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ubermonkey | on: Trump wins presidency for second time
What you forget, or may not appreciate, is that (for example) Blue voters in states that are absolutely going Red may stay home, because their vote won't really count.

I've voted Dem all my life (since 1988), and while my preferred candidate has won several of those races, my actual VOTE never helped them because I voted in Mississippi (88), Alabama (92), and Texas (96 & thereafter) -- all of which have been GOP strongholds for a long, long time. (Texas, for example, hasn't gone for the Democrats since Carter v. Ford in 1976.)

It's easy to imagine that a feeling of despair about the efficacy of one's vote would drive someone to stay home.

Scea91 | parent | next
For some reason I’ve not heard this argument 8 years back when Clinton lost. At that time the fact that she won popular vote was used to critique the electoral college. Maybe at that time republicans stayed at home in the blue states?
nasmorn | root | parent | next
As a foreigner it seems like the electoral college is obviously stupid. No matter who wins why. It is pure conservatism to keep it like doing something because the Bible says so. Given that it mostly helps one party it will never be changed but it cannot be argued from first principles in the 21st century.
Arelius | root | parent | next
Honest question, Is it not somewhat similar in effect to a parliamentary system? My understanding, is generally a parliament is divided into districts, then after parliament is elected, the government is formed and the prime minister is selected by a majority of the members of parliament?

Not saying it's great, but maybe it's not too dissimilar from some other systems?

Scea91 | root | parent | next
It can totally be argued from first principles. If you acknowledge that USA is a union and not a single state then it makes sense that the votes do not necessarily reflect the population distribution and there is some form of rebalancing. Then its a wuestion how much and whether the current balance is the right one.
Ancapistani | root | parent | next
The US is a federal system. It serves the interests of the states, not the People.

The electoral college - and the Senate - were intended to explicitly put power in the hands of the states, as equals, without regard for population. The House of Representatives was intended to be the counterbalancing voice of the People.

I can totally understand disagreeing with the concept, but to say it's stupid tells me you likely don't understand its purpose and how it fits into the overall system.

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0xBDB | root | parent | next
I mean, I'll take a stab at it... the electoral college can be argued from first principles if you consider that the U.S. was supposed to be a federal union of sovereign states. There are certainly reasonable arguments for federalism and devolution of power.

The U.N. doesn't directly elect the general secretary.

umanwizard | root | parent
The US is not, in practice, a union of sovereign states today, regardless of whether it was in 1789.
0xBDB | root | parent
Is that an argument against the electoral college, or an argument for re-devolution of power? Because the latter is probably easier to do than getting rid of the electoral college, given the requirements to pass a constitutional amendment.
ubermonkey | root | parent
It exists to give outsized influence to small, rural (and, at the time, slave-holding) states -- which is also true of the Senate.
ubermonkey | root | parent
It's not a partisan argument. It's a fact of the mechanics of US Presidential elections.

If DJT ends up with a final popular vote advantage, though, it'll be the first time that a Republican has taken the Oval Office AND the popular vote since 1988.

dead_gunslinger | parent | next
How does the exact same argument do not apply to Republican voters in e.g California, New York or Oregon?
xnx | parent | next
> Blue voters in states that are absolutely going Red may stay home

Blue voters in states that are absolutely going Blue may also stay home.

ufmace | parent | next
Why doesn't this apply both ways? Red voters in Blue states are just as likely to stay home because they think their votes won't count. And ditto the other point, Red voters in Red states may not feel like it's worth the bother to vote when they already know their state is going their way.
leereeves | parent
> It's easy to imagine that a feeling of despair about the efficacy of one's vote would drive someone to stay home.

That's true, but I don't think Democrats had a feeling of despair before the results came in. It seems like most Democrats are shocked that the election turned out this way.

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