In the self-proclaimed greatest country on the planet, you can become president with 22% of the popular vote! No money down, 19.99 a month and just 22% of the votes – if you act now. We supercharge our democracy by regarding population clusters as less important than wind-wavering grains of the vast rural areas. This is the future, thanks to genius of a bunch of men over 200 years ago.
According to analysis by Roberto Reif,
The top 11 states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and New Jersey) add up to 270 EV. The red bar chart displays the number of votes needed to win all the EV in that state, and the green line is the accumulation of votes. For the top 11 states, the candidate will accumulate at least 37,015,266 votes from a total of 135,649,464 ballots casted. Therefore, the election could be won with 27.28% of the popular vote. Similarly, if we group the remaining 39 states plus New Jersey and DC, we would accumulate 282 EV with 32,614,514 votes. The result is an election won with 24.04% of the popular votes… with 31 states and DC we can get 29,837,415 votes which accounts for 21.99% of the popular vote. Below we display the states needed to win this election.
One of the many questions we face in 2020 and beyond is this – what happens when the country continues to pick one person, but another gets elected? In my lifetime, this has already happened at least twice (arguably three times). What if someone really did become president with 22% of the popular vote?
Who really elects a president?
As noted in this Slate article, “The states with the fewest people per electoral vote, and therefore the highest ‘vote power,’ are Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota. In Wyoming, there are 143,000 people for each of its three electoral votes. The states with the weakest votes are New York, Florida, and California. These states each have around 500,000 people for each electoral vote.” Who wouldn’t want to become president with 22% of the popular vote? It makes campaigning a lot easier to court only the necessary votes – it also exposes how much of a sham the Electoral College is.
There are many reasons why rural folks will defend the Electoral College but it boils down to a simple fact. It allows someone with a minority of votes to be elected. It is a completely antiquated way to value land over people.
Though the Electoral College is completely pathetic, we are not alone in its usage. America is in the company of Burundi, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu in this using method of voting.
That’s a tour I’d like to take!
Real change comes from people power – through resistance, movement, solidarity and consistent pressure. Every person’s vote must be equal.
Check out Phil and the Osophers music and videos right here on this website and stream us on all digital music outlets. We have one song that touches on the subject of the electoral college, its called “Don’t Just Say Goodbye To Jacky.”