"Our President is chosen by ourselves, directly in practice, for we vote for A as elector only on the condition he will vote for B …" -- Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1816.
Oct 27
“Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle”
~Thomas Jefferson
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Sat, 11/29/2008 - 9:50pm
The answer to your question yes. There have been times when the electoral college voted opposite of the popular vote. The most recent example of this is the 2000 election where Al Gore received 50,996,116 votes but lost to George W. Bush who received 50,456,169.
Mon, 11/10/2008 - 11:55am
I don't think that the Electoral College is fair to the people because the people are voting for nothing. (just wasting thier time). The Electoral College picks the president, not the people, but also most of the time the Electoral College picks the same prsident as the people do. Only three times in the United Stated that the Electoral College picked a different president than the people did. I do not think the Electoral College is fair to the United States citizens.
Your firend,
Jame More
Wed, 11/05/2008 - 7:17pm
There is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits the electoral college from voting contrary to the will of the people. However, it is left up to the states to lay down regulations on the electors. When one considers that one votes for a body of electors chosen by the party committees and no doubt thoroughly vetted, one realizes that it is highly unlikely that an elector would vote contrary to the will of the people.
There have been several instances in which one candidate won the popular vote but the other won more electoral votes; Lincoln, for example, won the election despite losing the popular vote, which, I venture to assert, was a good thing. There has never been an election in which the electors defied the will of the people.
~ Publia
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 10:23pm
Is there an opportunity for an electorial delegate to oppose the will of the people and vote for the candidate of his/her personal choice? Have there been elections where the popular vote went toward one candidate, but the electorial college voted differently?
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 12:49pm
The Electoral College acts as an equalizer. Otherwise, the value of the people’s votes of the greater populations in, for example the Northeast or California, would outweigh the value of the people’s votes cast in those lesser populated states. The wisdom of our Founding Fathers recognized this probable inequity, and created the Electoral College to ensure the value of each individual vote and that the Electoral College must be guided by the vote of the people in their state/region. Therefore, constitutionally, the will of the people is represented. Brilliant! An American in Florida
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:30am
Yes, the Electorial College represents the will of the people because the people (majority) chose the representatives to make policy for us. We can't start second guessing something because our candidate didn't get chosen. This question has only recently come to light because some party's candidate did not get chosen and that party is sour grapes about it.
We must learn to be responsible citizens and stand by our choices, no matter what the outcome.
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:12am
How so? We vote don't we? Combined we all elect the president. It may not be the one we vote for, but still.
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 9:16am
Direct popular election of government leaders has historically been one of the elements of the tool of tyrants and led to the violent downfall of government.
The USSR had a direct system by which their head of government was elected -- unfortunately there was only one name on the ballot to vote for. Even then people were compelled to cast their ballots even though there was no choice. Areas that failed to reach a certain level of participation were punished.
Our founders recognized the problems with direct, popular election and preserved us from that evil.
LeRoy Paul; A man born out of time!
Wed, 10/29/2008 - 10:38am
But it's not a one to one ratio, so no, the President is not "directly" chosen by us.
(Probably a good thing. maybe.)
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