To continue…Using 2013 Census numbers, the US has a total population of 316,128,839. Those top eight happen to have a population among them of 36,829,512. That means the eight most powerful states, which account for a little less than 12% of the population, have a collective Vote Power of 1278, whereas the eight least powerful states, which includes California, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but also DC, Hawaii, and Alabama, account for nearly 29% of the population, but have a collective vote power of 13.6.
To put it simply, the voters in a few tiny states get two and a half times the votes of people in more populated states in presidential elections. I don’t think this is what the Founders had in mind.
If we went to a straight one-person-one-vote for presidential elections, we’d actually have a much better representation of the will of the people than the Electoral College currently provides. A number of states have taken initiative to change the game and lock in electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote, which requires no changes to the Constitution but adds a lot more of the voice of the people.
QED.
Oh, and by the way — referring to more populated states that may lean leftwards as “mob rule” has a nasty little assumption built into it. Mobs are just as likely — or perhaps more so — in smaller right-wing states, as any cursory examination of the history of lynchings will tell you…see the article below, for example.
To continue…Using 2013 Census numbers, the US has a total population of 316,128,839. Those top eight happen to have a population among them of 36,829,512. That means the eight most powerful states, which account for a little less than 12% of the population, have a collective Vote Power of 1278, whereas the eight least powerful states, which includes California, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but also DC, Hawaii, and Alabama, account for nearly 29% of the population, but have a collective vote power of 13.6.
To put it simply, the voters in a few tiny states get two and a half times the votes of people in more populated states in presidential elections. I don’t think this is what the Founders had in mind.
If we went to a straight one-person-one-vote for presidential elections, we’d actually have a much better representation of the will of the people than the Electoral College currently provides. A number of states have taken initiative to change the game and lock in electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote, which requires no changes to the Constitution but adds a lot more of the voice of the people.
QED.
Oh, and by the way — referring to more populated states that may lean leftwards as “mob rule” has a nasty little assumption built into it. Mobs are just as likely — or perhaps more so — in smaller right-wing states, as any cursory examination of the history of lynchings will tell you…see the article below, for example.
http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/24/10-american-states-with-the-most-lynchings-of-black-people-from-1882-1968/