Remove The Electoral College Voting!
Public Comments (1,557)
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Nov 13th, 2016Marlene G. from Hayesville, OH writes:
Term limits are no longer needed .. time has come to end it -
Nov 13th, 2016Joseph D. from Palm Springs, CA signed.
Nov 13th, 2016jacob b. from Washington, IL signed.
Nov 13th, 2016Annette R. from Seattle, WA signed.
Nov 13th, 2016Noah G. from Ames, IA signed.
Nov 13th, 2016Delaney K. from Ames, IA signed.
Nov 12th, 2016Clint O. from Columbus, OH writes:
If our (the people) vote is meant to be counted, then have each vote count toward a popular vote and not the electoral college system where popular vote may not coinside with electoral vote for a presidential candidate to become president of, by, and for the people,REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Someone from Vineland, NJ writes:
People should choose for who ever have more votesREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Someone from Gridley, CA signed.
Nov 12th, 2016Claudia P. from San Francisco, CA writes:
The Electoral College was a compromise made in 1804 between having Congress elect the president and vice president or official state electors. In either situation the American people have never directly voted for the President or Vice-President of the United States. Instead appointed electors gather in their respective state capitols and vote for these two executive offices. Their votes are tallied and the candidates who receives the majority of the electors' votes are subsequently awarded all of their state's electoral votes?in a winner-take-all system that essentially changes votes from one candidate to the other regardless of whom the elector chose on their voting ballot. How is this not voter tampering even in the Electoral College when the winner-take-all system is not even mandated by the Constitution? Weeks later, the accumulated votes from all of the states and Washington, DC are certified in 51 letters and sent to our nation's capitol where the President of the Senate, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, opens all the certificates, the electors' votes are physically counted and the President and Vice-President are elected by a simple majority of 270 votes made by the 538 individuals the comprise the Electoral College. Our democratic mantra of "one person, one vote" is rendered null and void by the US Electoral College. Because each state's electors number the same as their state's members in Congress and the Senate one elector's vote will represent many thousands of people. For example, the population of California is 37,253,956 (US Census, 2010) and the state is allotted 55 electoral voting members, which is the same as the number of congressmen and senators in that state. Therefore, each electors' single vote represents 677, 345 individuals in California voters and non-voters (37,253,956 /55)! This is a far cry from a "one person, one vote" democracy that the United States so proudly proclaims. Additionally, the winner-take-all voting system, as practiced in most states, is anything but fair to the citizens who voted for the non-majority candidate in the general election. These voters will essentially have their votes nullified, changed, and awarded to the opposing candidate. How is this system not voter tampering? Is it because the citizens of the United States were never given the right to vote for the President or Vice-President by the US Constitution in the first place? The framers of the Constitution believed that a general election for the executive office was too chaotic and prone to error. And perhaps this was true in the centuries before the telegraph, telephone, television, the internet, and trains when voters traveled by horse and buggy to their polling stations. It is also suggested that the founding fathers believed that only white educated male landowners had the intellectual wherewithal to elect the President and Vice-President of the United States and not the common man who worked the farm. Indeed the majority of Americans mistakenly believe that they are actually directly voting for their Presidential choice when they go to the polls (Electoral College (2010), History.com/topics/electoral-college). Especially when they can see the real-time tally of the popular vote on display in the media on election night. On the contrary, the national popular vote is not the basis for electing the president or vice president. In truth, someone else in the Electoral College will actually be casting their own vote for your president and vice president weeks after the general election. Isn't that deceptive voting practices? But again we Americans do not have a constitutional right to vote for our own president and vice president so apparently no law is actually broken? The current Electoral College system is an archaic threat to our democracy because the system disenfranchises many voters and may result in the candidate winning the popular vote but losing the presidency. Cases in point, Hillary Clinton (2016) against Trump, Al Gore (2000) against Bush, Grover Cleveland (1888) against Harrison, and Samuel Tilden (1876) against Hayes. All of these presidential hopefuls won the nation's popular vote but lost the White House because their electoral vote tally fell short ? and they were all Democrats running against Republicans. Apparently the Electoral College favors the Republican Party for the White House. Ideally the 12th Amendment that frames the process of the Electoral College should be abolished and finally grant the citizens of the United States the right to directly vote for their President and Vice-President just as they vote for their state governors. Needless to say, abolishing a Constitutional Amendment is nearly impossible as it would require either a two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures just to propose such an amendment, and then it would need to be approved by three-fourths of the states. However, the Constitution allows states to allocate their electors' votes as they choose ? the winner-take-all system is not in the Constitution. Indeed, elements of the 12th Amendment have been circumvented by other states to permit a fairer representation of the popular vote. Maine and Nebraska have already abandoned it, choosing to split their electoral votes based on who wins in each congressional district. Another way to evade the constraints of the Electoral College is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Proposed in 2006, this legislation could lead to a system that leaves the Electoral College intact but ensures that it delivers the presidency to the nation's popular vote winner. The conditions of the NPVIC stipulate that as soon as states comprising a majority of the Electoral College (270 votes) sign on, each will award its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. As of 2016, the NPVIC has been joined by ten states and the District of Columbia; their 165 combined electoral votes amount to 30.7% of the total Electoral College vote, and 61.1% of the 270 votes needed for it to have legal force. Additionally, three other states with a combined total of 36 electoral votes have pending legislation for NPVIC. (National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (2016), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_ Vote_Interstate_Compact).REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Laura B. from Boise, ID writes:
I am for the popular vote for president and vice president of the United States. Let the voice and vote of the people be heard and counted. The United States of America do not have a true democracy if the citizens cannot even elect the President and Vice President. The time is long overdue for American Citizens to be granted the right to vote for President and Vice President of the United States - a popular vote in which one vote for all truly counts!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Todd D. from Rahway, NJ signed.
