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Originally Posted by awpitt Yes, you’re right about that but keep in mind that the Electoral College was conceived in a time when it might take days, sometimes weeks, for information to reach all parts of the country. There was also a great disparity between the education levels of various parts of the population. We live in a different time now. Originally, the state legislatures chose the two US Senators for each state. That changed in 1913. The President was originally inaugurated in March. That changed in 1933. Until 1961, the District of Columbia didn’t have electoral votes. And, until 1967, if a president didn’t complete his term, we would be without a vice-president until the next election. I guess my point is that things change. We don’t live in the 18th century when the Constitution was written. We’re in different times with a better educated population and with technologies that didn’t exist back in the time of the Constitutional Convention. |
I agree with all you're saying here. I actually think it was a bad idea to go away from states legislatures picking the senators. There was a real fear of recall for a rogue senator. I agree we're at a higher technological stage, but I'm not sure people use that to educate themselves on candidates. Ask the next 20 people you run into who the sec of state, or president pro tempore of the senate, or speaker of the house is. I think you'll be sadly surprised at the answers you receive.
I like the electoral college, but I like even better allocating those votes in some representative breakdown of how the state actually voted.