I recognize that the new-found love of direct democracy in some circles is simply instrumental in nature. However, I wonder if they’ve thought the implications of electing the president by direct popular vote through.
What happens when the margin of error is greater than the margin of victory? Under such circumstances the winner is indeterminate.
If we were to adopt such a thing, the precise number of legitimate votes cast would become an issue of vital importance. We’d also need to adopt a national mandatory biometric voter ID.
I’ve seen estimates of the error in the popular vote on the order of 3-4% of the total. That includes ineligible voters, illegal multiple voting, outright fraud, tabulation error, etc.
One of the unappreciated effects of our Electoral College system is that the precise number of popular votes cast isn’t nearly as important as it otherwise might be.
Even with the EC, the statistical tie scenario is what happened in 2000 (with exactly the result that you discuss here.) It would happen much more frequently without the EC.
Nate Silver also tweeted that “The Electoral College serves to constrain financial & ground game advantages, because you encounter diminishing returns in the swing states.â€
This was in response to Trump’s claim that he would have won under a popular vote contest because he would have campaigned differently. Silver’s claim is interesting, but is essentially a variant of the argument that a truly national election would require more resources, bigger money in politics, more plutocratic.
A national recount would be a lot of fun!
There is no perfect answer, but we could at least make the ratio of voters to electoral vote consistent.
Steve
Had these same geniuses gotten their wish on the Senate filibuster, the future they are presently dreading would most likely be much worse. Since the dinosaur era Senators, even the Republican version, have a little more sense than their 21st Century counterparts, it it likely that it will remain even though it’s demise would greatly benefit the Republicans.
In the Electoral College, these 21st Century geniuses assume a steady-state as usual. First, young voters do not remain young. Living in your parents basement will become unpleasant for most leftists at some point. Second, there are a lot of the white voters that do not vote.
“Living in your parents basement will become unpleasant for most leftists at some point.”
But we have all those deplorables ODing on heroin and dying. Should even out.
Steve