Many of us are still upset and disgruntled about the results of the United States popular election … that have been reported. There's been a call for the removal of the Electoral College stating that it is defunct and out of date. But what if this election was THE election the Electoral College was designed to fix, correct, and stop from being wrong.
So many have quoted that the Electoral College was created solely to keep the larger states from having a larger say in which candidate wins the control of the executive branch, creating a balance between the larger and smaller populated pieces of the great American pie. Some even say the purpose of the electoral college is "to balance the votes between all 50 states in the union ensuring all have a voice," but then again, it was created long before we were 50. We could also talk about how a slave counted as 3/5 of a person, but that doesn't relate to population count today and is defunct. As many things within the constitution, the Electoral College was established to solve more than one issue, two or many birds with one stone.
I always believed and read from primary sources, not just things you find in a Google search or on YouTube (google what a primary source is if you need to), that the Electoral College was enacted to assist the election of the president in many ways. Being a young country and lacking enough time and quick ways of communicating back in the 1700's, it was necessary to construct a way to have electors convey the vote of their fellow constituents. Building the Electoral College into the constitution in regard to the selection of the next president and vice president, was also important due to not all citizens being well educated or up to date on current political, economic, or national defense issues or even who all the candidates were and their platforms. Sure, they had a vote, but were they knowledgeable enough to cast it correctly? (see Time.com insert below and Federalist Paper Number 68)
The Electoral College was designed to help make a wise and accurate choice of the next president.
But wait, there's more.
We as citizens vote on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which was November 8th. The constitution states that the Electoral College's votes will be counted on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, which will be December 19th this year. Why? Well we need to count all the votes, don't we? And we are still counting.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s popular vote victory continued to grow Monday as millions of ballots remained uncounted, according to the latest ballot tally published by the Cook Political Report. The first female major-party nominee has secured nearly 2 million more votes than her opponent, billionaire Donald Trump, despite an Electoral College vote in his favor.
Trump managed to secure well over the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency, but Clinton appears to have soundly won the popular vote by an ever-expanding margin. She received about 63,600,000 votes to the president-elect's 61,900,000, according to the Cook Political Report. Updated ballot counts show her receiving at least 48 percent of the national vote compared to Trump’s 46.7 percent.
The total popular vote count will remain unknown for some time, as ballots are still being counted from high-volume areas across the country. Many reports indicate Clinton’s lead could grow even further, as the majority of uncounted regions are primarily Democratic strongholds.
The Cook Political Report’s editor David Wasserman said Sunday there were still nearly 7 million uncounted votes. "A majority of them are on the coasts, in New York, California, and Washington,” he told The Atlantic. “She should be able to win those votes, probably 2-1." – rawstory.com
They are still counting our votes for … well, wait. What are we voting for on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November? Senate.gov elaborates on this.
Congress has enacted legislation requiring that presidential elections (the selection of electors) occur on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November every four years. Electors gather to vote on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. The two houses of Congress convene to count the electoral ballots on the following January 6. – senate.gov
I guess this is the area I am cloudy on. Are the electors 100% solid in their appointments or will any of the electors appointed be recalled if the popular vote in their area, district, state changes? Please let us know if you know.
Michael Signer, the Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, an attorney, and a lecturer at the University of Virginia, does share with us via Time Magazine his thoughts on the Electoral College.
It’s these electors who actually hold power under the Constitution to select Donald Trump as president. They should take that responsibility very seriously. They owe it to all Americans to deliberate on their choice in the manner required by the Constitution.
The fact is that the Electoral College was primarily designed to stop a demagogue—a tyrannical mass leader who preys on our prejudices—from becoming President.Consider what Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist Paper Number 68. The Electors were supposed to stop a candidate with “Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity” from becoming President. The Electors were supposed to be “men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”
They were to “possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations” as the selection of the President, and they were supposed to “afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder.” They were even supposed to prevent “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.”
