The Electoral College

1. Electoral College Power Per Vote It's indeed true that those in small states have greater voting power than those in big states. However, I would argue this is still absolutely justifiable, Because it forces presidential candidates to pay attention to the needs of small states just the same way as the senate. I give as an example the election of 2000. People like to focus on Florida as the great bellwether of this election, But people ignore aswell that it was the smaller states, Like West Virginia, A presumed democratic safe state, That decided the election nearly as much as Florida. Because Al Gore ignored the needs of this small state, Essentially, He threw under the bus what was thought to be a safe state, He lost the election. What the effect of the electoral college does is it makes candidates pay attention to states with smaller populations that they normally would have just ignored with a popular vote system. (I will go on to the swing vs safe states argument later if you're wondering about that. ) This system is only ridiculous and injustice in a democracy, Where, Essentially, The whole government is expected to be like the house of reps. 2. Well, I agree! As I said at the beginning, I still support minor reforms, And a reform in Congress like that which would affect the electoral college would be just fine aswell. The house of reps should be an efficient and accurate method of dividing folks by population, But when our population keeps on going up, And the seats don't, It causes issues. The electoral college should not be causing disparity in the votes its given by the house of reps. We are very advanced, Whatever inconvenience that would be caused by adding more representatives can be negated in one way or another. 3. Again, I support minor reforms. The winner takes all system absolutely IS majority rule. In that system, The minority of the state has absolutely no voice. This is why I support a reform where each house electoral vote is divided by popular margin, AKA in a state with 12 electoral votes, Where the candidate won 50%, To the others 40%, To 10% for a thirdparty, The 2 senate votes should be awarded to the winner, And the rest will be divided evenly, So 5-4-1. This negates the majority rule + voter turnout problem and frankly, There should've been some similar action done when the electoral college was founded. 4. The issue of the swing states: The margin reforms I proposed to the electoral college in number three would be pretty much the same way I'd tackle this issue. However, I would also argue a few things. Even without reform, The political climate is always changing. As recently as 1996, The map looked totally different than the year 2000. Like before, If those people in West Virginia just assumed "were a safe state, I shouldnt vote" than that would be their mistake and a vote wasted, They should always be voting. As recently as 2016, Maine, Minnesota, And to an extent Wisconsin, Michigan, And Pennsylvania, Were assumed to be democratic safe states. However, Trump won three of them and got in an incredibly close margin in another two. Yet another example of why the swing states are ALWAYS changing as the climate always changes, Small or large, And why you should always vote. Swing states are a very temporary thing I will add, Back in the day there was constantly landslides because we were a less polarized country. The whole reason for swing states is because of more polarization, Less people in a state leaning one way are willing to vote for the other candidate so their state remains very rigid. Is it not that in a very polarized nation based on the popular vote there would still only be a few places they could appeal to that would be moderate, And a large red and blue area besides it they would ignore? 5. This is an unlikely scenario, And indeed while these things could happen, They would be rare, We have seen in a numerous amount of elections that nothing like this has happened. Beyond that would it not be that my "minor reforms" would negate this? What the electoral college does is it forces presidential candidates to pay attention to the needs of small states, In the same way congress does, And, With no more than a reform where electoral votes are divided by popular vote margin, Thus preventing the majority rule it creates, It should be kept. It is indeed undemocratic, But we are not a democracy, And it is a necessary means of preserving our Republican form of government.