A.G. Gancarski
For some years now, Democrats have complained about the Electoral College.
The rap on the institution, in place since the Constitutional Convention, is that a candidate (Al Gore or Hillary Clinton, for example) could win the popular vote but lose in the Electoral College.
The apportionment formula rewards smaller states on a per capita basis, essentially disenfranchising voters in larger states, including Florida.
However, a Republican Senator seeks a memorial bill defending the institution.
SR 1458, filed by Ocala Sen. Dennis Baxley, posits that to “consider the abolishment of the Electoral College, in which Florida has 29 electors, would further enable the destruction of the remaining balance of power between the 50 states and the Federal Government and effectively dissolve the United States constitutional republic.”
Such an erosion would be accelerated by the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
This existential threat to elections as currently conducted has been enacted by 16 states with 196 electoral votes, putting it just 74 votes away from taking effect.
As well, the filing contends that the national popular vote movement would lead inexorably to a nonrepresentative, even un-American pool of voters: “The enactment of a bill implementing the NPVIC opens the door to an ever-increasing problem of votes being cast by illegal voters, thereby creating a vastly inaccurate representation of bona fide United States citizens.”
Florida has been, like few other states, a general election battleground in recent years.
The 2016 election was decided in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump by roughly 100,000 votes.
And few who were alive at the time will forget the 2000 recount between Gore and George W. Bush, decided by just a few hundred votes.
Ironically or not, the Electoral College helps to ensure that, at least for the foreseeable future, Florida will be that battleground state.
14 comments
jon
January 6, 2020 at 10:39 pm
democrats hate losing
Edward freeman
January 9, 2020 at 9:25 am
Democrats hate Republicans cheating and illegally clinging to their fading power that a majority of Americans clearly reject
John
January 9, 2020 at 9:31 am
The msm propaganda machine is more effective in high density populated city centers. Hence this madness of socialism concentrated thrre.
Edward Freeman
January 9, 2020 at 1:07 pm
There are few countries that practice a true form of either capitalism or socialism. The country that comes the closest to pure capitalism is probably Somalia. The countries that comes the closest to pure socialism are Iceland, Norway or Sweden. Which would you prefer to live in? I’ve never been to Somalia, so I can’t say for sure. However, I have been to Sweden, Norway and Iceland. They are a hell of a lot better than the US in many ways. Think for yourself. Stop believing everything you are told to believe by Fox “News”, or Donald Trump, or talk radio. Those clowns don’t even claim to be news anymore. They now categorize themselves as entertainment… What is MSM? Some kind of news outlet? I get my news mostly from newspapers everyday. I try to read the Wall Street Journal, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Post, the BBC and Der Spiegel everyday, but sometimes only get to 3 or 4..
Lee Kirkland
January 10, 2020 at 2:18 pm
Edward Freeman, if you don’t like it here, take your butt somewhere else. To see you post “Stop believing everything you are told to believe by Fox News or Donald Trump or Talk Radio” is hilarious. You Demoncrats are the perfect example of believing what you are told.
The Demoncrats put out Liberal Talking Points and even Key Words to try and lie to Americans. It is easy to see example of this when you see MULTIPLE Liberal News Sites or Reporters repeating “Key Words or Phrases” on each supposedly individual show. The Demoncrats are and have been liars and a clear and present danger to this nation. Only Liberal American Haters would defend the Killing of a Terrorist who has the blood of not only many Americans, but untold thousands of others in foreign countries.
We see Real Iranians who have posted or produced video’s thanking Trump and the United States for killing this TERRORIST who has murdered their people. But what do Liberals do?
They try to make the U.S. and Trump the bad guy. Can’t you idiots see how that makes this
Country look to those people who are being oppressed by these Terrorists and Dictators. To them, it appears that we don’t care about their condition. We want them to know that a Majority of Americans, Real Americans, do care. They ones who don’t are called Demoncrats.
Demoncrats are more dangerous to this nations than any Foreign Entity. Demoncrats are HELPING our enemies. I long for the day that the Democrat Party is abolished and dismantled for good. Demoncrats are full of hate and have had NOTHING to do with the economic health we are experiencing under Trump. Demoncrats have NOTHING to do with our stronger Military and Respect from other Countries. These countries may mouth off and talk but they RESPECT us and what we can do if they cross us. That was gone during the 8 horrible years of Obama and his “islam wannabe Government”. If you can’t see that this country is prospering under Trump with less unemployment for everyone, higher income and more jobs staying in THIS nation, your are either blind, stupid or just a Liberal kool-aide drinker (maybe just the last two) who cares about nothing but hurting this nation and it’s people. American People are waking up and now see how hatefilled the Demoncrats are and how untruthful they are constantly. I see a big win for Trump in 2020, with winning the Presidency, the House and the Senate. He won’t do it, but if I were Trump and the Republicans, with control of both houses and the POTUS, I would investigate every single Demoncrat in office for Four years and uncover ALL of their dirt. Trump is Driving Liberals crazy and I love it. THANKS TRUMP !!!!! MAGA 2020
Seber Newsome III
January 6, 2020 at 10:44 pm
Senator Baxley is a good man. We need more like him, instead of politicians with no backbones and courage, like he has.
