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You can't make this up... (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This accurately describes it. Further explanation:

Election of the President - Electoral College

Each citizen of Wyoming with a population of around half a million has somewhere around 3.7x the voting-weight as a Californian citizen. Why? Because each state's electoral votes to the president is the # of Congressional delegates it has.

For Wyoming: 3 Electoral Votes for the President

2 US Senators (Every state gets 2 US Senators)
1 US House Representative (proportionate to their population)

5.19 electoral votes per million people.

For California: 54 Electoral Votes.

2 US Senators
52 US House Representatives

1.37 electoral votes per million people.

Thus, you get elections where Presidents don't win the popular vote, and we expect our country to function...???

This may not seem like a big deal, but across 15-20 low-populated rust/bible-belt states, the effect adds up, leading to some of our worst Presidents in history being elected by a minority vote, including Bush Jr., in 2000, and Trump in 2016. In fact, Republicans have only won the Presidential popular vote ONCE in over 30+ years (which was Bush Jr.'s 2004 reelection when the country was wrapped around fear post-9/11 and Iraq invasion...).

The electoral college is an antiquated remnant of the slave era. In order to get America functioning properly again, it must go.

Election of US House of Representatives - Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering leads to mapping Congressional districts in ways that favors one party over another. This is probably the best layperson video to explain it. Traditionally this has been done far more nefariously and effectively by Republicans, who have also been in power at key moments, including the 2010 and 2020 Census.

Gerrymandering itself has no effect on US Presidential elections except for perhaps reducing peoples' interest in showing up to the polls in the first place if their district is gerrymandered.

Election of US Senators

This (and Governor races—effectively the President of the state) is how the US Presidential election SHOULD happen at minimum. Each individual in the state gets an equal vote regardless of where they live, and the person who receives the most votes wins.

We can discuss getting rid of FPTP later, but baby-steps.