During a converation yesterday with an old friend from high school, my friend brought up this really excellent point regarding our nations current election process, specifically about the equivicol “electoral college”.
In this day and age, haven’t we moved beyond the electoral college? A democratic vote in RI is almost insignificant in the realm of national elections. Rhode Island contributes only 4 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the election, and since the state has been consistantly noted as a democratic state, our 4 democratic votes are merely an expectation– requiring little to no effect to earn. Why are those living in some of the countries ‘swing’ states like Ohio or Florida the key to determining the outcome of this year’s election? Is this really fair? Why seperate states as though they are different countries, but instead, pool all the votes from every citizen regardless of which state they come from, and determine from this number who wins the popular vote. I was under the assumption that every citizen was equal and had an equal share in determining who is president, but I’m afraid this is really not the case. Rhode Islanders, as well other predisposed, low population state residents, have little to no effect on national elections, individually.
I Think thar be some “amending” to be done!
Time Magazine ran a poll (10/14/2004) asking people “Do you think the U.S. should keep the Electoral College or should we amend the Constitution and elect as President whoever gets the most votes in the country?”.
37% Keep the Electoral College
56% Amend the Constitution
7% Don’t Know
I agree… although I can also see the reasoning behind the electoral college. It has to do with this country’s belief in state’s rights… and how each state should be represented by the majority of it’s citizens.
It almost is as though each state is a different country… under a broader governing body known as the federal government.
More on states rights later… possibly on next week’s guest blog. 🙂
I don’t think you realise the consequences of getting rid of the electoral college. Do you think that the people running for President will care about the vote of the people in Rhode Island if it was gone. They would only care about campaigning in the big cities like New York and Los Angeles where there are many millions of people who live there. It would cause the platforms of the parties to sway to get the big city vote. That would seriously harm the state of smaller New England Towns or small western towns.