Continuing the drama of the 2016 presidential election campaign, the electoral college, a unique staple of the American democracy began on Monday, to meet in their respective state capitals, and cast their votes, for either the president elect, Donald Trump, or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Much like the campaign, which began, seemingly, years ago, this aspect is not without controversy, as it, at least in the last few decades has chosen candidates who have lost the popular vote, most Democrats, notably Al Gore in the 2000 election, and now Clinton.
While no one seriously believes that the vote will tilt away from Trump to Clinton, it has given the atmosphere a highly charged atmosphere, of both partisanship and party loyalty, in what was one of the most divisive elections since 1800, which galvanized our current two party dyad, of Republican and Democrat, and the demise of the Federalist party. It also ushered in the tradition of negativity in U.S. politics that is almost expected, and nearly welcomed by the electorate.
There are 538 electors who are generally, though not always, party stalwarts either holding elective office, or significant financial donors. They make a single vote, and that vote is certified (on Jan. 6th) with 6 documents, and can also be objected to by lawmakers, one for the House of Representatives and one from the U.S. Senate. With the exception of 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, where they are required to vote for the candidate that won the popular vote, the rest are free agents. Those who don’t comply, are called faithless electors.
Trump received 306 electoral votes in the election and Clinton got 232, numbers that are strong enough to help him win, and her lose. But, he won no mandate, with exactly 56.9 percent of the electoral votes received; the 44th largest popular loss in 54 presidential elections, since 1804.
This is not the slimmest margin of victory in the electoral college in the last few decades that belonged to George W Bush with 50.4 percent and then, closer to Trump, was John F. Kennedy with 56.4 percent of the vote over Richard Nixon, in the 1960 election, mostly based on negative reactions to his Roman Catholicism.
While many Clinton supporters, and/or Trump Haters, want the electors to vote for Clinton, the established process would require that the decision be made in the House, for President, and the Senate for the Vice-President. And, with a Republican dominated Congress, it’s unlikely that they would vote for Clinton.
As of mid afternoon on Monday, Trump was sweeping Georgia with the entire lot of 16 electoral votes. And in some areas, Georgia included there has been some deviation, notably Baoky Vu who departed from the GOP majority, and was forced to resign.
Grabbing social media has been liberal outrage, and even anger, at the continuing existence of the College, what President Obama ruefully described as a “vestige” at his last press conference. He also said, to the disappointment of some, that there could be an alignment that would work for Democratic candidates. Speaking from the White House, Obama said: “But the truth of the matter is that if we have a strong message if we’re speaking to what the American people care about, typically the popular vote and the Electoral College vote will align.”
Many Democrats and independent party leaders, and members are calling for the elimination of the college. The president's reply to these wishes was: “If we look for one explanation, or one silver bullet or one easy fix for our politics, then we’re probably going to be disappointed,” he said. “There’s just a lot of factors in what’s happened - not just over the last few months but over the last decade that’s made both politics and governance more challenging.”
Any change would require a constitutional convention of the states and a three quarter vote in approval by them, another unlikely event. What most have called for is a requirement that all electors be required to vote for the candidate that most won the popular vote, to sidestep the above scenario.
Some have also objected to an implicit racism inherent in the purpose of the college, and while there is some historicity to this -Alexander Hamilton, was no fan of a popular vote; the requirements of landhilding white men to vote was an issue, since black slaves were inherently denied the vote, as were women.
James Madison the creator of the famous Federalist papers admitted, in a 1787 speech, that Negroes created “difficulties of a serious nature.”
His solution was to created the model that we use today: “Each state has a number of electoral votes roughly proportioned to population and the candidate who wins the majority of votes wins the election.” And, in response, “Madison knew that the North would outnumber the South, despite there being more than half a million slaves in the South who were their economic vitality, but could not vote. His proposition for the Electoral College included the “three-fifths compromise,” where black people could be counted as three-fifths of a person, instead of a whole. This clause garnered the state [Virginia] 12 out of 91 electoral votes, more than a quarter of what a president needed to win, noted Paul Finkelman, visiting law professor at University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
The resulting inequality of votes continued, and in its shadows were states that were able to place their restrictions on the votes of blacks, despite continued amendments that freed slaves and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Now, all of the opposition, anger, and digging through the history books is moot, as at Monday’s end Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the electoral votes, as he heads to the presidency, and his Jan. 20 swearing in as the 45th president of the United States.
