Why does the Electoral College still exist

 

First Electoral College law?

Four Republicans

 Why does the Electoral College still exist, despite its contentious origins and awkward fit with modern politics?

The party in power typically benefits from the existence of the Electoral College; the minority party has little chance of changing the system because a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds supermajority in Congress plus ratification by three-fourths of the states. 

"All four cheaters were republicans"!

Rutherford B. Hayes

The Republican governor of Ohio

Tilden won 184 electoral votes — one shy of the number needed to win — to Hayes’ 165 votes. However, the election was riddled with voter fraud and suppression in the post-Civil War south. After the election, the validity of the votes in Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina and Oregon was challenged.

Benjamin Harrison (1888)

The election of Benjamin Harrison, an Indiana Senator and Republican, over Democratic President Grover Cleveland was also riddled by corruption. Both parties were accused of using “floaters” 

George W. Bush

It took 112 years for there to be another election where the victor won fewer popular votes. In 2000, Vice President Al Gore took on George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and the son of the 41st President. Bush won 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266 votes, but Gore won 500,000 more popular votes.

The election was so close in Oregon and New Mexico that the victor wasn’t called for a few days, but the real test came in Florida. The race was so close that Florida law required the votes to be recounted, and then the Florida Supreme Court further ordered that ballots in four counties needed to be counted again. However, on Dec. 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 that the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling was unconstitutional because not counting ballots by uniform methods violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

trump

Taking in 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227 votes.

However, Clinton took in 2.8 million more popular votes.

While the full impact of the election remains to be seen, it quickly generated conversation — especially among Democrats — about changing the Electoral College.

Clinton had called for the abolition of the Electoral College after Gore’s 2000 loss. She reiterated this position after her own defeat.

Love and blessings from

Creator to You All

Shechaim Ohjieshan