LDS Freedom Forum

I have been giving some thought to the Electoral College of late seeing how it has been in the news and I have some idea to try out on you for improving it without resorting to changing the constitution.

First a review. The Electoral College is made up of electors, selected by the political parties. Each state get one elector for each congressional see and two electors one for each senate seat. So, with the exception of territories which have no senator every state get's at a minimum 3 electors. Most state apportion the electors in a winner take all fashion. So if a candidate wine the popular vote in a given state they also win all the electors from that state. Two states, Maine and Nebraska, apportion their electors based on who winces the congressional district and then the senatorial electors are awarded by who wins the state as a whole.

OK so with that set out here is what I am proposing.

1. You would not vote for a person to be president, you would instead vote for the electors directly, which is what your really doing anyway. So a ballot would look something like this:

John Smith(R) elector representing Donald Trump
Jack Jones (D) elector representing Hilary Clinton
and so on

2. Everyone would vote for three electors, one from your congressional district and two senatorial electors. You could if you wish split your votes across parties.

This system would eliminate the practice of winner take all states which has the effect of disenfranchising votes in states like California which is dominated by a single party. Why should Republican voters in say Orange County not have any say in any of California's electors the same is true for Democratic voters in so called "red" states.

This system would also mean that presidential candidates could not focus on just a few state but would be forced to mount an effort in every congressional district in the county.

This system would expose to public view just who the electors are as they are currently rather anonymous for the most part which doesn't seem right.

It would make the vote in the Electoral College be much more reflective of the popular vote over all while still maintaining the protections for the smaller states that the Electoral College was designed to do. None of these changes would involve amending the constitution.

So what do you think.

It would make the vote in the Electoral College be much more reflective of the popular vote over all

It's not supposed to reflect the popular vote. That is contrary to our republican form of government. The electors were supposed to be wise and good people who made good choices. (unfortunately it hasn't been that way for a long time)

I like how the electoral college was originally supposed to operate. I learned a lot about it from Gary & Carolyn Alder:

The Original Electoral College Design

A Far Superior Method—the Original Electoral College

The electoral college is necessary. Otherwise the politicians could just say that no one in New York, California, or Texas has to pay taxes and everyone else has to pay twice as much and they could win every election.

MARCH 20, 2019
Here's why 2020 Dems want to abolish Electoral College, lower voting age, pack Supreme Court - 'The problem is YOU, not the system'

On Wednesday's episode of "The White House Brief," Jon Miller called out the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who are trying to rig the voting system in their favor by any means necessary, including abolishing the Electoral College, lowering the voting age, and allowing illegal immigrants aliens to vote.

"They [Democrats] have no way of winning except for offering these really bizarre ideas," said Jon. "Their ideas are not aimed at changing the country for the better ... but rather rigging our institutions to tilt the scales in their favor because they know they cannot win in the arena of ideas."
"They know they cannot actually win on the Green New Deal and taking away your cars and planes and raising your taxes," he added. "So, instead, they propose thing like lowering the voting age, stacking the Supreme Court, [and] breaking down our borders so that they can import caravans of illegal votes."

Full article, video, and links to other pertinent articles here -
https://www.theblaze.com/jon-miller/202 ... 270%20days

For all the people who fell asleep in civics class and want to get rid of the Electoral College...

1: There are 3,141 counties in the United States. Trump won 2,626 of them. Clinton won 487.

2: There are 62 counties in New York State. Trump won 46 of them. Clinton won 16.

3: Clinton won the popular vote by approx. 1.5 million votes.

4: In the 5 counties that encompass NYC, (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond & Queens) Clinton received well over 2 million more votes than Trump. (Clinton only won 4 of these counties; Trump won Richmond) Therefore these 5 counties alone, more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country.

5: These 5 counties comprise 319 square miles. The United States is comprised of 3,797,000 square miles.

6: When you have a country that encompasses almost 4 million square miles of territory, it would be ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.

Large, densely populated Democrat cities (NYC, Chicago, LA, etc) don’t and shouldn’t speak for the rest of the country.

And this children, is WHY you have a Electoral College. It's a safety net so that EVERYONE'S vote counts.

~ Author unknown, but very wise.