Cook Political: Trump was only 65,009 votes away from winning -- despite Biden's 7 million vote lead

[Hortensis]

55. Horrifying. Everyone who complains "get rid of the EC," though, is NOT serious

about addressing this problem before it destroys us. And this OP should make everyone serious.

Even the original supporters of the EC watched it fail in its intent and regretted not doing a better job. But going to the currently popular national popular vote would require constitutional amendment, and that's not going to happen within most of our lifetimes. (We average older here on DU.) Plus, when we did it, we'd have to do it very carefully and right because there's alligators in them waters.

A simple popular vote would create proliferation of potentially dozens of parties, many of them single-issue, which would a far less stable situation that would be used to splinter away votes and leave us with the same vulnerability to extremist takeover as now -- but worse. Also, inevitably, small parties often make devils' bargains with each other to defeat the candidates winning the popular vote -- and in so doing routinely betray those supporting them. The pursuit of power is extremely corrupting.

BUT, itm, there are big things that CAN be done legislatively to make our elections more democratic.

The EC itself can be changed. Just for an example of one proposal because it's all I remember: add more electors, two per state, to be allocated to whoever wins the popular vote. Etc.

And/or states can change how they allocate their electors, to be proportional to the popular vote, instead of winner takes all. Each state can do this individually -- wherever the voters insist.