We have never had so much confusion in a presidential election as we do now. When Trump won the electoral college in 2016 by 306 to 232, he called it a ‘massive landslide’, but now Biden is ahead by the same numbers and Trump won’t accept it. The electoral college vote is one of the reasons for this. Most American’s support the elimination of the Electoral College, yet there is a lot of political pressure to keep it. According to the Pew Research Center, the Democrats represent about a 5% greater majority than Republicans. If this trend continues, the Electoral College is the Republicans only way home.
Fifteen states have passed laws that their state would go with the popular vote. These states make up 196 electoral votes. We just need a few more states (11 states are currently trying to enact legislation) enough to represent 80 electoral votes and the problem goes away.
We pride ourselves on being a democracy, yet many American’s feel (correctly) that their vote is inconsequential. 96% of campaign events occur in just 12 states, because the voters in other states don’t matter. It’s essential that we have a system that allows every vote to count and the people understand that and vote.
Only two countries have anything like our electoral college: Pakistan (population 220,892,000) Vanuatu (population 307,000).
Per attached 34 states have voted the same in the past 6 presidential elections.
Gerrymandering is another big problem. Republicans have “packed” and “cracked” communities of color to dilute the power of their vote. By designing the system to reduce Democratic representation and keep incumbents in office, gerrymandered maps minimize the power of people of color to influence elections. Every vote should count equally in a democracy.
Biden won the popular vote by about 8%, that is a ‘massive landslide.’ The country should not have to go through this confusion and have to wait until December 14th for resolution. Now is the time to eliminate the electoral college.
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Barry Segal
Founder
Barry started Focus Autism in 2009 to advocate for vulnerable children who were more susceptible to developing chronic illnesses after being exposed to environmental toxins and other immunological triggers. In 2015, Focus for Health expanded its mission to include addressing how social determinants of health increase vulnerability to disease and ending child sex abuse.
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