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If Obama wins via the electoral collage, but loses the popular vote...

Luna Tick

Luna Tick

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... I will laugh SSSSSOOOOOOO hard! Back in 2000 Gore won the popular vote, but lost via the electoral college, though his electoral votes from Florida were highly controversial. However, this post is not about those Florida votes. It's about the electoral college. For the sake of argument, let's assume the Florida electoral votes were legit. I remember complaining both on Internet forums and in person about how unjust the electoral college is. Republicans extolled the virtues of the electoral college, saying it was representative democracy and it made smaller states not controlled by larger ones and certain ethnic groups more important and blah blah blah. Meanwhile no state seems to need an electoral college to elect their governors.

To me it's always seemed via simple logic that the person who gets the most votes of citizens should win and that the electoral college is unjust. Therefore Gore should have been president in 2000 even if those Florida votes were definitely calculated accurately.

What was really happening was Republicans were relieved that Bush got in via the electoral college; therefore they extolled its virtues. If Gore had gotten in the same way, they would have cursed it. You can claim otherwise, but that's so true. There were movements to kill the e-college, but the Republicans would not support it because they were so happy it got Bush into office instead of the man who got the most popular votes.

So this is the thread to state where you stand on the electoral college before the election happens. I'm bookmarking it. I'll state my position. I've always maintained that thing is unfair and should be done away with. However, it's not possible to change the law before this election. We do have to go by the current law for this election. Then we should get rid of it.

There are a couple options. One is a constitutional amendment to repeal it entirely and replace it with the popular vote. If that's not possible, the other option is to make the e-college more accurately represent the popular vote. States could one by one join the only 2 sane states in the country, Nebraska (go, Huskers) and Maine, who split their electoral votes based on the percentages of the popular vote. For example, Nebraska has 5 electoral votes and is a red state, but in '08 McCain got four of its e-votes and Obama got one. Every state should do it that way. We should get rid of this winner take all BS.

This is your chance to state your position before the election. Do you support keeping or getting rid of the electoral college?

If Romney loses via the e-college, despite getting more votes, and Republicans bitch, I'm going to laugh and laugh and laugh! I'll tell them, "Welcome to 2000 and how Democrats felt." The plus side will be if that happens it may finally be possible to get rid of the e-college or get states to split their e-votes.
 
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I agree with you and have stated on more than one occasion that State Electors should be split according to the popular vote of the State, as Maine and Nebraska do. You could do it on a percentage basis across the state or by congressional districts or even by county. The all or nothing that most States currently use does not represent what the citizens choices are.
 
Luna Tick said:
... I will laugh SSSSSOOOOOOO hard! Back in 2000 Gore won the popular vote, but lost via the electoral college, though his electoral votes from Florida were highly controversial. However, this post is not about those Florida votes. It's about the electoral college. For the sake of argument, let's assume the Florida electoral votes were legit. I remember complaining both on Internet forums and in person about how unjust the electoral college is. Republicans extolled the virtues of the electoral college, saying it was representative democracy and it made smaller states not controlled by larger ones and certain ethnic groups more important and blah blah blah. Meanwhile no state seems to need an electoral college to elect their governors.

To me it's always seemed via simple logic that the person who gets the most votes of citizens should win and that the electoral college is unjust. Therefore Gore should have been president in 2000 even if those Florida votes were definitely calculated accurately.

What was really happening was Republicans were relieved that Bush got in via the electoral college; therefore they extolled its virtues. If Gore had gotten in the same way, they would have cursed it. You can claim otherwise, but that's so true. There were movements to kill the e-college, but the Republicans would not support it because they were so happy it got Bush into office instead of the man who got the most popular votes.

So this is the thread to state where you stand on the electoral college before the election happens. I'm bookmarking it. I'll state my position. I've always maintained that thing is unfair and should be done away with. However, it's not possible to change the law before this election. We do have to go by the current law for this election. Then we should get rid of it.

There are a couple options. One is a constitutional amendment to repeal it entirely and replace it with the popular vote. If that's not possible, the other option is to make the e-college more accurately represent the popular vote. States could one by one join the only 2 sane states in the country, Nebraska (go, Huskers) and Maine, who split their electoral votes based on the percentages of the popular vote. For example, Nebraska has 5 electoral votes and is a red state, but in '08 McCain got four of its e-votes and Obama got one. Every state should do it that way. We should get rid of this winner take all BS.

This is your chance to state your position before the election. Do you support keeping or getting rid of the electoral college?

If Romney loses via the e-college, despite getting more votes, and Republicans bitch, I'm going to laugh and laugh and laugh! I'll tell them, "Welcome to 2000 and how Democrats felt." The plus side will be if that happens it may finally be possible to get rid of the e-college or get states to split their e-votes.
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Bull****, I support the Constitution no matter who wins. What you're saying about the 2000 Florida business is bull****, and shows you have no idea what went on there. Start a thread and I'll talk to you about it.
 
