Tag: electoral college

The Congress May Choose the Next President of the United States

This would be a frightening situation. 270towin is a web site that provides a map where you can guess which states will be won by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. By accident I entered the states shown here as won by the two candidates. The result came out to 269 for each. The scenario I suggest is not beyond logic.

269-for-each

 

What happens if there is a tie? Congress will make the choice. The Congress meets in joint session on January 6, 2017 to count the electoral votes (this count happens whether the election is close or not). If no candidate has reached 270 Electoral Votes, then the House and Senate take over and elect the President and Vice-President, respectively. Note that the newly elected Congress will be sworn in on January 3, 2017. It is that new Congress that takes on this responsibility. If each states gets one vote the winner would be Donald Trump as more states have a majority of Republican congressional districts in the current session and that is unlikely to change.

America’s Election System is Rigged to Protect Those in Power

Donald Trump is correct when he says the system is rigged. The United States system of government was created in a way that the wealthy and well positioned will continue to dominate the country in all ways. It was after a wealthy group of people who called the Continental Congress together. The most famous names were all at least well off if not very rich. Benjamin Franklin owned a successful printing business, John Adams was a well known and successful lawyer, Thomas Jefferson was the owner of a large plantation, George Washington was the owner of a large plantation, and John Hancock was the owner of a large shipping company. Not all of those signing the Declaration of Independence also signed the United States Constitution but none were poor.

Those signers had at least one thing in common. They wanted a government that protected them from kings and dictators and also protected their way of life and their wealth.

To ensure that the population would not overturn their preferred form of government they created the electoral college. They gave the state legislatures the power to select their representatives in the United States Senate (later changed to a popular vote by the people). They gave the states the power to determine the boundaries of their congressional districts.

Take a look at your congressional district maps. Here is a link to the 10 most gerrymandered congressional districts.

                   North Carolina-12th disrict

Gerrymandered district

The consequence of the presidential selection process has resulted in two elections where the winner did not receive a majority of the popular vote.

In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected president despite not winning either the popular vote or the electoral vote. Andrew Jackson was the winner in both categories. Jackson received 38,000 more popular votes than Adams, and beat him in the electoral vote 99 to 84.

In 2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of the general election and became the 43rd president, but he didn’t win the popular vote either. Al Gore holds that distinction, garnering about 540,000 more votes than Bush. However, Bush won the electoral vote, 271 to 266.

Most states give the total winner of their state 100% of their electors voting for president. The electors are not proportionately assigned. The consequence is that the states with the highest populations could determine the outcome of the election. In Real Clear Politics current surveys Hillary Clinton has a likely lead with 209 electors from 11 states versus Donald Trump with 164 electors from 11 states.

If Donald Trump loses the election in November he will say the system is rigged. He will be correct. The system protects us from the extremists.