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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Kamala Harris’s running mate urges popular vote system but campaign says issue is not part of Democrats’ agenda

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has called for the electoral college system of electing US presidents to be abolished and replaced with a popular vote principle, as operates in most democracies.

His comments – to an audience of party fundraisers – chime with the sentiments of a majority of American voters but risk destabilising the campaign of Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, who has not adopted a position on the matter, despite having previously voiced similar views.

"I think all of us know, the electoral college needs to go," Walz told donors at a gathering at the home of the California governor, Gavin Newsom. "We need a national popular vote. We need to be able to go into York, Pennsylvania, and win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nevada, and win."


🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

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[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 137 points 1 month ago

but campaign says issue is not part of Democrats’ agenda

Fucking hell! Every time either of them says something truly based, some DNC lackey comes and spoils it by saying that! 🤬

[-] queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And all interest in this statement was lost in record time. Even though it would help Democrats win every time, as swing states would stop being a thing, and the Democrat voters in Wyoming and Texas and every other sold-red state is now something to seriously count.

[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

Not every time. Republicans have won the popular vote before. What would happen, though, is the Republican Party would have to adjust its platform to become more in line with the majority of Americans.

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[-] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

It's not like Walz or Harris can do anything about it anyway. Legal scholars have said that it would take a Constitutional amendment to change the electoral college system to anything else, as it is mandated by the Constitution.

Amending the Constitution requires ratification by 75% of the 50 US states after passing a 2/3 majority of Congress.

It's best to be realistic and not get worked up about things you can't do anything about.

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[-] foggy@lemmy.world 114 points 1 month ago

It is the single most logical and devastating blow that the democratic party could work on to stop fascism.

Disallow corporate entities from owning residential property.

Increase minimum wage.

Break up monopolies and oligopolies to reintroduce competition. Get off this "stop price gouging greedflation" horse shit. Break up monopolies and oligopolies, lower the bar to competition.

End forced arbitration outright.

Set a maximum document length limit to stop frivolous lawsuits, "drowning in paperwork".

Set term limits for all govt positions, especially SCOTUS.

Harsher punishments to corporations. No more of these fines that are simply the cost of doing business. C suite execs should do time on behalf of law breaking 'corpirate citizens.'

Tax the fuck of our anything making over $100M in profit. I mean, the fuck out of it.

[-] GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

I agree with all of this and I think many people on Lemmy do as well. My concern is: Will the population that is excited to vote for candidates that are willing to push these changes through have the staying power?

These are huge changes to a system that has been manipulated to benefit a small group of well connected, very powerful, very wealthy people. It's not something that can change in one or even two presidential terms. These are changes that will take many election cycles to complete. These, and other big changes, need sustained focus.

Not saying it can't be done - it can. The republican party has proven that. Over the course of 40+ years they have reshaped America to fit their ideals. But it took 40 years. One part of how they did it was/is by keeping the pressure on their voting base even during non-election years through FOX news, rush limbaugh, alex jones, and other pieces of shit. So when it was time to vote their base was already "educated" on why they had to vote for the republican candidate. It made/makes it easy for the republican candidate to step in and just say the right words and phrases to the voting population and they were guaranteed a certain % of the vote.

So if the left wants to re-shape how America looks and how it treats it's population then they have to be willing to play the long game.

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[-] Heikki@lemm.ee 97 points 1 month ago
[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 36 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[-] jj4211@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago

Well technically the 'minimum' has almost no bottom. One tortured example, if you had a single voter per state for the biggest 11 states all vote for one candidate, but every other one of the 118 million eligible voters in other states voted the other way, then those 11 people will win.

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[-] TommySoda@lemmy.world 80 points 1 month ago

I think at this point pretty much everyone I've ever talked to thinks the electoral college is bullshit. Even my dad and he's a trumper.

[-] DacoTaco@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

It makes sense to exist... In the 40's.
But with modern day society and how small the world has become, it makes no sense to me to still exist tbh..

[-] bamfic@lemmy.world 56 points 1 month ago

1840s. It existed to preserve slavery

[-] derek@infosec.pub 22 points 1 month ago

I was taught something different growing up and had to check myself with a quick read. Holy shit. You're right. Thanks for sharing.

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[-] exemplariasuntomni@lemmings.world 71 points 1 month ago

We are all slaves to the ruling class until this is done.

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago

Which was the point of the EC in the first place:

There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-10-02-0065

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[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

I think we can mostly agree that the electoral college system is not working as intended. It was designed to give people outside the cities an extra boost to their representation, But it was certainly never designed to let fascism take hold.

Unfortunately there's no such thing as a fair and representative voting system. In all their cases you either end up underrepresenting the rural, over representing the rural, or forcing people to pick between candidates that they don't want.

Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly down with what walls is calling for as it gives my intentions the best chance and at the same time will keep fascism from just popping in because they're good at propaganda. But I'd still like to see some other way.

[-] CompostMaterial@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

I always hear that excuse about the rural areas not being represented without the electoral college, but my only reaction is GOOD. Rural areas are large in land ans small in people. Why should they get an equal voice as a Metropolitan area with the majority of people? A government is supposed to reflect the will of the people. The not ALL the people, that would be impossible, but but an average of the majority of the people.

Additionally, the government at the federal level has relatively minor impact at the local level. The federal level is broad strokes, the local government is fine strokes, and the state level is somewhere in between. Rural dwellers can run their local government however they like as long as it doesn't violate state or federal laws.

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[-] Veedem@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

While I agree with him, it’s also a stupid thing to say out loud during the election when they’re CLEARLY trying to sway moderate and uneasy right leaning voters.

[-] Furball@sh.itjust.works 135 points 1 month ago

I think the electoral college has become pretty unpopular with pretty much everyone except committed republicans in recent years

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

It's become unpopular with everyone except the people who originally demanded it so they could count their slaves as 3/5 of a vote.

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[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago

Maybe they're finally realizing that instead of chasing right wing voters they should try to tap into the much larger pool of left-wing voters. Or at least one can hope.

[-] stewie3128@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 month ago

I very much doubt that. Their metric is fundraising, and the money/rich people is/are on the right.

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[-] Jyek@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 month ago

I think I want him to be president.

[-] Gargantuanthud@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago

That would fit the pattern (provided Harris wins) Obama/Biden -> Biden/Harris -> Harris/Walz -> Walz/??

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[-] kelargo@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

Rank choice voting for all federal elections

[-] Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
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[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 14 points 1 month ago

Even if we keep the electoral college as a means of allocating points we need to get rid of the electors. I've been saying this since before Jan 6th 2021.

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this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
1122 points (98.5% liked)

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