It would be poetic justice for 2000.

And the rightwing noise machine would freak out and claim the electoral college is a communist/Kenyan conspiracy.
 
head of joaquin said:
It would be poetic justice for 2000.

And the rightwing noise machine would freak out and claim the electoral college is a communist/Kenyan conspiracy.
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So the Media will call the election in Florida for Romney before the west coast voters are done?

we never will know who won the popular vote in the USA in 2000 given a couple million or more votes were not counted in states where the absentee ballots would not overcome the existing margin. bugsy daily did everything possible to steal the election for the Gore Bot and he still lost
 
American said:
Bull****, I support the Constitution no matter who wins. What you're saying about the 2000 Florida business is bull****, and shows you have no idea what went on there. Start a thread and I'll talk to you about it.
Click to expand...

You didn't answer the question. The question is do you support keeping the electoral college or getting rid of it? If the Constitution is amended to get rid of it, then you're still supporting the Constitution. Or if the Constitution remains as is, but all 50 states split their electoral votes, that's still supporting the Constitution.

And what I wrote is accurate. I said the Florida votes were controversial. Are you saying the weren't? The votes were counted and there was no difference of opinion? LOL. That's not exactly what happened. The votes were counted and then a screaming fight ensued. That's a fact. That part is not a matter of opinion. The opinion part is the validity of the counts and recounts; and I specifically said that was another topic, that for this thread I'm assuming the Florida counts were legit.

Btw, it is a fact Gore won the popular vote nation wide. From Wikipedia:

The election was noteworthy for a controversy over the awarding of Florida's 25 electoral votes, the subsequent recount process in that state, and the unusual event of the winning candidate having received fewer popular votes than the runner-up.[2]
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United States presidential election, 2000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
American said:
Bull****, I support the Constitution no matter who wins. What you're saying about the 2000 Florida business is bull****, and shows you have no idea what went on there. Start a thread and I'll talk to you about it.
Click to expand...

I agree. I happen to love the electoral college. I find it a wonderful illustration of our federal system of respecting the sovereignty of individual states. Though I hated the results of 2000 election, I respected the outcome. I will not be hypocritical in similarly respecting the outcome of the 2012 re-election of Obama, in spite of the high probability that he loses the popular vote.
 
I forget who I told this to, but I would laugh kinda hard if we had another 2000, but Florida went for Obama instead of Mitt. I don't think it will, but the idea is humorous.
 
Luna Tick said:
... I will laugh SSSSSOOOOOOO hard! Back in 2000 Gore won the popular vote, but lost via the electoral college, though his electoral votes from Florida were highly controversial. However, this post is not about those Florida votes. It's about the electoral college. For the sake of argument, let's assume the Florida electoral votes were legit. I remember complaining both on Internet forums and in person about how unjust the electoral college is. Republicans extolled the virtues of the electoral college, saying it was representative democracy and it made smaller states not controlled by larger ones and certain ethnic groups more important and blah blah blah. Meanwhile no state seems to need an electoral college to elect their governors.

To me it's always seemed via simple logic that the person who gets the most votes of citizens should win and that the electoral college is unjust. Therefore Gore should have been president in 2000 even if those Florida votes were definitely calculated accurately.

What was really happening was Republicans were relieved that Bush got in via the electoral college; therefore they extolled its virtues. If Gore had gotten in the same way, they would have cursed it. You can claim otherwise, but that's so true. There were movements to kill the e-college, but the Republicans would not support it because they were so happy it got Bush into office instead of the man who got the most popular votes.

So this is the thread to state where you stand on the electoral college before the election happens. I'm bookmarking it. I'll state my position. I've always maintained that thing is unfair and should be done away with. However, it's not possible to change the law before this election. We do have to go by the current law for this election. Then we should get rid of it.

There are a couple options. One is a constitutional amendment to repeal it entirely and replace it with the popular vote. If that's not possible, the other option is to make the e-college more accurately represent the popular vote. States could one by one join the only 2 sane states in the country, Nebraska (go, Huskers) and Maine, who split their electoral votes based on the percentages of the popular vote. For example, Nebraska has 5 electoral votes and is a red state, but in '08 McCain got four of its e-votes and Obama got one. Every state should do it that way. We should get rid of this winner take all BS.

This is your chance to state your position before the election. Do you support keeping or getting rid of the electoral college?

If Romney loses via the e-college, despite getting more votes, and Republicans bitch, I'm going to laugh and laugh and laugh! I'll tell them, "Welcome to 2000 and how Democrats felt." The plus side will be if that happens it may finally be possible to get rid of the e-college or get states to split their e-votes.
Click to expand...

GWB didn't win because he got the votes of the electoral college.

GWB won because the Supreme Court handed him the election.
 
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