remove electoral college

Today is just a quickie post, maybe more later. One of my friend's LJ reminded me of this, and while researching a bit more, I found this site: http://www.petitiononline.com/21ecr/petition.html.

For those who don't know, I hate the electoral college. It's an idea who's time was past a long time ago. Just for a quick reminder of why the electoral college needs to go away, here's a few thought:

The members are actually chosen by each political party at their conventions, so we know therefore how completely open minded they will be to the other party's candidate, or to independent parties.

The college was put in place in part to keep the vote in the hands of the educated elite rather than the uneducated majority.

the college doesn't have to vote that way the people in the state voted. In fact, according to this site: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#meaningful, the following states have no laws at all to determine how the college's vote is in comparison to the popular vote:

No Legal Requirement
Electors in these States are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:

ARIZONA - 10 Electoral Votes ARKANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes DELAWARE - 3 Electoral Votes GEORGIA - 15 Electoral Votes IDAHO - 4 Electoral Votes ILLINOIS - 21 Electoral Votes INDIANA - 11 Electoral Votes IOWA - 7 Electoral Votes KANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes KENTUCKY - 8 Electoral Votes LOUISIANA - 9 Electoral Votes MINNESOTA - 10 Electoral Votes

MISSOURI - 11 Electoral Votes NEW HAMPSHIRE - 4 Electoral Votes NEW JERSEY - 15 Electoral Votes NEW YORK - 31 Electoral Votes NORTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes PENNSYLVANIA - 21 Electoral Votes RHODE ISLAND - 4 Electoral Votes SOUTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes TENNESSEE - 11 Electoral Votes TEXAS - 34 Electoral Votes UTAH - 5 Electoral Votes WEST VIRGINIA - 5 Electoral Votes

24 states, that's almost 1/2 of our country where the popular vote really doesn't count for anything. In other words, to that age old question of does your individual vote count; in these states, the answer is no.....

This is just one of the things I find wrong with our current political structure, however it really does point out how horribly wrong things could happen very easily. Without laws in place to force the college to vote the way the popular vote goes, a president can literally buy his way into office. There are laws in place in some states to punish those that break their pledge of good faith, but if a candidate can afford to pay more than the fine is worth, or you're in a state more the fines does exist, how much of a deterrent will a fine really be, eh? I recommend visiting this site for more information: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#meaningful

If you feel the same way that I feel, please let all your friends and family know the sites and information above! Feel free as well to copy any of the above into emails, LJ's blogs, etc.