Time for tyranny of the masses

By Libby

I've heard a lot of arguments, pro and con, for abolishing the Electoral College and in the end, I'm convinced the time has come to do away with this antiquated methodology. The world is a very different place from the days when that institution was created and there's no logical reason left to prevent Americans from choosing their own leader directly.

Additionally, as we've seen in this protracted primary, when people believe their votes count for something, they participate in the process so it would be beneficial to our form of democracy to modernize the system. It also strikes me as a good way to prevent election stealing. When every vote truly counts, then it broadens the base enough that it's less possible to tip the balance with voting machine manipulation in a few key states.

Thankfully, this thinking has now manifested on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College on Friday, less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from Florida at their national convention.

“It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president,” Nelson said in a release announcing the amendment.

I also like the other provisions attached to this bill.

...In addition to the Electoral College amendment, the bill would establish rotating primaries for presidential nominations, expand voting options and methods and try to improve voter registration and verification. [...]

The second part of the initiative would establish rotating, interregional primaries between March and June during a presidential election year as an alternative to the current primary and caucus system. The third portion would permit early presidential voting nationwide, require voting machines to produce a verifiable paper record, and encourage voting by mail, among other things.

Whatever concerns there are about high population states overriding the interests of smaller ones seem to me to be moot, since that's what happens now. In any event I'm sure some kind of safeguards can be built into a new system and the bill overall addresses a lot of my concerns about the upcoming election and sets us up well for the future. I'd love to see this at least debated vigorously, if not passed, by November.

Comments

[pwapvt]

Excellent Idea! and I like the timing. Now is about the right time to begin the general election. Not March. I think the protracted primary has been a good thing.

[pwapvt]

something I've thought of: it takes the famous electoral vote math out of the primaries. Florida, Ohio PA, the ones you need mathematically to get to however many you need. HRC's downfall I'm afraid.

[WGY]

See: www.nationalpopularvote.com
As soon as enough state legislatures join Maryland in passing the National Popular Vote Bill, the electoral college system will be eliminated without the necessity of passing a constitutional amendment, an extremely long and difficult process.

[Libby]

Hey PW. I like it a lot as well.

WGY, thanks for the link and reminding of that avenue. I'd forgotten about that movement.