What's the point in voting if the Electoral College...?

Question

Is the one with all the voting power. The popular vote doesn't seem very important most the time. Can somebody set me straight and explain to me how the popular vote/electoral vote works? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The purpose of the popular vote is to choose who the electoral college is.

The presidential candidate who gets the most votes in a state (with two exceptions, more on that later) has his/her electors chosen. Those electors, then, will vote for that candidate.

The concept here is that it's actually the states that vote for president, and your participation at the ballot box helps choose who your state will choose.

Each state gets a number of electoral votes equal to its congressional representation -- so, a minimum of three, and can get much higher. While larger states get more votes, a smaller state gets a louder voice than it would otherwise because of the three-vote minimum.

The idea behind it was to balance the influence of the larger states with the needs of the smaller states. That's the reason it was adopted in 1787, and it remains the purpose today.

Some states actually can split up their electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska both have laws permitting the split of the electoral votes per congressional district -- but it's never happened, because all of their congressional districts have voted the same way.

One effect of the electoral college is that states that tend to vote a certain way are considered "safe" by their parties. The Democrats know they'll get Massachusetts, Illinois and New York, while the Republicans know they'll get Texas, Alaska, and Utah.

The states that get the attention are the ones that have a politically diverse enough population that they can go either way. Florida, Ohio and Missouri are common examples.

Answer 2

With respect to the election of president, the goal was to ensure that the executive was independent and not a mere puppet of the other branches of government or of the mob, while still keeping his powers severely in check. Furthermore, the Founders wanted a system that was workable, practical enough that it was easily implemented and led to a definite, unambiguous conclusion. To achieve these goals, the Founders considered all of the following possibilities: that he would be elected by the House, the Senate, the judiciary, the state legislatures, the state governors or by direct popular election. There are very lengthy discussions of the pros and cons of each of these possibilities in Madison's notes on the convention (Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, reported by James Madison - all quotes will be from the Norton Bicentennial Edition, paperback, 695 pp.).


http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/

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Answer 3

The Constitution was written that way for a reason.The framers didn't trust the popular vote.The Electorate is to easily influenced and can't be trusted.Never mind the right decision,even an intelligent one.I believe they were right.Gerald Ford and Anna Nicole Smith recently died.Who does the Electorate care about?Half don't even know who Ford was.I'm glad we have the Electoral college.Who knows what we'd elect without it.That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Answer 4

Can somebody call Bill Clinton to stop lying about Obama's stance on the immoral and "rash" Iraq war? Obama stood against this war from the beginning when it was political suicide to do so. Hillary Clinton who is a big war supporter and political plodder did not care about other women whose kids will be dying in a ill-conceived war. Please call Bill to shot his mouth now.

Answer 5

My feeling is -- what's the point in voting if the Supreme Court won't allow our votes to be counted?

Answer 6

what are you talking about lost soul,everything is run by wicked ones hiding behind wall of lies that I AM GOING TO TEAR DOWN TO THE GROUND.////// TALKING ABOUT LITTLE IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM,IF THEY WANTED A NUCLEAR BOMB THERE ARE OUT THERE 4 SALE,GET REAL