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California Senator Will Attempt to Abolish the Electoral College

Image result for barbara boxer new york times
via The New York Times

Last week, for the fifth time in US history, the winner of the presidential election did not win the popular vote. This has led to heightened conversation regarding the Electoral College, which is the system responsible for electing the President of the United States.

President-elect Donald Trump’s 2012 Twitter remarks bashing the Electoral College have recently resurfaced. Trump then labeled the system a “disaster for democracy” and cause for “revolution” — a stance on which he has obviously switched positions. Since Tuesday, those tweets have been deleted from his feed and replaced by ones tagging the Electoral College as “genius.”   

But California’s junior Democratic senator Barbara Boxer disagrees with the latter statement — so much so that she’s pushing to have the Electoral College abolished entirely.

Senator Boxer is introducing a bill that, if passed, would eliminate the Electoral College and thus require that the president be chosen based upon popular vote. She tweeted that she concurs with Trump’s 2012 attitude toward the system, writing, “In 2012, Donald Trump tweeted, ‘The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.’ I couldn’t agree more. One person, one vote!”

Boxer has also stated, “This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency. The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts.”

While some cite Hillary Clinton’s projected 2 million vote lead over Donald Trump as clear evidence against the Electoral College, others disagree, stating that its absence would result in rural areas being virtually ignored as candidates fought to win more votes in populated always-blue and always-red states. However, it can also be argued that with the current system, a minority vote in such states is essentially worthless, and that not all votes are cast equally — one vote in Alaska is technically worth more than one vote in California, for example.

So just how likely is an elimination of the Electoral College? In reality, the chances are slim. There have already been hundreds of proposals throughout the past two centuries to reform or abolish the system — more proposals, in fact, than there have been for any other type of Constitutional amendment. For such an amendment to be passed, it will need a supermajority vote in Congress and ratification from three-fourths of the states.

But, as we saw last week, even the most unexpected (and, in some cases, the most frightening) events can occur. Donald J. Trump was elected by the American people — albeit, not by the majority of them. And now only time can tell what exactly these next four years will bring.

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