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Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 02, 2002
January 01, 2002
January 03, 2002
Transcript:
Joe: In the studio today to debate the electoral college issue are media commentators Melanie Morgan and Obviousman... You're up first, Melanie. Melanie: Thanks Joe... This wonderful system must stay because it's designed to ensure fairness for all voters. Obviousman: Uh...if it's so wonderful, why isn't it used for all elections? All other offices are elected by the popular vote, so why not for the pres... Melanie: Foom Joe: It makes better radio if you just stick to political theory and dogma, o-man. Obviousman: Sorry...logic just slipped out.
KEA over 13 years ago
w/o the electoral college just 5 states could elect the President: California, Texas, etc.
abiqua75 over 13 years ago
Actually, Kea, that isn’t true. In 2000, over 131 million votes were cast. Even if every single vote in the 5 most populated states (California, Florida, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania) were cast for a single candidate, those votes would only have accounted for 43.7 million (33%) of the total.
On the other hand, because of the electoral college, in that same election, it would be mathematically possible for a candidate to win with less than 24% of the popular vote (maybe less, that’s just the worst case I’ve found so far).
Even if your statement were true, at least a candidate would have a majority of the nationwide votes cast.
The Electoral College is an abomination, as well as being fully responsible for the debacle in Florida in 2000, when a few hundred disputed votes (which would have been insignificant in a nationwide count) gave all of that state’s votes to a fraud.
raygun7139 over 12 years ago
@abiqua75 — could not have said it better myself!
Archistoteles about 1 year ago
The Electoral College will be the death of the so-called American democracy.
Opus_the_other_Penguin about 1 year ago
If she’s not prepared for a softball setup like this, why is she in the debate? 1) There are no other offices that are voted on by all the states, so what exactly is the con guy comparing this situation to? 2) The president is elected by majority rule on a state by state basis, just like senators and representatives.* Imagine a system where all senators and representatives were elected by majority rule of the entire country. Is that what the con guy wants?
Nebraska and Maine apportion their votes by majority rule on a district by district, so their electoral votes can be split.