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How long have we had this system? Since the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1787. That's a long time. Why change it now? State Senator Dominic Pileggi, who also happens to be the Senate’s Majority Leader, thinks Pennsylvania’s Electoral College system isn’t fair to all of the state’s voters. How does the Electoral College work in Pennsylvania? Pennsylvania has what’s called a “winner-take-all” system. The presidential candidate who receives the majority of votes across Pennsylvania wins all 20 electoral votes. What would Pileggi's plan do? Pileggi’s plan – which is called the Congressional District Plan (CDP) – breaks votes down by Congressional district. A presidential candidate would receive one electoral vote for each Congressional district where that candidate won the popular vote. On top of that, the candidate who receives the majority of the popular vote statewide would get two extra electoral votes. What's good about the CDP? CDP advocates say that the winner-take-all process doesn’t give any credit to people who vote for the losing candidate. In addition, cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with lots of voters can overwhelm smaller towns across the state. This ends up discouraging people from voting. Pileggi says that changing to the CDP would more accurately reflect the real wishes of Pennsylvanians and keep elections relevant here. Give me an example of how this would play out. Let’s take the 2008 presidential election. Barak Obama won the popular vote statewide, so in Pennsylvania’s winner-take-all system, he received all then-21 electoral votes and John McCain got none. If the CDP had been in place, here’s what would have happened: Since Obama won 9 Congressional districts and McCain won 10, Obama would have received 11 electoral votes (9 for each district he won plus 2 more for winning the statewide vote) and McCain would have received 10. https://www.seventy.org/publications/2011/...
Posted By: Steve Williams
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 11:24AM
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An Electoral College Reform Act ballot initiative (10-0024) was approved for circulation in California with a circulation deadline of July 5, 2011.[1]
Its sponsors did not submit any signatures to election officials by the deadline.
The Attorney General of California's office gave it a ballot title and summary on February 2, 2011.
The measure would have required 504,760 signatures to qualify for the state's 2012 ballot as an initiated state statute.[2]
If the Electoral College Reform Act had qualified for the ballot and been approved by the state's voters, it would have changed the way California allocates its presidential Electoral College votes. Currently, the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets all 55 of California's electoral college votes. The winner-take-all system would be replaced with one that awards 53 of the state’s 55 electoral votes individually to whichever presidential candidate gets the most votes in each congressional district.
The formal letter requesting a title and summary for the proposed initiative was signed by Ted Costa, and was received by the Attorney General of California's office on December 7, 2010. The working title of the proposed amendment was the "Electoral College Reform Act."
Proposed initiative 10-0024 would have amended the California Elections Code.
An initiative with the same objective, the California Presidential Electoral College Reform Initiative, was proposed, but ultimately did not qualify for, the state's June 2008 ballot.
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Elector...
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 11:29AM
Steve Williams
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Awarding Electoral Votes
All 50 states and the District of Columbia use one of two methods for awarding their electoral votes:
The Winner-Take-All System
In 48 states and the District of Columbia, when a candidate for president wins a state's popular vote, that party's slate of electors will be the ones to cast the vote for president of the United States in December. For example, Florida has 29 electoral votes. If Donald Trump wins the state’s popular vote on Nov. 8, the 29 electors nominated by the Republican Party in Florida will be selected. These 29 people will gather on Dec. 19 to cast their votes for president of the United States.
The District System
Maine and Nebraska are the only states that do not use a winner-take-all system. Instead, in these two states, one electoral vote is awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in each congressional district, and the remaining two electoral votes are awarded to the candidates receiving the most votes statewide. This is known as the district system. It is possible under the district system to split the electoral vote for the state. This happened in 2008 in Nebraska: Barack Obama won the electoral vote in the congressional district including Omaha, while John McCain won in the state's other two districts and won the statewide vote as well, securing the state's two at-large votes. Thus, when the Nebraska presidential electors met in December 2008, there were four Republican electors and one Democrat. That election was the first time Nebraska's electoral vote was split.
Reforming the Electoral College
In the years since the highly controversial 2000 presidential election, bills have been introduced in every state in the country to change the process for selecting electors. During the period of 2001-2006, most Electoral College reform bills proposed switching to the district system. None of these bills passed. In the years since, attention has largely shifted to the National Popular Vote (NPV). This is an idea that would allow states to bypass the Electoral College without amending the U.S. Constitution. When a state joins the NPV Compact, it promises that it will give all of its electoral votes to the party that wins the national popular vote, rather than the party that wins the state popular vote. For instance, if the Democratic candidate won the popular vote in California, but the Republican candidate won the popular vote nationwide, California would be required to send the Republican slate of electors to the meeting of the electors. The NPV has not yet taken effect; states with a total of at least 270 electoral votes must join before it can function. Read more about the National Popular Vote.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and...
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:09PM
Steve Williams
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Electoral College Reform Legislation
SUBJECT
another in the LINE of your racistlyIgnorant disrespectful blags......
