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By Britt Nelson
On Monday the U.S. Electoral College will officially certify the winner of presidential Campaign 2016 Donald J. Trump with a constitutionally required vote of its members who are mostly required to vote according to the will of the voters in the Nov. 8 general election.
Trump won an Electoral College landslide with 306 votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 232, but not in the overall popular vote. Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2 million votes, but lost the presidency. This election is the fifth time in United States history that has happened, according to Wikipedia. The last time was Bush winning over Gore in 2000.
Many people seem not to understand the rationale behind the Electoral College which, simply stated, evens the playing field across the United States by not allowing urban voters concentrated in big cities to win all the elections leaving rural voters out in the cold. This year rural voters, first-time voters and independents made the difference for Trump.
But this Electoral College system needs to be re-evaluated. There is something inherently wrong about winning a nationwide election by millions of votes and still losing. Not that the voters got it wrong with Trump, they did not. The Electoral College saved the day and spared the nation from the horror of more Clintons.
News reports claim as many as around 50 of the Electoral College members may go against the will of their voters and decline to vote for controversial New York billionaire Trump, who has no government experience. This vote is a formality, not another chance for Clinton to pull off a smoke-filled-backroom win. Since 1787, when the Electoral College was formed, less than one percent of the membership ever went rogue.
Reports also claim that numerous Electoral College members along with members of the U.S. House of Representatives have requested a special security intelligence briefing before Monday concerning wildly speculative claims that Russia somehow influenced the election for Trump. According to Fox News on Thursday morning this request was denied by the FBI, NSA and the CIA leaving the Democrats with no more wiggle room, no more denial that Trump will be the 45th President of the United States.
Not to mention those expensive and highly litigated, last-minute voter recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan requested by Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein and supported by Clinton that accomplished nothing more than uncovering a few more votes for Trump and discovering possible voter fraud in Detroit’s 37 voting districts. It appears that more voters voted than the number of registered voters and that is hard to explain away. Clinton won the city of Detroit, but lost the state of Michigan. This discrepancy is under investigation by Michigan election authorities, according to Real Clear Politics.
One lesson to be learned from this year’s national election is a massive overhaul of the patchwork quilt of varying state-to-state and federal election laws needs to be undertaken by the U.S. Congress and state legislatures from coast-to-coast. The election process is too long, too expensive and it only affords the opportunity to serve the public good to the rich and well-connected be it established career politicians or the powerfully rich.
The current U.S. electoral system is structured as that the presidency is ultimately decided by the Electoral College based upon the winner in each state. The number of Electoral College votes each state receives is based upon population, and the way they vote determined by the popular vote. What a quandary, a real Catch-22. But that’s the way it is in America.
Both Trump and Clinton concentrated their campaign efforts in 13 swing states where the numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans are about equal. Trump won most of those states and won the election. Why would Trump spend time and money in a deep-blue state like California that he wouldn’t win, same goes for Clinton in deep-red Louisiana?
The single most important change in America’s political landscape would be the creation of the Independent Party equal in every way to the Democratic and Republican Parties with their own candidates and nominating convention. The independents should be in all the debates during the primary season and general election. Independent registered voters now outnumber both national political parties — their numbers have skyrocketed in recent years.
The most recent Gallup polling shows independent registered voters at an all-time high of about 40 percent, while Democrats came in with 31 percent and Republicans 29 percent. During the primary elections, as things are now independents for the most part cannot vote and their voice is not heard until the national general election. Their time has come to be officially recognized because these independent voters do not identify with the traditional two-party political system. Next time around the new Independent Party should be on all primary, caucus and general election ballots in all 50 states.
A few other things would help streamline the process. No more state caucuses, they are awkward, out dated and should be replaced with a real primary election. Eliminate closed primaries and allow all three parties to be able to cast cross-over votes for whomever they wish including fourth-party candidates.
Just these few changes mentioned here would make a world of difference to America’s political process. For the first time in U.S. history there are now more than 200 million registered voters, according to Politico.com.
This year the independent voter – way down there at the end of the tracks — climbed aboard the Trump Train bound for Washington, DC and a date with destiny.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
