Your vote and the Electoral College

[Lupin_IV]

What is the electoral college?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)
roughly speaking, the electoral college is a group of people, per state based on a states population who's votes represent their state.

how do voters of the electoral college vote?

48 out of our 50 states employ a "winner take all" function. this process awards all electoral votes to the presidential candidate to whom the majority of the states voters vote for.

2 of our 50 states employ what some consider to be a fair tactic. these states award electoral votes per percent of the people each electoral vote counts toward. if the people vote half way, each candidate gets half the electoral votes.

for 27 of 50 states, there is state legislature making it unlawful for an electoral representative to vote with disregard to the population.

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html#restrictions

how many people does each elector represent?

the amount of electors and which states get more or less of them is decided every ten years.

the amount of electors is not exactly proportionate to a number of people and the fact that we are also a republic allows for this so we don't alienate entire states for having low or high populations. some states with very low populations will get very few electors while states with high populations get a large amount of electors. these numbers are disproportionate and place higher value on votes from lower population states.

the smaller your state, the more your vote counts toward the national popular vote. the larger your state, the less it counts toward national popular vote.

http://archive.fairvote.org/index.php?page=985




Your vote counts. discuss

[castigat ridendo mores]

It counts most in swing states.

[Lupin_IV]

castigat ridendo mores

It counts most in swing states.

now, "swing state" is an entirely temporary term meaning any state that has no candidate clearly winning. that means half the voters want 1 guy and the other half wants the other guy.

swing states should be important to us. you should always vote, but if you are in a swing state, you should especially vote. even if you have to vote for the lesser evil, always vote for what you think is best, and even if you lose, the government will know what the people want and how much they want it.


voting isn't about the president, it's about us.

[castigat ridendo mores]

Lupin_IV

castigat ridendo mores

It counts most in swing states.

now, "swing state" is an entirely temporary term meaning any state that has no candidate clearly winning. that means half the voters want 1 guy and the other half wants the other guy.

swing states should be important to us. you should always vote, but if you are in a swing state, you should especially vote. even if you have to vote for the lesser evil, always vote for what you think is best, and even if you lose, the government will know what the people want and how much they want it.


voting isn't about the president, it's about us.

You just made a long-winded iteration of what I just said (not counting the first and last bits).

[Raye Delvego]

Lupin_IV

What is the electoral college?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)
roughly speaking, the electoral college is a group of people, per state based on a states population who's votes represent their state.

how do voters of the electoral college vote?

48 out of our 50 states employ a "winner take all" function. this process awards all electoral votes to the presidential candidate to whom the majority of the states voters vote for.

2 of our 50 states employ what some consider to be a fair tactic. these states award electoral votes per percent of the people each electoral vote counts toward. if the people vote half way, each candidate gets half the electoral votes.

for 27 of 50 states, there is state legislature making it unlawful for an electoral representative to vote with disregard to the population.

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html#restrictions

how many people does each elector represent?

the amount of electors and which states get more or less of them is decided every ten years.

the amount of electors is not exactly proportionate to a number of people and the fact that we are also a republic allows for this so we don't alienate entire states for having low or high populations. some states with very low populations will get very few electors while states with high populations get a large amount of electors. these numbers are disproportionate and place higher value on votes from lower population states.

the smaller your state, the more your vote counts toward the national popular vote. the larger your state, the less it counts toward national popular vote.

http://archive.fairvote.org/index.php?page=985




Your vote counts. discuss

I think I actually learned something. I had no idea it was only 2 states that did the whole "half-way" thingy. I thought most of them did.

[Lupin_IV]

castigat ridendo mores

Lupin_IV

castigat ridendo mores

It counts most in swing states.

now, "swing state" is an entirely temporary term meaning any state that has no candidate clearly winning. that means half the voters want 1 guy and the other half wants the other guy.

swing states should be important to us. you should always vote, but if you are in a swing state, you should especially vote. even if you have to vote for the lesser evil, always vote for what you think is best, and even if you lose, the government will know what the people want and how much they want it.


voting isn't about the president, it's about us.

You just made a long-winded iteration of what I just said (not counting the first and last bits).

if it's not the first bit, and it's not the last bit.... it's the middle bit.

now, my second point hopefull illustrates an emphasis on what you want rather than 1 of two parties just winning. when that 50/50 is the entire point for the politicians, we need to make a second point. that second point isn't who is going to win, but that that 50/50 is not 50/50. it does not represent us. it represents the few that believe in those two people, we should vote for independants, we should vote for another dem or gop representative.

i find that voting for the single guy to win removes other potential candidates from future elections. if we vote for the winner and not what we want, the main parties will throw up what won last time and now what we want. like i said. it's not about the president. it's about us.