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November 6, 2020

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A possible solution to the Electoral College

So this post is not about startups or venture capital. Rather is about the Electoral College. I have been thinking about ways to have it disappear as it truly in my view is a solution to a now non-existent problem. Sure, a problem existed in 1787, but, come on, that problem does not exist now. We should be electing our president by popular vote for, frankly, a ton of reasons. I am happy to debate those with you but not in this post.

Getting the Electoral College to evaporate completely would be challenging, and I doubt enough states (38) would ratify that. But how about an amendment to the Electoral College procedure so that it only was used in very close elections. For example, if the popular vote was X number or more in favor of a candidate, then the Electoral College would not be used. If the popular vote was less than X number it would be used. What should X number be? I honestly don’t know, but how about 3,000,000 for a good proxy.

Why do I think this is an idea worth considering? Here are some reasons:

  1. It would make candidates work really hard to get people to vote all across the country. It would maximize voter turn out. And that is a great outcome. The voter turnout for the current election is wonderful!
  2. It would truly make every voter feel like their vote counts!! Currently that is not the case. My vote was meaningless in the national election. I live in New York, not Georgia or Pennsylvania
  3. It would stop a small number of states from being overly targeted by candidates as the Electoral College mandates.
  4. It would be the epitome of a national election. We have taught the modern world democracy for heaven’s sake.
  5. It would enable a national voting system to be put in place assuming it could be done securely (I am way out of my league on this one – not even sure if this is practical).
  6. This solution is a compromise, and I think only a compromise has any chance of implementation and ratification by the states.

I am sure there are many more reasons. Have a great weekend. I love our country. And I am tired of public officials embarrassing us.

One thought on “A possible solution to the Electoral College”

  1. Zach – The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is probably the solution that you would most easily latch on to. You’ll see that New York is already signatory and with the current Blue Wave it is likely to get a few more states on board to get to the required 270 electoral college votes. Though I would be in the camp of “be careful what you wish for.” As simple as the idea of a national popular vote sounds, like most of the things our legislatures cook up with sound bite appeal, few voters have the patience to dig through the process issues to understand the unintended consequences that inevitably follow. https://bit.ly/3mYFRJw

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