Things don't happen till they do. That's what I've learnt this week. No matter how comfortable you think a situation may be, there's always enough time for it to go tits up. This concerns me.
The electoral college system in the US of States allows for this election to go tits up even at this late stage despite Obama's healthy lead in the polls. The door is left open for McCain to win even if every single person in the whole of the country voted for Barack Obama. Not open very far, but open nonetheless and I won't relax until it's slammed shut and bolted.
You see now, because the founding fathers didn't want the peasants voting for the wrong dude, they added a layer of insurance to their election process. When one votes in an American Presidential election one does not vote directly for a candidate. One votes so a delegate can then go to the electoral college some time in December and vote on your behalf. Awesome.
It's no wonder America sees fit to march around the globe imposing democracy on everyone when they have such a shining example of a democratic system themselves. The only people who really win every four years with these things are the cabillions of lawyers recruited by each side to make sure people stick to the rules. That's a healthy democracy if ever I saw one.
So here's how it works. There are 538 electoral college votes up for grabs. So the magic number is 270. If they're tied at 269 then it becomes a farce. Let's not consider this eventuality for now.
Each Electoral College vote represents one seat in Congress in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. Every state has two Senators regardless of size, and there are 438 seats in the House of Representatives. States are divided up into districts, so the bigger states with the biggest populations have more dudes in the House of Representatives. California for example, has 55 electoral college votes in total. The 3 remaining seats are allocated to Washington D.C.
Now then now then now then. When a candidate wins the popular vote in a State, he gets ALL the Electoral College votes. Even if he wins by one single vote. For example, in Florida let's say Obama receives 7,000,001 votes and McCain somehow cheats his way to 7,000,000. Obama would still win that State and all it's 27 Electoral College votes. Maine and Nebraska are the only States who divvy up their votes proportionally.
As soon as someone wins 270 EC votes they win the election. Ooooooor do they? This assumes that when the Electoral College dudes meet on December 15th to cast the votes they're pledged to cast, that they adhere to that pledge.
If all the Obama winning States' EC delegates decided to vote for McCain then McCain becomes President. "Faithless Electors" are illegal in a lot of states and you can expect to go to jail or receive a huge fine if you go don't vote according to your States popular vote, but it is theoretically possible and if Arsenal can give up a two goal lead in injury time to Tottenham, then until those Electoral College votes are cast on December 15th, I won't be able to accept this election result even if it is a landslide.
Fear the worst
Labels:
Politics,
USA
The electoral college system in the US of States allows for this election to go tits up even at this late stage despite Obama's healthy lead in the polls. The door is left open for McCain to win even if every single person in the whole of the country voted for Barack Obama. Not open very far, but open nonetheless and I won't relax until it's slammed shut and bolted.
You see now, because the founding fathers didn't want the peasants voting for the wrong dude, they added a layer of insurance to their election process. When one votes in an American Presidential election one does not vote directly for a candidate. One votes so a delegate can then go to the electoral college some time in December and vote on your behalf. Awesome.
It's no wonder America sees fit to march around the globe imposing democracy on everyone when they have such a shining example of a democratic system themselves. The only people who really win every four years with these things are the cabillions of lawyers recruited by each side to make sure people stick to the rules. That's a healthy democracy if ever I saw one.
So here's how it works. There are 538 electoral college votes up for grabs. So the magic number is 270. If they're tied at 269 then it becomes a farce. Let's not consider this eventuality for now.
Each Electoral College vote represents one seat in Congress in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. Every state has two Senators regardless of size, and there are 438 seats in the House of Representatives. States are divided up into districts, so the bigger states with the biggest populations have more dudes in the House of Representatives. California for example, has 55 electoral college votes in total. The 3 remaining seats are allocated to Washington D.C.
Now then now then now then. When a candidate wins the popular vote in a State, he gets ALL the Electoral College votes. Even if he wins by one single vote. For example, in Florida let's say Obama receives 7,000,001 votes and McCain somehow cheats his way to 7,000,000. Obama would still win that State and all it's 27 Electoral College votes. Maine and Nebraska are the only States who divvy up their votes proportionally.
As soon as someone wins 270 EC votes they win the election. Ooooooor do they? This assumes that when the Electoral College dudes meet on December 15th to cast the votes they're pledged to cast, that they adhere to that pledge.
If all the Obama winning States' EC delegates decided to vote for McCain then McCain becomes President. "Faithless Electors" are illegal in a lot of states and you can expect to go to jail or receive a huge fine if you go don't vote according to your States popular vote, but it is theoretically possible and if Arsenal can give up a two goal lead in injury time to Tottenham, then until those Electoral College votes are cast on December 15th, I won't be able to accept this election result even if it is a landslide.
Hope for the best
Fear the worst
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