Saturday 20 May 2017

vote of conscience or supermajority

There is a movement afoot, as TYWKIDBI informs, to effectively eliminate the US Electoral College without the need for a constitutional amendment—though we’ve heard that that process might be becoming less burdensome—called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Still working within the system of electoral votes and the critical-mass of those metrics, states pledge to throw their support behind the presidential candidate who has secured the popular vote, foregoing a process that was meant to democratise the ballot (conceived under rules that stipulated that the senate be prince-electors and not left in the hands of common voters—important matters rarely are) but through gerrymandering and redistricting has turned into something very asymmetrical and unbalanced with only a few “swing” states deigned worthy of attention to the peril of “safe” states and public opinion more broadly and rife for disenfranchisement. I wonder if such a strategy might work—regardless of the outcome, perhaps there are more protections afforded for the minority after each ballot. The articles that define how the executive branch is constituted specifically prohibit a collusion among states, whether expressly designed to curtail the constitution or otherwise, without the leave of the federal legislature, and the ruling party (or the one that is sure is waiting in the wings to take control) would not allow its power to be undermined.