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America’s Flawed Democracy
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Dear mhaze,
.
Thanks for your comment, mhaze. You raise an interesting point about the difference between the US Electoral College and the marginal seats in other electoral systems.
The US Electoral College is unique. It has no equivalent in any of the world’s other democratic countries.
Political parties did not exist when it was created in 1787. The drafters of the Constitution assumed that electors would vote according to their discretion, not the dictates of a state or national party. Today, most electors are bound to vote for their party’s candidate.
The assumption was that each elector’s vote would be counted. Over time, all but two states (Maine and Nebraska) passed laws to give all of their electoral votes to the candidate who won the state’s popular vote, erasing any semblance of individual elector independence.
There is no perfect electoral system, and I understand that the aim of our marginal seat and preferential voting processes is to produce electoral results as faithfully and as clearly and precisely as possible, based on the direct popular vote – which seems to me to be the major difference with the US electoral college system.
But, I don’t pretend to be an expert on such matters, mhaze, so please correct me if I am wrong.
.