Is the electoral college still relavant?

Question

I am wondering if anyone feels that it unfairly weights one person's vote over another person's. I live in a heavily populated area of the country and feel that my vote is worth less than a vote from middle America. Am I correct?

Answer 1

yes, maybe even more today than ever.

Answer 2

You are correct.  The whole purpose of the electoral college was to give small states proportionately more power, because at the time the Constitution was framed, small states were worried about being overruled by larger states.

I think it's wrong too, and throughout history many people have.  There have been literally -hundreds- of proposals to do away with the electoral college and just elect the president by popular vote.  The problem is, this would need a Constitutional amendment which requires ratification by 2/3 of the states, including many of those smaller states.  So it looks like the electoral college is here to stay.

Answer 3

I too believe its outlived its usefulness.

Blue Collar for McCain/Palin

Answer 4

no. The amount of electoral votes each state has is based on the population of that state, so (in effect) the electoral votes actually balance out the popular vote, ensuring equality between highly populated states like new york with sparsley populated states like alaska.  

Answer 5

Its definetly the smartest thing our fore-fathers set up. This country is a union or STATES. Each one needs to be heard. The only way to accomplish this without having New York or California run everything in this country, it set up the electoral college. This guarantees that each state will be represented in the vote for the presidency. We are first and foremost a nation made up of individual states and and these states need to be preserved.

Your vote has exactly the same impact in your state as everyone else' has within their state. No one's vote is counted as more.

Answer 6

yes, you are correct. I did a speech project about this in my communications class. Your vote has less of an impact than someone else's vote in middle America.

Answer 7

I believe the electoral college is still relevant.  I believe the American public as a whole is still just has ignorant about political issues as when the electoral college was started.  

I guess from a certain aspect I can see how your vote may not have the same significance as someone who votes in a sparsely populated area, but no one is forcing you to live in a heavily populated area.  While people in sparsely populated areas have slightly more significant votes, they have a much harder time finding a job.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both regions.  You'll just have to accept your area's disadvantages with the advantages.

Answer 8

The great evil of the Electoral College system is the all or nothing way that 48 out of the 50 states cast their Electoral Votes.  The result is that it concentrates power in a  few swing states with approximately an equal number of voters who are likely to vote Democratic and Republican.  After the primaries, both small and large states are ignored by the candidates unless they are swing states. -  Fortunately, there is a realistic way to make the Electoral College irrelevant and in effect go to a popular vote system without a constitutional amendment.   See:

http://www.everyvoteequal.com   and

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com

Both branches of the legislature in the small states of Hawaii, Vermont and Rhode Island have passed the National Popular Vote bill.  - The Republican governors of those states vetoed the bill, but in Hawaii, the bill was enacted into law over the governor's veto by the required 2/3 majority of each branch of the legislature.    

The National Popular Vote bill has wide spread support among   Republicans and Democrats,  however a National Popular Vote would increase voter turnout, because every vote would be equally important - and Republicans tend to do better when voter turnout is low  - This may explain the opposition to the bill by the Republican governors of the states mentioned above.

Answer 9

If you don't like it then change it.  If you don't change it then live with it.

Answer 10

I don't know