Make Every State "Purple"

[WorldNews92]

...In the states (25 electoral votes each), 5 of these electoral votes would be allocated to the winner of the state popular election. If the party got over 50% of the popular vote, they get all of these 5 votes; if they get under 50%, the largest party gets 3 of these 5 votes, and the 2nd largets gets the remaining 2 votes. The remaining 20 electoral votes are then allocated based on the percentage each party got in the state popular vote. Thus, electoral votes match voting preferences.

[WorldNews92]

As a Briton interested in American politics, I believe the best way to reform the Electoral College would be not to abolish it, but to make it more representative of votes. Firstly, there would be 1270 electoral votes (25 for each of the 50 states regardless of population, and 10 each for DC and Puerto Rico)...

[Pernaetova21]

@WorldNews92 I get what you are saying but

i think with all of the other complications of life,

people today would rather have something that

is simple. I'm one of these people

[gcaj85]

@polskaisincommand Where a candidate chooses to compete isn't as important as preserving a legitimate form of minority protection via states' rights; I can't bring myself to your side based on a wish for campaign equality, or whatever you may call it.

[erickofspirit]

Get rid of it. The argument is about keeping tradition. But the reason why the founding fathers came up with the electoral college was because then it took forever for news to travel. So they came up with a system where they would count it by state and the states population. I live in California where the candidates will just ignore coming here because they know how it the results will go. It's time for a fair process in electing a President.

[gcaj85]

@erickofspirit The argument has nothing to do with tradition, it's actually about protecting minorities on the national level. By favorying democracy on a state-level, majority vote is applied to a national vote, which ultimately may go against a national majority; this protects against the masses, and it is designed to keep states from being pushed around against each state's majority interest.

[sooner4now]

This is purely and emotional video. No true facts to support the credibility of the popular vote. Attention from the candidate does not matter. Its the weight of the vote for small states. California must be pushing this.

[Pernaetova21]

@sooner4now I don't care which state is bigger.All I care about is whether or not smart people have just as much weigh in as the stupid people.

[sooner4now]

Speaking from one of those states you claim doesn't get "attention" I KNOW the electoral college is crucial to us. Small states count and are not OVERLOOKED. Attention is not what is important, its the weight of the vote. Smaller states WOULD be ignored as far as the strength of their vote. I could care less if my state is actually visited by a politician, it's whether or not my state has any power with its vote. Well produced video but full of crap. The founding fathers were INTELLIGENT!

[jacobew2000]

The electorial college was created to prevent large populations in a few states, from over powering the votes of the smaller states. People forget that this is not setup for a winner take all votes type Republic. It is to provide equal representation of ALL states. The federal government only exists because the states allow it to exist.

[tamoomoo2]

We are neither a pure democracy nor a pure republic. We are represented by our governors, congress and presidents aka a republic. But citizens vote on public questions both locally for issues like school budgets and statewide for changes to the state constitution aka a democracy. America blends both together. Some states allow citizens to initiate changes to state constitutions or statutes by just circulating petitions making them more democratic. My state of NJ does not have this. I wish it did

[littlebirdie08]

Why does the kid keep calling us a democracy? We are a REPUBLIC.

[jordache2006]

I noticed that most of the people trying to get rid of the Electoral College are ''liberals''... in other words CONTROL FREAKS!!!!!!

[Monorprise]

This is the worst idea ever, the interest of the 12 most populous city's, everyone else would be ignored.

Its in the Untied States Constitution, it will never be outdated so long as the union exist.

We were never suppose to be a democracy!

We are a constitutional republic, a union of 50 states Not 300 million people!

This says nothing about weather conditions defrauding state interest!

[FlyontheWallinFLA]

This debate of EC vs NPV detracts from the REAL reason the Founders created the EC, they wanted to "balance the powers" of the 3 gov't branches (to the point of impotence), PERIOD. At every turn, each branch has veto power in some way over the other two, AND, in the absence of Fed law or decree, the INDIVIDUAL STATES have the absolute right to determine what is best for ourselves. The USA means the United STATES + THAT is the reason for the EC & why EC will stay. The PEOPLE are the real power

[Goldeneagle704]

"The PEOPLE are the real pwer."??? come on man have you LOOKED at this stuff on the internet? there are 1 out of 14 presidents made from second place voting becasue of the EC , that is wrong , the presidential election should be based on all the votes tallied together , not some legislature that cast his own vote , that is so wrong. if you want power to the people , ALL the individual votes should be counted and the president with the most votes should win . ive had my say , now have yours :P

[FlyontheWallinFLA]

If you really are 14, pay attention in US History class + actually LEARN about the system. Legislators CANNOT be Electors. Electors represent their states + cast their vote based upon the final Popular vote in their state, not on their personal preference. ALL indiv votes ARE counted, that's how the EC votes are determined in each state. Understand the concept of STATES RIGHTS + you will understand the purpose of the EC + why the system was set up this way from the start. Read the Constitution!

[FlyontheWallinFLA]

#3-States are "safe" only because they have voted over the years that way with no or little change! The swing states are that because they DO change over the years + are NOT predictable. So candidates need to be visible in swing states in an effort to get the votes - DUH! Just because your candidate didn't win doesn't mean your vote didn't count. Some 46% of the voters chose McCain, that simply means Obama's policies are not supported by about 1/2 the population - he ought to remember that!

[FlyontheWallinFLA]

#2-What AMAZING distortion + manipulation of the FACTS about the EC! The EC USES the Popular Vote in each State to determine the EC votes making "every vote count" truly. With the NPV, urban votes would always decide elections - rural areas be damned - look at the election results by county - Dems win in cities + Reps win in rural, the deciding factor is ALWAYS the "swing" suburban voters - in this election too. Cities decide ALL national elections? - not if "every vote SHOULD count". BULL!!

