Electoral college

[alina6]

Does anyone have a good description of what the electoral college is and how it works?

[mrsmere]

Not really, it's a select group getting to pick the president, but I feel the popular vote for the entire USA should be used to select the president and that way everyone feels their vote has counted. 

[countrygirl12]

Your vote does count.  I cannot believe how clueless people are about how this works.  I can't explain it.  You can google it.  I have also noticed the people who sqwalk the loudest do not even vote.

[Tresbn00]

Some people believe that every vote counts but this idealistic thought process is limited. For instance, Hawaii. When it is six PM in Hawaii, it is midnight in Washington. By the time the polls close in Hawaii the winner of a presidential campaign has, more often than not, been decided. Even in the face of vote recounts, Hawaii is generally counted last. There are many stories of people that were on their way to vote only to hear the winner of the presidential race announced on the radio. Does the vote count at that point? Colorado had an overwhelming number of votes for one candidate 90 minutes prior to the polls closing. Even if there had been a sudden surge and 100% of the voters had rallied behind the other party, the decision could not have overturned. Every vote counts would be more realistic under a direct popular vote.

[JediJohnnie]

This is the best I can do to help you...

[surveygrabber]

I know a little bit about the Electoral college. It seems like the state has the most counties voted for that particular candidate will likely win that state when I watched the live coverage of the presidential election.

[mrrangerrick]

It's all checks and balances...it's to make sure that smaller states have equal representation when it comes to voting for a president.

[countrygirl12]

Some people believe that every vote counts but this idealistic thought process is limited. For instance, Hawaii. When it is six PM in Hawaii, it is midnight in Washington. By the time the polls close in Hawaii the winner of a presidential campaign has, more often than not, been decided. Even in the face of vote recounts, Hawaii is generally counted last. There are many stories of people that were on their way to vote only to hear the winner of the presidential race announced on the radio. Does the vote count at that point? Colorado had an overwhelming number of votes for one candidate 90 minutes prior to the polls closing. Even if there had been a sudden surge and 100% of the voters had rallied behind the other party, the decision could not have overturned. Every vote counts would be more realistic under a direct popular vote.

ONLY if one candidate already has 270 electoral votes.  I think Hawaii only has like 3 electoral votes so it would have to be really close.  If the vote was that close it would be not called until the next day when their votes were in.  Once Trump had 300 electoral votes it would not matter if Hawaii's count had not come in.  Those 3 electoral votes would make no difference.

[countrygirl12]

I know a little bit about the Electoral college. It seems like the state has the most counties voted for that particular candidate will likely win that state when I watched the live coverage of the presidential election.

It has nothing to do with the number of counties.  It has to do with the number of people who get off their dead butts and vote.  If there are 1000 voters in a state and that state has 5 electoral votes and 700 vote for Trump and 300 vote for the evil woman then Trump gets those 5 electoral votes.  And the number of electoral votes is determined by the total number of people in the state.  Which goes by the census.  So when people cry and think the government is just nosing in their business....there is a reason for knowing the number of people in each county, state and so forth.

It also depends on which side of the spectrum you are on.  If you are extremely liberal and live in a conservative state then you would not care that the elections would always be determined by the extreme liberalism of states like California.  Look at the map Jedi shared.  The entire country could be for a more conservative leader but if over half the country that lives in ONE area, ie California, is liberal then the entire country if forced to have that shoved down their throats.

I am not sure I believe the popular vote anyway.  Two weeks after the election is over all these votes supposedly still coming in.  Where are they coming from?  They are being made up.   The people are sick of the way things are right now.

[jfergusonflorida]

A group of people from all the states to vote for president based on how their state's popular vote came out, pretty much.

[gsdoss]

I still don't understand how it works

[sak4kat]

I'm amazed at how much I learn from reading posts here in FC.  I too didn't know exactly what or how the electoral college works.  Thank you countrygirl12 & JediJohnnie for the quick and easy explanation. 

[lvstephanie]

You have to remember that we live in a democratic republic, not a strict democracy. Thus even when voting for a president, we are actually voting for representatives / electors from our state that in turn vote aligning to our wishes when voting for the president. If we voted for president strictly by popular vote, then all of our presidents would be elected by 4-6 states, namely California, New York, Texas, and Florida (with Pennsylvania and Illinois having a slight influence). This would mean that the candidates could basically campaign in those few states and ignore the rest of the country. If you feel that not going by the popular vote is somehow disenfranchising some voters that sided with the popular-vote winner that loses in the electoral counts, imagine how the people in the 40-odd states would feel were we to eliminate the electoral college and go by popular votes instead.

[countrygirl12]

You have to remember that we live in a democratic republic, not a strict democracy. Thus even when voting for a president, we are actually voting for representatives / electors from our state that in turn vote aligning to our wishes when voting for the president. If we voted for president strictly by popular vote, then all of our presidents would be elected by 4-6 states, namely California, New York, Texas, and Florida (with Pennsylvania and Illinois having a slight influence). This would mean that the candidates could basically campaign in those few states and ignore the rest of the country. If you feel that not going by the popular vote is somehow disenfranchising some voters that sided with the popular-vote winner that loses in the electoral counts, imagine how the people in the 40-odd states would feel were we to eliminate the electoral college and go by popular votes instead.

BUT the electors pledge to vote the way the majority of your state voted.  I think only 7 were faithless and it had no effect on the out come of the election.  I think if it did then there would be an uprising.  What I think is hilarious is the democrats who were screaming and making threats telling the electors to be faithless and not vote for Trump.  Only 2 done that.  And 5 that were suppose to vote for hillary were faithless.

[yisa]

This topic is very interesting.