Actually recent polls show that ~54% of Americans want the POTUS to be elected by pop. vote, while only 30% want to keep the current EC system as is. The 14 states plus the D of C that support the compact have 189 EC votes on their side and 270 are needed to make it go into effect. I won't be surprised to see these numbers grow in favor of the compact even though Trump will harp against it, assuming he even understands it that is.
That's right after an election where the numbers were reversed (that is where the NPV produced a different winner than the EC). Assuming the next election doesn't result in the same reversal, people will forget about it then. It's seen as a fluke. It's only happened in 1888, 2000 and 2016 (some people also include 1824 and 1876 but I think those are bad examples, since in 1824 1/3 of the electors were appointed and in 1876 a special commission appointed by Congress decided the election).
My problem with this is that it's unconstitutional. It clearly states in Article I Sec 10, no state may enter into a compact/agreement with each other without the consent of Congress. Suppose a bunch of electors who couldn't stomach voting for the popular vote winner, instead of their original pledge, decided to refuse to obey these laws and cited that as their reason, and took it to court? Right in the middle of an election? Can you imagine what a legal and constitutional mess that would be?
Only if you ascribe to the dictatorship principal where the President controls everything, and Congress has no say.
Can you clarify that please?
There are a lot of presidential republics where the president is elected by direct popular vote. But they're not exactly countries I think we need to "catch up with" for various reasons. Many are military juntas now and then, or have only recently had democracy restored. I'm not ascribing that to the electoral college, or the lack thereof in those countries, but I am saying that Omni seems to be falling victim to the ad populam fallacy.
Home
Contact
Login
Register