Winner Take All and the Electoral College

[What Would Jesus Do?]

In the election of 1796, Federalist John Adams won, but Thomas Jefferson, who led the Democratic-Republicans (which were not the same as today’s Democrats or Republicans) was keenly aware that had Virginia given him all its electoral votes, rather than splitting them between him and Adams, he would have been president.

On January 12, 1800, Jefferson wrote to the governor of Virginia, James Monroe, urging him to back a winner-take-all system that awarded all Virginia’s electoral votes to the person who won the majority of the vote in the state.

Virginia made the switch. Alarmed, the Federalists in Massachusetts followed suit to make sure Adams got all their votes, and by 1836, every state but South Carolina, where the legislature continued to choose electors until 1860, had switched to winner-take-all.

more here

September 20, 2024

On September 16, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten wrote that while it’s “[p]retty clear that [Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala] Harris is ahead nationally right now… [h]er advantage in the battlegrounds is basically nil.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

 

[spiderland]

The Electoral College system is just so fvcked up. Tell me that the Framers envisioned and intended for a future where the US would be comprised of 50 states, and yet in election after election, only 6 of them would matter.

On second thought, forget those dudes. They lived two centuries ago, so their intent is really no longer relevant. No rational person can defend this system today.

 

[TJ8869]

To this day I wish that John Kerry had gotten another 120K votes in Ohio in 2004. He would have won the election by 2 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by 3 million.

It would have been hilarious to watch everyone switch their arguments 180 degrees in favor of their team. Republicans would have been raging against the EC and shouting that the popular vote winner should be President. And Democrats would have been defending the EC as a cornerstone of our Constitution.

 

[FAUlty Gator]

To this day I wish that John Kerry had gotten another 120K votes in Ohio in 2004. He would have won the election by 2 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by 3 million.

It would have been hilarious to watch everyone switch their arguments 180 degrees in favor of their team. Republicans would have been raging against the EC and shouting that the popular vote winner should be President. And Democrats would have been defending the EC as a cornerstone of our Constitution.

Like they’ve all done with tariffs.

 

[Jerome Silberman]

To this day I wish that John Kerry had gotten another 120K votes in Ohio in 2004. He would have won the election by 2 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by 3 million.

It would have been hilarious to watch everyone switch their arguments 180 degrees in favor of their team. Republicans would have been raging against the EC and shouting that the popular vote winner should be President. And Democrats would have been defending the EC as a cornerstone of our Constitution.

 

[Tom Paris]

To this day I wish that John Kerry had gotten another 120K votes in Ohio in 2004. He would have won the election by 2 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by 3 million.

It would have been hilarious to watch everyone switch their arguments 180 degrees in favor of their team. Republicans would have been raging against the EC and shouting that the popular vote winner should be President. And Democrats would have been defending the EC as a cornerstone of our Constitution.

I wouldn’t have. I would have laughed at the crying Republicans but I would have agreed with them.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

To this day I wish that John Kerry had gotten another 120K votes in Ohio in 2004. He would have won the election by 2 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote by 3 million.

It would have been hilarious to watch everyone switch their arguments 180 degrees in favor of their team. Republicans would have been raging against the EC and shouting that the popular vote winner should be President. And Democrats would have been defending the EC as a cornerstone of our Constitution.

What do you think about the EC? Personally, I think it's an idiotic system that disenfranchises tens of millions of voters. A national election where the winner could be decided by the vote in a single district in Nebraska is flatly stupid. You?

 

[Aardvark86]

As you know I am a big supporter of the ec but won’t repeat those arguments here.

I also like the no winner take all approach of ne and nh in that it retains the advantages of the ec while incenting attention to more places.

All that said, I don’t think much of the early historical analogs argument made here. To begin with, modern campaigns are totally unlike the early ones. Moreover, state popular vote margins were often just as big then now than they are now.