their neighbors. \u00a0But, of course, that goes against the general principle of \u201cone man, one vote\u201d and the idea that everyone\u2019s vote should count the same, rather than some people being privileged to have more \u201cvaluable\u201d votes.<\/p>\n

But consider the alternative that\u2019s being proposed: \u00a0a simple \u201cpopular vote wins\u201d system.<\/p>\n

And note that\u00a0such a system is a rarity elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan \u2013 any country which has a Prime Minister doesn\u2019t have a direct election for the position; instead, the individual is the head of the majority party, or selected by the majority of parliament. \u00a0The same is true for Germany\u2019s Chancellor. \u00a0The French system<\/a> is a bit funky \u2013 a directly-elected President (with a run-off to ensure that the winner always has more than 50% of the vote), who appoints a Prime Minister, who must, in turn, be acceptable to the majority of the National Assembly, even if it\u2019s a different party that holds the majority.<\/p>\n

To the south, Mexico<\/a> does have a presidential system with a direct election. \u00a0But I\u2019m not so sure they\u2019re a model to follow (in addition to one-party rule and ongoing election fraud): \u00a0their current president,\u00a0Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, won with only 38% of the vote. \u00a0The winner-take-all by state system leaves a lot to be desired, but I don\u2019t know that Americans would be happy with such a scenario in the U.S., where, even in 1992, when Ross Perot mounted a serious third-party challenge, Bill Clinton got 43% of the vote.<\/p>\n

So the Electoral College system may just be the most reasonable approach we\u2019ve got. \u00a0And, after all, the bigger issue is the flaws in the primary system: \u00a0the winner-take-all primaries in various states that gave Trump wins with a third of the vote, and the superdelegate system that gave Clinton such a head start that only Sanders was willing to challenge her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0own photograph<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn\u2019t call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the National Popular Vote Compact, an agreement that each signing state will direct its electors to vote for the winner of the national popular vote. \u00a0This seems like a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":4110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[496],"class_list":["post-5755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-electoral-college"],"yoast_head":"\nShould we abandon the Electoral College?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should we abandon the Electoral College?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-22T05:56:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-22T15:28:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/03\/I-voted.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"756\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html\",\"name\":\"Should we abandon the Electoral College?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-22T05:56:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-22T15:28:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should we abandon the Electoral College?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should we abandon the Electoral College?","description":"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should we abandon the Electoral College?","og_description":"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2016-12-22T05:56:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-22T15:28:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":756,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/03\/I-voted.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html","name":"Should we abandon the Electoral College?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-22T05:56:10+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-22T15:28:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"So says the New York Times in its editorial earlier this week. The article doesn't call for a constitutional amendment, but for more states to approve the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/abandon-electoral-college.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should we abandon the Electoral College?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}