Want better election security? ABOLISH THE EC!!!!

[eniwetok]

Our idiotic EC makes presidential elections easier to game than the popular vote because besides the fact that some voters have up to a 4x bigger vote than others, it doesn't matter whether there's 10% voter turnout or 100% in a state... because a state's EC votes are the same.

As we saw in 2016 all it takes is selective voter suppression... and widespread foreign interference and disinformation campaigns in some of the swing states to make a big difference.

Want better election security? ABOLISH THE EC!!!!

[Squinch]

1. OK. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. So what else you got?

[eniwetok]

4. Just another argument.

But since you bring it up... when are Dems going to get off their asses and make the argument that we need to reform our ridiculous amendment formula. Right now states with just 4% of the US population can thwart any reform... yet states with 40% can ratify one.

Just as the EC creates swing states that are the biggest targets for voter manipulation, so does the amendment formula.

Just as we need to abolish the EC because it makes a mockery of the concept of self-government... so do other aspects of our system... the Senate and the amendment process.

[unblock]

2. well, not really.

election security is a different concept from one-person-one-vote.

the electoral college is clearly flawed for a number of reasons many on du have already noted. but in terms of electoral security, it's actually not usually that bad, because it concentrates the influential voting in "swing" states, which (at least in theory) typically are rather evenly split between democrats and republicans.

so (again, in theory), it's harder for either party to get away with cheating because there are a lot of the other party around to monitor.

now, in practice, this obviously hasn't been the case in some states recently, as republicans have managed to gain tight control over some swing states.


but if the electoral college is abolished and we go to a true one-person-one-vote system across the country, i guarantee you the vote counts in deep red states like wyoming will be heavily doctored. it will be much harder to fight that because the fraud will be scattered in every dark corner of the country, and in places where there aren't many democrats to catch the cheating.

[eniwetok]

3. sure...

But what's the goal here... to protect the integrity of a system that distorts the vote? Or to get rid of the distortions the EC creates? And let's not forget that the EC gives more punch to the GOP voter suppression efforts in key states.

Given election security isn't a big issue any more than illegal voting... the EC has the greatest impact on destroying the concept of self-government.

[unblock]

5. i'm more than happy to scrap the electoral college

other countries have managed democracies with nothing like this mess, and it's ridiculous to call ourselves a democracy when the second place vote-getter can not only win, but can preside with active contempt for the majority that voted against them.

just pointing out that one few downsides of scrapping the electoral college is that it would disperse republican fraud to precincts where they could more readily get away with it. and being republicans, we know they will.

so if we ever manage to get rid of the electoral college, we better have a plan for addressing the inevitable republican shenanigans.