Much like the campaign, which began, seemingly, years ago, this aspect is not without controversy, as it, at least in the last few decades has chosen candidates who have lost the popular vote, most Democrats, notably Al Gore in the 2000 election, and now Clinton.
While no one seriously believes that the vote will tilt away from Trump to Clinton, it has given the atmosphere a highly charged atmosphere, of both partisanship and party loyalty, in what was one of the most divisive elections since 1800, which galvanized our current two party dyad, of Republican and Democrat, and the demise of the Federalist party. It also ushered in the tradition of negativity in U.S. politics that is almost expected, and nearly welcomed by the electorate.
There are 538 electors who are generally, though not always, party stalwarts either holding elective office, or significant financial donors. They make a single vote, and that vote is certified (on Jan. 6th) with 6 documents, and can also be objected to by lawmakers, one for the House of Representatives and one from the U.S. Senate. With the exception of 29 states, plus the District of Columbia, where they are required to vote for the candidate that won the popular vote, the rest are free agents. Those who don’t comply, are called faithless electors.
Trump received 306 electoral votes in the election and Clinton got 232, numbers that are strong enough to help him win, and her lose. But, he won no mandate, with exactly 56.9 percent of the electoral votes received; the 44th largest popular loss in 54 presidential elections, since 1804.
This is not the slimmest margin of victory in the electoral college in the last few decades that belonged to George W Bush with 50.4 percent and then, closer to Trump, was John F. Kennedy with 56.4 percent of the vote over Richard Nixon, in the 1960 election, mostly based on negative reactions to his Roman Catholicism.
While many Clinton supporters, and/or Trump Haters, want the electors to vote for Clinton, the established process would require that the decision be made in the House, for President, and the Senate for the Vice-President. And, with a Republican dominated Congress, it’s unlikely that they would vote for Clinton.
As of mid afternoon on Monday, Trump was sweeping Georgia with the entire lot of 16 electoral votes. And in some areas, Georgia included there has been some deviation, notably Baoky Vu who departed from the GOP majority, and was forced to resign.
Grabbing social media has been liberal outrage, and even anger, at the continuing existence of the College, what President Obama ruefully described as a “vestige” at his last press conference. He also said, to the disappointment of some, that there could be an alignment that would work for Democratic candidates. Speaking from the White House, Obama said: “But the truth of the matter is that if we have a strong message if we’re speaking to what the American people care about, typically the popular vote and the Electoral College vote will align.”
Many Democrats and independent party leaders, and members are calling for the elimination of the college. The president's reply to these wishes was: “If we look for one explanation, or one silver bullet or one easy fix for our politics, then we’re probably going to be disappointed,” he said. “There’s just a lot of factors in what’s happened - not just over the last few months but over the last decade that’s made both politics and governance more challenging.”
Any change would require a constitutional convention of the states and a three quarter vote in approval by them, another unlikely event. What most have called for is a requirement that all electors be required to vote for the candidate that most won the popular vote, to sidestep the above scenario.
Some have also objected to an implicit racism inherent in the purpose of the college, and while there is some historicity to this -Alexander Hamilton, was no fan of a popular vote; the requirements of landhilding white men to vote was an issue, since black slaves were inherently denied the vote, as were women.
James Madison the creator of the famous Federalist papers admitted, in a 1787 speech, that Negroes created “difficulties of a serious nature.”
His solution was to created the model that we use today: “Each state has a number of electoral votes roughly proportioned to population and the candidate who wins the majority of votes wins the election.” And, in response, “Madison knew that the North would outnumber the South, despite there being more than half a million slaves in the South who were their economic vitality, but could not vote. His proposition for the Electoral College included the “three-fifths compromise,” where black people could be counted as three-fifths of a person, instead of a whole. This clause garnered the state [Virginia] 12 out of 91 electoral votes, more than a quarter of what a president needed to win, noted Paul Finkelman, visiting law professor at University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
The resulting inequality of votes continued, and in its shadows were states that were able to place their restrictions on the votes of blacks, despite continued amendments that freed slaves and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Now, all of the opposition, anger, and digging through the history books is moot, as at Monday’s end Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the electoral votes, as he heads to the presidency, and his Jan. 20 swearing in as the 45th president of the United States.
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