[FlyontheWallinFLA]

WHAT BULL CRAP - there's only one REAL difference between the National Popular Vote and the Electoral College. Visit "Electoral College vs National Popular Vote - REAL difference". The Electoral College needs to be viewed in the context of the time it was established and the reasons the founders went with the EC vs the NPV - which would have established a Parlementary system. The USA was established by the States + they wanted to balance large vs small states + power. They did an EXCELLENT job!!

[gcaj85]

I'm thoroughly entertained by how easily this ad diluted the real issue, even among viewers, such as yourselves, who appear to be interested. I'm writing my final Poli-Sci thesis on why the Electoral College should remain, and a large portion of my research involved the NPV, which sponsored this ad. They ignore legitimate claims on the usefulness of the Electoral College and straw man those presented to them. And they will succeed, because no one cares enough or is informed enough.

[strawberryseason]

@gcaj85 Why don't you supply the readers with some of your arguments in favor of keeping the Electoral College?

[gcaj85]

@strawberryseason The limit to comments is just under 500 characters; I don't think I can do it justice in a YouTube comment, but the basic idea is that the Electoral College protects national minorities from the mass sum of the population in the United States. If there are 2 states with equal population, one unanimously favors opposition to a marginal majority in the other, the more-evenly split state is protected. Sorry if that's too vague, but I'm out of space to write.

[PansyMk]

We try to teach our Children to vote and then they find out the vote means nothing. So many young ones have desided it is not worth the effort as their vote does not count anyway.

Lets change this old method!

[cashdudehomie]

Awesome vid, but playing the race card was unnecessary. People of every race/sex/age want their vote to count. Keep up the good work and lets get this passed before 2012 so I might actually go out and vote.

[TorreyDDixon]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by playing the race card? Never have fully understood that term. If you mean stating facts, that's always necessary.

[cashdudehomie]

I was talking about how the black kid came on and mentioned how his ancestors had to fight for the right to vote, and how their votes today should count. Also, the statistic about how swing states have mostly white voters. None of that is relevant to the point that ALL votes should count, black/white male/female poor/rich whatever. If that above stat is such a big deal to someone, they could just move to a swing state. I just want ALL votes to count and be seen as equally important.

[TorreyDDixon]

There are no "kids" in this video. He is not the only person in the video. If ALL really means ALL, then it makes sense to have every voice represented, rather than an all white cast or a cast that only voices the concerns of the white majority and pretends that racial differences and inequalities do not exist. That's exactly the past that we are trying to overcome. Furthermore, noone should have to move to another state to increase the impact of their vote. That's simply ridiculous.

[klafever1]

Absolutely!

[solgoode1]

Great video! I wish everyone could see this vid!

[Courtez59]

maybe they can....EVERYONE SEND THIS TO A TON OF PPL!

[Confederalist]

It should work like this. In order to win you have win a majority of the national popular vote and a majority of the popular vote in a majority of the states (26 States).

[tamoomoo2]

hooray for new jersey!

at least a few states know how to elect a president

sucks that IOWA and NEW HAMPSHIRE get everything they want and so do OHIO and FLORIDA

[TorreyDDixon]

This plan is constitutional. Distributing electoral votes by counties or districts would create a mess that would exceed the one that we already have, as well as a new incentive for gerrymandering.

[123celindion]

this shouldnt be our plan. What we should do is split states into counties. That way we dont break the constition, but movement is better than none at all

[SirMildredPierce]

Essentially, under a the electoral college post-election scrutiny can be applied to just a few select areas that are open to that corruption. States which are heavily "red" or "blue", there's no reason to steal votes in those states because you can't affect teh outcome in those elections, and I woul argue it would be *easier* to steal votes in an area that heavily supports one candidate or another, and without a doubt, that's exactly what would happen.

[Slavesrevolt]

National initiative and referendum through Mike Gravel's NI4USA wouldn't be a bad start.

[speciesamused]

I have been on board for over a year now. Passing on the info. Thank you for the vid.

Peace and Prosperity.

[eberg415]

amazing

[TorreyDDixon]

We will never achieve a true representative democracy until everyone counts, every vote is counted, and every counted vote is equal.

[MrsDaniD]

Very insightful. Everyone should be informed about how the electoral college is robbing honest, hardworking citizens of their vote. Im all for the national popular vote!

[NitPickyWorryWart]

Use your heads for something besides a hat-rack, folks!! National Popular Vote would allow 6 states (CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA) to decide ALL presidential elections, the other 44 states be damned. Those 6 have 123 MILLION population & at 60% voting, more than enough to carry ANY election. THAT'S FAIR?? Under Electoral College they have 189 EC votes (70% needed). 80.8% of the US pop is in the cities and suburbs. Under EC smaller states at least have a chance their voices will be heard. KEEP THE EC!

[commongrnd]

Great video! Now that I understand it, National Popular Vote makes sense to me. I'm going to write my legislator. Let's do it!

[T2ei]

Great Job Fair Vote. This was insightful and I will be sending this video to friends across the USA

[T2ei]

Great Job Fair Vote. This was insightful and I will be sending this video to friends across the USA

[datbossychic1]

So this this mean that our vote doesnt count in electing the President?"

[cbluedevil]

In 2008, it's not a question of why in America we do not have a national vote- it's a question of why not? We have to ask ourselves- can we talk about fixing the broken systems of education, health care, housing, and the job market for ALL American citizens, when the votes of ALL do not count in our current system? We choose our fate with every vote and every vote should count! Share this broadcast and then act on it. We choose our fate every time we vote, and every vote should count!