cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/488620

65% of U.S. adults say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    65% of U.S. adults say the way the president is elected should be changed

    Hmm this seems unfair. How about we redo the survey but this time break it down state-by-state where the majority option in each state will be considered the “winner” of the entire state (except for in Maine and Nebraska, in which the minority option is still given some points) and then these states will appoint a certain number of people (the number of people each state can appoint is equal to how many representatives they have plus two for their senators, except in DC where its capped at the state with the least amount of appointed people) where they will redo the survey again but now they have the opportunity to change the results if they feel like it (but don’t worry that basically has never happened so it’s all good) and after that each state will count the actual votes and then mail them to DC where Congress will count the votes from each state and the members of Congress get a chance to vote to ignore a state if enough of them feel like it (but again don’t worry this has never happened! It’s all good!) and after that hopefully one of the options has a majority because if not then the house gets to choose and if they can’t decide then the senate gets to pick and if nobody can make up their minds then the Speaker gets to temporarily decide until everyone figures their stuff out.

    I think that’s how Americans should answer all their surveys since it’s more fair.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months ago

        I copy and pasted how the electoral college works from Wikipedia and made it a run-on sentence to emphasize how nonsensical it is.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      01 year ago

      Why does that matter? The people want a better electoral system, one that treats all votes equally.

      • Neuromancer
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        01 year ago

        It was designed to be unequal on purpose. The electoral is what keeps us from being ruled by the masses. It should not change.

        • Unaware7013
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          01 year ago

          So instead we get minority rule. Soooooo much better when the small number of loonies get to derail a functional government with a temper tantrum that ‘the masses’ want.

          It’s a badly designed system, and claiming it’s like this on purpose doesn’t negate how bad the system is. Also, we should not be chained to ideas that came around 250 years ago when other people have improved on the idea and made it less shitty.

          • Neuromancer
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            1 year ago

            Not at all. We are ruled by the states.

            The system is fine. It allows all states to have some say in the process.

            • Unaware7013
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              01 year ago

              Who gives a fuck about the states’ vote? States are just containers for people, and an excuse that the minority loves to use to explain how they get to rule over majority.

              The electoral college is an undemocratic and broken system that makes my vote in a small state worth more than your vote in a bigger state.

              A vote is a vote, and only losers need to remove the vote from the masses to be able to win. It’s literally the only reason there’s been a Republican president since H.W., and it’s no surprise they’re desperate to keep around the undemocratic voting method that allows them to steal elections they didn’t win.

              • Neuromancer
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                01 year ago

                Wow fascist much?

                States are entities under the government with their own laws.

                We are not a democracy fascist. We are a constitutional republic. The founding fathers had no interest in a rule by the masses nor do i.

                Maybe you should learn the history of our government and why it was designed the way it was rather than pushing weird fascist ideology that states don’t matter and only the federal government counts.

                We’d break as a nation quickly under your ideology.

  • kirklennon
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    01 year ago

    I would modify the electoral college rather than get rid of it. Make it so that states are obligated to assign their electoral votes to candidates in proportion to the number of votes received.

    Why? You’re accepting the premise but then stopping short. Yes, a candidate’s final outcome in the election should be proportional to the number of votes they received. You want to make it less unfair, but we can just as easily make it completely fair by making the outcome exactly proportional to the vote.

    not completely disenfranchise rural voters

    According to the US Census, roughly 20% of Americans live in rural areas. Under the Electoral College, most of these people get effectively no say in who is the president. Nobody cares what rural voters in Texas or California or Wyoming or Oklahoma think because they’re not swing states. In a popular election, these 20% of Americans would get 20% of the say, and their individual vote would carry the same weight as everyone else. That’s the only fair system. Making it less rigged is still rigged.