Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:01 PM

Supreme Court to decide the future of the Electoral College

Many Americans are surprised to learn that in U.S. presidential elections, the members of the Electoral College do not necessarily have to pick the candidate the voters in their state favored.

Or do they?

This month the Supreme Court will rule on the independent powers of electors, which will determine the meaning of the Electoral College in contemporary American politics.

An American invention

The constitutional system of presidential selection is a set of uneasy compromises worked out at the very end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The framers could not decide whether the choice of a president should be made by Congress or the states.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-to-decide-the-future-of-the-electoral-college-138754

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11 replies	Author	Time	Post
Supreme Court to decide the future of the Electoral College (Original post)	TexasTowelie	Jun 2020	OP
One Man One Vote	montanacowboy	Jun 2020	#1
Hear, hear!	BigmanPigman	Jun 2020	#3
Actually the Electoral College was designed to be independent.	Dan	Jun 2020	#2
The irony there is Donnie's brand of bigotry would have been regarded as mundane back then.	unblock	Jun 2020	#4
It was not designed to offer a check on bigotry,	Dan	Jun 2020	#5
Isn't it ironic then that both times in our lifetime when the Electoral College	thucythucy	Jun 2020	#6
I loved what you just said....so true	Dan	Jun 2020	#7
Hear hear ! nt	eppur_se_muova	Jun 2020	#9
With the Electoral College, most people's votes simply dont count.	PoindexterOglethorpe	Jun 2020	#8
Message auto-removed	Name removed	Jul 2020	#10
Why the electoral college	wolfie54	Aug 2020	#11

Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:05 PM

montanacowboy (4,963 posts)

1. One Man One Vote

Time to get rid of this ridiculous time warped way to get a President

There will then NEVER be another Republican President

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Response to montanacowboy (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:30 PM

BigmanPigman (40,545 posts)

3. Hear, hear!

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Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:15 PM

Dan (2,132 posts)

2. Actually the Electoral College was designed to be independent.

It was designed to ensure that we would not have a Donald Trump - but I believe that both parties do not want that independence.

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Response to Dan (Reply #2)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:42 PM

unblock (48,458 posts)

4. The irony there is Donnie's brand of bigotry would have been regarded as mundane back then.

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Response to unblock (Reply #4)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:44 PM

Dan (2,132 posts)

5. It was not designed to offer a check on bigotry,

it was designed as a check on the ignorance and stupidity of the common man - and his ability to be manipulated.

So yes, I agree with your comment (smile).

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Response to Dan (Reply #5)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 07:49 PM

thucythucy (5,484 posts)

6. Isn't it ironic then that both times in our lifetime when the Electoral College

over ruled the voters, it picked candidates (Bush II and Trump) who personified "ignorance and stupidity"?

Turns out we would have been far better off as a nation in both those elections had the will of "the common man (and woman)" been respected.

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Response to thucythucy (Reply #6)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 08:26 PM

Dan (2,132 posts)

7. I loved what you just said....so true

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Response to thucythucy (Reply #6)

Fri Jun 26, 2020, 08:54 AM

eppur_se_muova (32,432 posts)

9. Hear hear ! nt

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Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 11:17 PM

PoindexterOglethorpe (17,799 posts)

8. With the Electoral College, most people's votes simply dont count.

Especially if you are voting for the candidate who can't possibly win your state. Heck, even if your preferred candidate is going to win your state by a landslide, your one vote still hardly matters, since it's the number of Electoral College votes your state has that count.

Plus, if we went to electing by the popular vote, candidates would have to pay attention to every single state, not just concentrate on the ones that are a bit iffy.

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Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

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Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Sun Aug 23, 2020, 06:55 PM

wolfie54 (5 posts)

11. Why the electoral college

Hi There

I am sure there are some out there that will disagree with me, the but Electoral College was put into the Constitution because the founding fathers did not believe that the general public could make such important decisions as electing a president without help.

The original electors were all rich land owning "squires". This may sound odd but it was the mind set of the times and so from their perspective it was not an unusual thing to do. And most of these people were in Congress.

It has for many years been bastardized to the point of being a dinosaur and it is passed time for it to be removed from the Constitution so that the popular vote is the only result that matters.

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