USPOL
I wonder, for the people that want to get rid of the electoral college: Some states have marginalized voters because of a presumption of going for one party or the other. (NY, NJ, CA, MS, AL etc) Instead of eliminating the electoral college, why not get rid of "winner take all" in those states, and make candidates work for every one of those electoral votes? It could make those districts in the middle of the spectrum, even in otherwise decided states, worth fighting for.
USPOL
@Matter True, but my idea could be done without changing the U.S. constitution, and by reducing the granularity of the races, it would decrease the likelihood of that happening. (Working on jerrymandering, and reducing the possibility of faithless electors would help too)
USPOL
@murph you don't need to change the US constitution, there's this compact between states that would in practice make the vote be popular if enough states sign on
USPOL
@benjaminpaikjones @Matter Seems like it would decrease the state's weight in the election, in favor of the voters. So, yes, harder to get through state legislatures.
USPOL
@Matter Couldn't that also disenfranchise voters, making each state winner-take-all, but for the collective group of states? If your state joined on, and voted overwhelmingly opposite all the other states in the compact, those votes would again not count? I'm not sure that seems better, in my opinion.
USPOL
@murph That would be better I think. But you could still have an election where the candidate that wins the popular vote doesn't get the presidency.