2 Mar 2018 Would You Change The Electoral College?

Would You Change The Electoral College?

It will be interesting to see if there is enough voter input for Congress to have a Constitutional Convention. This is required in order to make changes to the Constitution. Since the Republicans were the beneficiaries of two elections where their candidate won the presidency and not the popular vote I highly doubt they will start the process.

The challenge that Congress fears is if convention is held, more than the Electoral College will be discussed. Term limits will be right up there. In fact, I would bet it would pass first because the people would support it. I do think Congress would put in language that would state that term limits will only take affect when a current member of Congress leaves. That is, they could stay in as long as they get reelected.

Back to the electoral college. If it is done away with, then the sparsely populated states like North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas would not see the presidential candidates. It would not be worth the investment in time and money. Candidates could pick up more votes in metropolitan Los Angeles than most of the small populated states combine.

California, Texas, New York, and Florida would get the most attention. Is this good for democracy? For presidential vote I would say yes. The smaller states would have to combine forces in the Senate to have power. And if term limits are passed, then limited seniority rules would apply. A congressman or senator from a small population state can wield an enormous power if he or she has many terms in Congress. They get to be Committee Chairman. The rules given the chairman have great discretion on what legislation comes out of his or her committee. I don’t agree with this at all. Each Person in Congress should have equal power, especially in the House of Representatives. Each house member has the same number of constituents.

Term limits and seniority rules would have a bigger impact on national politics than removal of the Electoral College.  However, ending the Electoral College would benefit Democrats more than Republicans.