Changes to how we elect President and Vice President?
July 29th 2010 22:02
“The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.
Under the law, which was enacted by the House last week, all 12 of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally. But the bill would take effect only if enough states adopted the legislation to combine for at least 270 electoral votes, the amount needed to win the presidency. Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington have adopted the legislation. If enough states pass the legislation, the candidate winning the most votes nationally would be assured a majority of Electoral College votes.
Opponents say the current system works. They are concerned about a possible scenario in which Candidate X wins nationally, but Candidate Y has won in Massachusetts. In that case, all the state's 12 electoral votes would go to Candidate X, the candidate who was not supported by Massachusetts voters” (Finucane, 2010).
The above change to me appears to be in violation of the United States Constitution
Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution states:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector
“Article II, Section 1, Clause 4 of the Constitution states:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution provided for the original fashion by which the President and Vice President were to be chosen by the electors. Unlike the present system, each elector voted for two people for President, rather than one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. To become President, a candidate had to have more votes than any other and must have received votes from a majority of the electors. After the choosing of the President, the person with the most electoral votes among the remaining candidates would become the Vice President. If no one received a majority of the votes, the decision would be made by the House of Representatives.”
From what I have read of the Constitution (and if you haven’t read it please take the time to do so. Here is a URL so that you can read the Constitution Really Long Link The design of the Electoral College was based upon several assumptions and anticipations of the Framers of the Constitution:
1.Every state would use a district system of assign electors.
2.Each presidential elector would apply private judgment when voting.
3.Nominees or Candidates would not pair together on the same ticket with the understanding that their name would be submitted for the office of President and Vice President.
4. The system as designed would rarely produce a winner, thus sending the election to Congress.
The Electoral College, overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and it is not an actual college or a place. Simply the Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. So with this going to the popular vote does that corrupt a system that has been working for over 200 years? Does this mean that places where people have been intimidated? Such as Philadelphia with the Black Panthers, the SEIU or those who have been known to register people who are not allowed to vote such as prisoners, illegal immigrants and dead people. We know this has happened. If this is unconstitutional based on the sections I have provided how come the government cannot sue them but can sue Arizona for trying to defend itself? It is hard to know what is right here but this process has worked for so many years so why are we changing now. I find it interesting that the states who have made the change are all blue states which are strong democratic states. This is an observation that I think you should be aware of.
References:
Finucane, M. (2010) Lawmakers OK winner-take-all bill Patrick gets measure to bypass Electoral College for president, Globe -
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