Edward Freeman
January 7, 2020 at 7:51 am
HaHaHa,
There you have it, Senator Baxley is against democracy and one person, one vote. This resolution is beyond absurd. The entire reason that the Electoral College exist was to ensure that small slave holding states in the American south would join the union. It has long since outlived its usefulness for our democracy. Today it is solely a vehicle to propel the candidate who is the choice of a minority of voters to win. In other words it is the way Republicans are cheating American voters out of their prefered President. What other system in the entire world do we award a win to the contestant who performs the worst? Only once in the past seven presidential elections has the Republican candidate won a majority of the votes (2004 GW Bush won 50.7%). Republican don’t give a shit about the Electoral College, democracy or voters, they are simply trying to maintain their tenuous grip on ill gotten power.
Sand
January 7, 2020 at 9:30 am
Don’t forget all the illegals now can vote and in kalifornia they get paid health care that WE PAY! Money, money, money!
Preferred President? Not any Democratic runners unless you want to go green new deal. It doesn’t work in any country!Next election you can vote for your favorite AOC!
Edward Freeman
January 9, 2020 at 9:52 am
Sand,
I am so please that you have learned to string a sentence together. Your recovery from that massive stroke seems to be progressing nicely. Perhaps for your next step you should learn how to do a little research so you aren’t just parroting the lies of the loudest man in the country, the fraud and philanderer who is out President. You’ll find that A) no person is illegal, although some may be noncitizens or even in the country without documentation. In federal elections country-wide, only US citizens are allowed to vote. There are 3 cases nationwide of non-citizens attempting to vote and they were caught and not allowed to vote. The biggest case of Fraud was in North Carolina where a Republican congressional candidate literally threw away votes he didn’t like. That resulted in him being sent to prison and a new election had to be run. While I agree with you that everyone should get basic healthcare as it is a basic human right, we are not there yet in this country. Unlike in most of the rest of the world, non-citizens in the US are not eligible for health insurance, so they are forced to rely on emergency care, which is far more expensive and does end up costing taxpayers, but not just in California (which is spelled with a C not a K, I guess you still have some recovery to do), this is true in all states. Finally the Green New Deal hasn’t been tried in any country, but I guess you can be for climate change, more widespread wildfires and more destructive hurricane is you like, and you can be against higher wages, better education, a more equitable society if you want. It is a free country at the moment. You can be as stupid as you like.
Brian Shank
January 8, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Re: “The entire reason that the Electoral College exist was to ensure that small slave holding states in the American south would join the union.”
The representation each state has via electors in choosing the president exactly matches the representation each state has in the form of US Senators and House members when forging federal laws in the Congress. If slavery is the main motivation for the EC’s design, then is the Congress also designed to perpetuate slavery or cater to slavery or is that its purpose? This idea seems ludicrous considering that even if slavery had not existed, small states would have legitimate reasons to be concerned about joining a federation of larger states that would ignore them or their citizens.
Edward Freeman
January 9, 2020 at 9:22 am
Yes, that is true. Electoral Votes are the total number of Reps in a state plus the number of Senators (2 for every state). Therefore, each EV in Wyoming represents 190,794 people (572,381 people/3 EVs) while each EV in California represents 722,678 people (39,747,267 people/55 EVs). So if you believe in democracy and the concept of one man, one vote, then you need to go no further. You should be able to see blatant corruption of the Electoral College right there. As far as slavery being the prime motivation for the Electoral College, I refer you to the Federalist Papers, particularly No 10 and No 68. It you want a popular and more understandable recent-overview, you might enjoy this, https://www.vox.com/policy-and -politics/2016/11/12/13598316/donald-trump-electoral-college-slavery-akhil-reed-amar.
It is a basic premise of democracy that after some basic rights are ensured for all, the government and public policy should be guided and chosen by the majority. If it is chosen by some minority, then that is tyranny, not democracy.
Ricky Kirkland
January 10, 2020 at 2:39 pm
Brian, you are incorrect. The Electoral College was ratified in 1804 and the Civil War did not happen until 1861. I doubt the Electoral College was created for enticing Southern States with Slaves. Both the North and the South had Slaves in 1804.
John
January 9, 2020 at 9:41 am
Be careful for what you wish for, disestablishmentarianism may die out and the Church co-govern with the state.
John
January 9, 2020 at 9:34 am
The msm propaganda machine is more effective in high density populated city centers. Hence this madness of socialism concentrated thrre.
Comments are closed.