Should the electoral college be changed?The electoral college electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, may be the least understood constitutional pillar of American government. That hasn't stopped activists from proposing a perhaps more complicated "fix" in nearly every state legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: The U.S. Constitution sets relatively strict requirements about who may serve as president and for how long. would get the most electoral college votes and earn control of the White House. Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. Professor John Koza developed the proposal, dubbed National Popular Vote, several years ago and helped come up with a game plan to get it submitted to legislatures across the country. The plan calls for states to enter into a binding interstate compact A voluntary arrangement between two or more states that is designed to solve their common problems and that becomes part of the laws of each state. Interstate compacts in the United States were first used by the American colonies to settle boundary disputes. . States that enter the compact by enacting the legislation would pledge their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who garners the most votes nationwide even if that candidate does not win in the state. Advocates of the plan cite polls showing that more than 70 percent of Americans want a voting system that awards the presidency to the person who wins the most votes nationally (contrary to the outcome of the 2000 race for the White House and two other previous presidential elections). The movement gained momentum in legislative sessions this year when Maryland became the first state to pass an enabling statute A law that gives new or extended authority or powers, generally to a public official or to a corporation. . In addition, the proposal has cleared legislative chambers in another six states--Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois and North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. . Critics of the plan argue that it will inevitably lead to a constitutional crisis when it gets challenged in court while America waits to learn who the president will be. They also maintain that it will result in presidential contenders ignoring less populated states and running only in the largest media markets capable of delivering enough total votes to put one candidate over the top. The U.S. Constitution clearly gives legislatures the authority to select delegates to the electoral college using any process they want. All states save two employ a "winner-take-all" system. Maine and Nebraska use a "district-based" system whereby candidates who win within the boundaries of each congressional district win the electoral vote for that district and the person winning statewide gets two additional electoral votes. It's definitely a quixotic quix·ot·ic also quix·ot·i·cal adj. 1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality. 2. effort given that many previous attempts to eliminate the college have come and gone. However, the National Popular Vote plan is a novel approach, and it continues to capture attention. |
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