Hamilton was talking about demagogues. The word “demagogue” appears in both the first and last Federalist Papers; in Federalist Paper Number 1, for instance, Hamilton worried about the “military despotism of a victorious demagogue.” – time.com
Change.org wants those who feel swaying the Electoral College to vote for Clinton.
On December 19, the Electors of the Electoral College will cast their ballots. If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!
We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states' votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton. Why?
…
24 states bind electors. If electors vote against their party, they usually pay a fine. And people get mad. But they can vote however they want and there is no legal means to stop them in most states. – change.org
Click here to go to the change.org petition.
What about these bound electors and the faithless electors?
In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the United States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice-presidential candidate for whom they had pledged to vote. That is, they lack faith in the pledge and vote for another candidate, or fail to vote, or choose not to vote. A pledged elector can become a faithless elector only by breaking their pledge; unpledged electors have no pledge to break
Twenty-one states do not have laws compelling their electors to vote for a pledged candidate.[3] Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have laws to penalize faithless electors, although these have never been enforced.[2] In lieu of penalizing a faithless elector, some states, like Michigan and Minnesota, specify the faithless elector's vote is void,[4] though no state has yet had cause to enforce such a provision. – wikipedia.com
On 22 occasions, 179 electors have not cast their votes for President or Vice President as prescribed by the legislature of the state they represented. Of those, 71 electors changed their votes because the candidate to whom they were pledged died before the electoral ballot (1872, 1912). Two electors chose to abstain from voting for any candidate (1812, 2000).[2] The remaining 106 were changed by the elector's personal interest, or perhaps by accident. Usually, the faithless electors act alone. An exception was the 1836 election, in which all 23 Virginia electors acted together. – wikipedia.com
With the combination of protests ( Anti-Donald Trump Protests Continue for Third Night in More Than 17 States. Can They Make A Difference? YES! ) and the blatant poor cabinet / advisor choices Trump is making, the embarrassment that he is of the United States, the Electoral College needs to act in unison to make the right vote.
Let's hope that December 19th will be the end of Donald Trump's presidency. Of course we will have to wait for the House and Senate on January 6th for the final count.
And to those that say we are stuck with him and it is over … well, isn't it worth a try?
I mean if we gave up on marriage equality when we were told no, stop, you're done, it's not going to happen, where would we be?
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Take out the Illegal Voters
Take out the Illegal Voters for Hillary, the Dead Voters for Hillary & those who Voted twice for Hillary, and Trump wins the popular vote, right?
Absolutely!! These sore
Absolutely!! These sore losers need to get over it and move on, very pathetic.
There’s also the
There's also the #HamiltonElectors movement, trying to get a less controversial candidate elected by the Electoral College, Governor John Kasich. I'd take anybody but that unstable demogogue at this point.
Suck it up and deal with he’s
Suck it up and deal with he's president and will be a great president so stop bitching and get the hell over and everyone move on with their lives. He won its over move on
Democrats attempt to steal
Democrats attempt to steal the election failed…recount failed….Russia hacking conspiracy is a lie…next they will make up lies to impeach him. These cry babies are a disgrace to America, they do not care about making our country great again, they just want to be in control.
It’s over. She conceded!
It's over. She conceded!
it’s not going to work.
it's not going to work.
It may or may not change the
It may or may not change the electors' minds, but if the College works as it was intended to, if it fulfils what its explicit purpose has been for hundreds of years, then Donald Trump will not become President, and no amount of "being a sore loser," as Trump supporters are so keen to describe all the people worried about his promises to take their rights away, will stop it.
You are right, if the
You are right, if the Electoral College works as designed a demagogue like Hillary Clinton would not be elected President. If the popular vote does continue to grow in Hillary's favor, then she would be the one that was appealing to popular desires and prejudices. She changed her views on Gay marriage to fit the popular view, she changed her stance on TPP to fit the popular view and she apologized for her words about super predators based on popular outcry.
Unlike Trump, Mr. Flip Flop,
Unlike Trump, Mr. Flip Flop, sure.
Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen!