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Electoral Colleges – Time For Them To Go!

Time For One Voter = One Vote

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that states can punish electors for voting against the popular vote result for their assigned state. This was brought before the court because, in 2016, ten state electors, out of 538 went rogue and voted against the popular vote. The problem is the use of ‘ can ‘, this indicates to me that it’s the states’ choice, not a requirement to take action or disqualify that elector.

But, that is not what this article is about, this writeup is about the electoral colleges and the lack of direct representation of the people, or you could call it voter suppression. The problem I see is that each state regardless of land area or population carries the same weight in a presidential election. Literally, the 29 least populous states have roughly the same population of just California and Texas. The 578k people residing in Wyoming have the same weight as California with 39.5m people, does that seem democratic?

Yes, I know that the US is a Democratic Republic, in which power is given to the states, which makes me wonder how united the states are; because laws can be very different from state to state, but I digress. I believe in 2020, we should have direct voting, one eligible voter, one vote. it’s messed up that 23% of voters are enough to elect a president, assuming that everyone who could, voted in the general election.

If all states had a similar population, I would not have such a massive issue with this; but the difference in population between the smallest state, by population and the largest, by population is 38,933,464 people, Wyoming has just 1.46% of the population of California, or to put it another way, each Wyomingite has the same voting weight as 68.27 Californians. In my mind, this is complete lunacy.

So, what I would like to see is an amendment to the constitution, abolishing the electoral colleges, in favor of a system where everyone’s vote is equally weighted, i.e. the national popular vote. This is not because of Trump, although I have to admit, it has brought it to the fore. I have held this position since I learned about the electoral college system when I came to the United States some 12 years ago now, it’s crazy for one voter to have the same voting power as 68 1/4 voters in another state.

I know a lot has to happen for an amendment to become a reality, but I believe in the future as younger, progressive politicians are elected into state and federal legislature, we have a chance of getting the required 34 states (2/3) needed to call a convention, and then maybe get the 38 states (3/4) required to ratify an amendment. I reside in a state in which there are just 36,598,909 fewer people than California, and I still hate the system, despite having 13.5 times voting power than my brother-in-law, in California.

PS: I have been amazed by the number of people defending the electoral college system on social media. I don’t understand why anyone would want to support something that suppresses YOUR vote.

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