If the provisional and absentee ballots in Ohio show an overwhelming vote for Kerry, he’ll be the winner, with at least 272 electoral votes. This will be the second president we’ve elected* in a row that will have won the electoral college but lost the popular vote. How will this effect the future of electoral voting? Will the Pubs, who were so concerned with the good EC does for smaller states in 2000, now be jumping to abolish it? Will the Dems, who lobbied heavily for the elimination or the reformation of the EC, now defend it? And most importantly, what will the average American voter think? Is the abolition of the EC an issue which crosses party lines?
*I’m gonna be generous with the word “elected” here because this thread isn’t about the 2000 fraud. It’s about the electoral college.
With or without a Kerry win in Ohio, I suspect we will now have bi-partisan support for an amendment eliminating the EC. Vast numbers of people, whether or not they understand the reasons for EC, view it with a WTF? so this amendment will pass with the speed and relief that greeted the 21st Amendment, overturning Prohibition.
I doubt it, and I hope not. Nevada (I think it was Nevada, I’m all blurry) had an amendment up for vote to do proportional EC voting from their state, which is one step towards removing the EC, and the people shot it down.
I imagine there would be a bunch of bickering for a few months, then things would die down and we’d get on with our lives.