California's attempt to end run the Constitution

[bobman0330]

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A useless anachronism that prevents a handful of large cities from usurping control of the Federal Government.

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Well, as long as we're not scaremongering. I've never heard someone claim the undemocratic nature of the EC as it's main virtue.

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Read the Federalist papers.

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I read Federalist 68, discussing the election of the president, and I didn't see what you're referring to. There was a bit about the supposed greater deliberative power of a body of electors, but no antimajoritarian sentiment. Care to be clearer?

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The Constitution in fact leaves the means of choosing electors to the states. There is no requirement in the constitution that the electors vote for the winner of the popular vote in that state or that there even be a popular vote. Electors could be chosen by the legislator, appointed by the governor, or selected by a lotter from all the citezens of that state, without violating the Constitution.

So the movement to have states assign their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of whether you think it's a good idea or not, is perfectly contitutional.

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I think there are a lot of problems with this proposal. For one thing, there is no official tabulation oif the "national popular vote". Of course, it's not that hard to add up the results of the 50 states, but there is still a question of what happens in a close, disputed election. There is also the hypothetical question of what happens if one or more states choose not to hold a popular vote for president. Although I think it is extremely unlikely that this would happen, there is nothing in the federal Constitution that requires a state to hold a popular vote for president. This makes the awarding of a state's electoral votes dependant on too many factors not under the control of that state.

I would support a constitutional ammendment for a direct popular vote for president, provided that a majority is required to win the presidency, with a runoff in the event that no candidate has a majority. I would not support any proposal that would allow direct popular election of the president by a minority of the vote.