1. Electoral College was developed by 18th Century Monarchist, Slavers, Rapists and THEIVES
2. Electoral College was developed by 18th Century 'whiteMales'
----- For BIA, an African American Family SITE.....
1. ELECTORAL College is NOT a COLLEGE, a place of Higher Learning
2. ELECTORAL College is a Remnant of stereotypical RACISTLY IGNORANT misconceptions......
3. ELECTORAL College MUST be ABOLISHED in 2016.....slavery was ABOLISHED in 1864....150+ YEARS ago
ps
You, steveAdamWilliams your FATE should before ... 20147..... ABOLISHMENT from BIA
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:16PM
robert powell
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Electoral College should not be abolished. It could be reformed either by state legislatures or U.S. Constitution amendment. I favor the latter.
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:25PM
Steve Williams
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Electoral College Reform Legislation
SUBJECT
AGAIN....2016 that RACISTLY IGNORANT Electoral 'college" MUST be ABOLISHED....no reform for Morons
but biaNeanderthal #1 continues this nonsense....
".....Electoral College should not be abolished. ...."
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:25PM
Steve Williams
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Ok, guy......SHOULD slaverAmericana 1776-1864 have been ABOLISHED?
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:32PM
robert powell
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The electoral college has to do with the balance between state governance and federal governance. It has NOTHING to do with your racist rant.
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:38PM
Steve Williams
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Electoral College Reform Legislation
SUBJECT
AGAIN....2016 that RACISTLY IGNORANT Electoral 'college" MUST be ABOLISHED....no reform for Morons
but biaNeanderthal #1 continues this nonsense.... by way of South Carolina Ft. Sumpter 1860
".....The electoral college.... the balance between state governance and federal governance. It has NOTHING to do with ...... racist rant....."
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:38PM
Steve Williams
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again, I did not START the racistlyIGNORANT arguments that you espouse in your selfProfessed 'whiteManISM'
BUT
USA Colonies, Territories and States from 1800+ were decided on RACIST ACTIONS.....Like the Civil War for the right of a STATE GOVERNMENT to enslave, torture, pedophile and murder Humans
These were ACTIONS....not rants....And to NOT ABOLISH an Institution that is not a 'college' ANYWAY is RACIST ENABLING of the PAST, olde 'whiteSupremacy' in 2016.....The Age of President Baraaka Hussein Obama
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 12:54PM
robert powell
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President-elect Donald Trump was able to hold Nebraska’s five electoral votes as a red-state bloc, preventing Democrat Hillary Clinton from securing the lone electoral vote available in the Omaha-area congressional district.
http://www.omaha.com/news/politics/trump-s...
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 1:19PM
Steve Williams
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In Maine, Clinton won 3 electoral votes and Trump won 1.
Saturday, November 12th 2016 at 1:24PM
Steve Williams
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Was the electoral 'college' SET up ORIGINALLY for slaveSTATES
.. to maintain slaverAmericana 1776-1864...CONSTITUTIONALLY?
.. to maintain the rape, torture, pedophilia and murder of AfricanAsians..CONSTITUTIONALLY?
.. to maintain your Misconceptions at an African American Family site 2016...CONSTITUTIONALLY?
Sunday, November 13th 2016 at 12:40PM
robert powell
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Do you mean because of the 3/5ths rule?
Sunday, November 13th 2016 at 3:31PM
Steve Williams
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How pitiful for the greatest election of our lifetime.
Sunday, November 13th 2016 at 3:56PM
Steve Williams
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But they are crying, crying and trashing the law of the land, 2016.
Sunday, November 13th 2016 at 3:58PM
Steve Williams
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Crying for the popular vote. Boo hoo.
Tuesday, November 15th 2016 at 4:11PM
Steve Williams
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Electoral College Reform: 111th Congress Proposals and Other Current Developments
Reform measures that would retain the electoral college in some form have included several variants. Most versions of these plans would (1) eliminate the office of presidential elector while retaining electoral votes; (2) award electoral votes automatically, that is, directly to the candidates, without the action of electors; and (3) retain the requirement that a majority of electoral votes is necessary to win the presidency. In common with direct election, most would also require joint tickets of presidential-vice presidential candidates, a practice currently provided by state law. The three most popular reform proposals include (1) the automatic plan, which would award electoral votes automatically on the current winner-take-all basis in each state; (2) the district plan, as currently adopted in Maine and Nebraska, which would award, also automatically, one electoral vote to the winning ticket in each congressional district in each state, and each state’s two additional electoral votes awarded to the statewide popular vote winners; and (3) the proportional plan, which would award, here again, automatically, each state’s electoral votes in proportion to the percentage of the popular vote gained by each ticket. More detailed explanations of these alternatives are included in the Appendix to this report.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40895.pd...
Wednesday, November 16th 2016 at 9:52AM
Steve Williams
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The results from Michigan have been certified. It's official, Trump wins in a landslide, 306-232.
Tuesday, November 29th 2016 at 9:10AM
Steve Williams
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