I think it should be scrapped. A voter in Idaho is not numerically worth more than a voter in California. Having just the popular vote would more accurately reflect America's choice for president.
snarky you misunderstood. I think all votes should count, including those who vote for McCain in California.
bedfordczarina
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It's not the electoral college that should be scrapped, it's the way our federal government is run. We are supposed to be a Republic. Except for a few key issues (interstate trade, basic human rights, military), each state is supposed to be running itself.
If we were running our country as the framers intended, then the electoral college would be serving it's purpose. It wasn't supposed to be one person, one vote. It was supposed to be one state, one vote, with the understanding that since some states had a bigger population and more resources, their state's vote would weigh a bit more. It wouldn't be fair if a few small states would have a big say in how a larger, richer state's resources should be used.
Having said that, since we haven't run our country like a Republic for a long time, the system of electoral college doesn't seem fair.
nileslad
No. Without it, you would end up with a government of the ten largest cities, by the ten largest cities, for the ten largest cities. The Founding Fathers purposely intended it not to be a pure democracy. Critics of the Electoral College could also claim the Senate isn't democratic. Two senators per state, no matter how big or small your state is. One California Senator represents about 18 million people. One Wyoming Senator's about 250,000. But their votes count the same.
Ralph T
The electoral college originally was made up of men who were knowledgeable of the issues at the time and the candidates.
They were free to vote for who they thought would be best for president,even if it were against the popular vote.
They have done it at least once,but usually have followed the popular vote.
There has been talk about abolishing the college for years.
However,it may be harder to do since there already reports of voter fraud already in the news.
Anonymous
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Anonymous
I completely agree with you. In a real democracy whoever gets the most votes wins, period. The system had to change after the 2000 elections, but of course Bush was not going to change it because he "won" the elections with fewer votes than Al Gore. I hope Obama changes this.