Nov 12th, 2016Someone from Plano, TX writes:
Yes it should be based on majority vote fir presarayuREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Deborah A. from Temple City, CA writes:
My vote never counts!!! By the time we are voting on the west coast, the east coast has called the election!! I want my vote to count and I don't want someone else making that decision for me! Popular vote all the way!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Carolyn F. from Saratoga, CA writes:
The electoral college needs to go. It was created for a different time and is antiquated. In a true democracy, every vote counts. All newer democracies use the popular vote; no other democracy has this system. Brian back our democracy before it's too late.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Someone from Santa Cruz, CA writes:
the system is no longer working for our democracyREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Jean M. from Elkhorn, NE signed.
Nov 12th, 2016Charles S. from Rantoul, IL writes:
Every voice should be heard as every vote needs to countREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016william s. from Fort Myers, FL writes:
I think America has spoken and we want Trump out! He has made such a mockery of our whole country! If he thought the electoral votes was a sham before, then why let him even have them? Please help America and vote against him...REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Someone from Lawrence, KS writes:
The Electoral College deserves a well earned retirement. The election of 2016 is the final straw for the Electoral College! It gave us a potty mouth president and as First Lady the explicitly nude Melania Knauss Trump. When I saw Melania's nude pictures on the Internet I felt ashamed that a woman had to expose herself in such way in order to pay her rent. As our First Lady her past is morally unacceptable as is the potty mouth of her husband. How does America look to the rest of the world? How do I explain this election to my grandchildren? The American people finally should have the right to vote without the tutelage of the Electoral College. I tell my friends if you feel that Trump is not your President then help change the law by writing to Congress to have this law repealed. Use your energy not by protesting in the streets, that will do nothing to change this law but, by writing to Congress demanding that your vote be heard!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Scott D. from Longwood, FL signed.
Nov 12th, 2016Someone from Longwood, FL signed.
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Jillian L. from Saratoga, CA signed.
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Shauna S. from Issaquah, WA signed.
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Someone from Monroe Township, NJ signed.
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Sarah C. from Lake Placid, FL writes:
Since the electoral college is not being utilized the way it was designed, it should be abolished.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Ron B. from Wright, WY writes:
Twice in recent memory we have been saddled with Presidents who were not the choice of the American people because of this antiquated electoral college. Furthermore many Americans are disenfranchised by the electoral college. Individuals who are a political minority within a state (such as Wyoming) never have their vote count because only the winning party for a state are granted any electoral votes. This is entirely unacceptable in a democracy/republic. All voters should be able to have their votes count.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Maun F. from Levittown, PA writes:
Popular vote! evolve our political system and make it a true democracyREPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Patricia W. from Rittman, OH writes:
the people need to be heard that is their constitutional right !REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Angelica R. from Linden, NJ writes:
One vote should equal one vote. The electoral college vote is unnecessary and unfair. This is the United States of America. There should not be any reason why the people of the United States of America not be allowed to vote for the President of the United States of their choice. If I have to pay my full share of taxes, I, as an American citizen, should be allowed a full vote.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Dejah W. from Brooklyn, NY signed.
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No, CancelNov 12th, 2016Brian F. from Point Lookout, NY writes:
I can see no logical, democratic reason to keep the electoral collegeREPORT COMMENTS
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