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Friday, 17 November, 2000, 10:31 GMT
US elections: Is this democracy?
![]() Votes have to be re-counted and legal issues to be clarified before we know who will become the 43rd President of the United States.
The composition of the Electoral College now depends on a small number of votes in Florida, and the outcome will not necessarily reflect the popular vote. Critics say this system is unfair and out of date. Others say that this drawn-out process is evidence of a healthy democracy. How does it look to you? Do you think your own country has a better system?
We have been taking your questions and comments live on World Service Radio's Talking Point ON AIR programme.
Select the link below to watch Talking Point On Air
I'm amazed at the remarks of so many Americans concerning this presidential election. In fine American fashion everyone is concerned with the outcome - and whether or not their team is winning.
But, I fear we've all lost, because so few of us have really considered the process, which appears to be deeply flawed. It certainly is not democratic.
Wake up Americans! The Electoral College does not prevent large states from 'bullying' smaller ones. All a candidate has to do is win the election in the largest states and get their electoral votes! If this is not 'bullying', I don't know what is!
If Vice President Al Gore had not been such a "sore loser" Americans would have never have learned of the many problems with today's voting processes and equipment - just as we never knew of the 1000's of votes thrown away in previous elections. Our county clerks knew of these problems, yet didn't fix them. This is the real disgrace of our election process. If we are to live up to the claim that the US is the world leader for the democratic process, we should at least have voting methods that reduce the chances of mistakes and corruption. Re-vote Palm Beach County!
May God save us all from Al Gore
How low does the electoral turnout have to go before the system loses all democratic accountability? I'm not being a smug Brit about this: our local elections here regularly see turnouts of 30% or less, so not much legitimacy there. Somehow politicians in the western world just aren't connecting with their voters, are they?
United Nations observers should
now step in to ensure that
future elections in the USA are
organised and run in a fair and
democratic manner.
If anything proves that Britain's good old "First past the post" system is best then the farce of the American Presidential Elections does. Here our constituencies are more or less the same size in electorate, are redrawn every 10 years or so and the party with the greatest number of seats wins. I think that it was only in the early 1950's and in 1974 (February) that the party with the larger popular vote didn't have the greater number of seats. So, to all the advocates of PR systems, leave well alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
With its first past the post system, a PM elected by MPs, a hereditary Head of State and an unelected Upper Chamber, Britain is light years behind the USA. It seems 200 or so retirees in the State of Florida will have decided the world's most powerful leader! Wonderful. In the UK, important retirees end up with no influence whatsoever, in the House of Lords.
They could go on Judge Judy. Let her decide.
In an election this close, without the Electoral College each party would now be demanding a national recount, precinct by precinct across the country, rather than in the single state of Florida as is the case today.
There may be some legal nastiness over the next few days or weeks, but we litigate from morning to night anyway as naturally as breathing, so that will not be a problem. We will lurch along as usual.
I have always admired the US electoral system. Although it is not as great as I would like it to be, it is still better than the first-past-the-post system we have here in Canada. The situation unfolding in Florida demonstrates to all how important it is to go out and cast your vote, because as we are all seeing, EVERYONE counts.
Those who cling to the notion that this is a healthy democracy are sadly deluded. The election process in the US is bloated; both in terms of the vast amount of money spent and the amount of time spent campaigning. The result, and the far more telling fact, is that a majority of those eligible to vote do not even bother.
I became confused by the ballot when attempting to vote and finally tore it up and left without casting a vote. But I blame myself for not asking for instructions first since I had always used machine ballots while up north and this paper one was admittedly confusing. I have always thought the Electoral College system was a redundant anachronism which would eventually cause the problems we are now seeing.
I don't understand why anyone supports the Electoral College concept. It results in candidates focussing on states with large electoral college votes, e.g. California, while ignoring states with small electoral college counts, e.g.Vermont. It's highly undemocratic and should be tossed out as an old anachronism.
Another problem in our elections is that many candidates are unopposed. In my congressional district the incumbent had no opposition, and the US senator from my state had only nominal opposition. So what does that say about how much my vote counts?
I believe this reflects the obscene amount of money it takes to mount a campaign.
I accidentally double-punched in the city council election out here. I can see how easy it is to do, especially with the butterfly ballot. I messed up, but in no way do I feel cheated of my vote. Al Gore should have won the election, but in fact, he did not. What he is doing now is tearing our country apart.
I protest against Bill Clinton's proclamation that the results of Tuesday's election show that every vote does count. What has happened in the Florida counties demonstrates that not all votes do count. If they did, it would seem that Al Gore would have won Florida with a small, but significant margin. The present hullabaloo indicates that there has existed a degree of political corruption in US elections for many years which has only been significant when national election results were "too close to call".
Karen Knizek, New York, USA
If this is democracy maybe the Americans should start to consider if they've ever understood the word democracy?
The farcical outcome of this election so far should make it abundantly clear to informed Americans that it is time to abolish the Electoral College, an institution geared to the eighteenth century. It would also be nice to think that from now on American political candidates will refrain from preaching to the rest of the world how "special" a democracy the United States is. This is a continuing insult to much older functioning democracies in other parts of the world, and smacks of jingoism and arrogance. Perhaps it also reflects the very insular American education system. I live in Canada, and a constant complaint here is the appalling neglect of and ignorance about the United States' two closest neighbours, Canada and Mexico.
Paul Poletti, Utrecht, Netherlands
It is sad to say, but Mr Bush and Mr Gore are making this thing a joke. To think that either of these men will be the leader of the free world is frightening!
This incident of recounting just shows how tough the competition is this time between the Republicans and the Democrats. What is ominous however is that US electoral politics from now on will definitely be shaped by more under-the-table tricks than the American public will ever know.
Paul Evans, London, England.
America is always trying to teach lessons to other countries. Now the time has come for America to learn from other countries how they choose their leaders.
Your comments before we went ON AIR
David T, UK
"Legal issues to be clarified" eh? That sounds like a job for those printers of money: The US lawyers! I wondered when they'd get involved.
Is the American system fair? Probably not. Is it entertaining? Absolutely. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the events in Florida absolutely riveting.
Veronica Gresham, Pleasantville, USA
Why is there always such manipulation of the vote? While no system is perfect, are not most irregularities due to indirect methods of voting? This idea of protecting smaller political entities, only serves to protect the parties that are entrenched in the system. Worse, it seems to eliminate the choice of the majority. Whatever happened to democratic philosophies such as one person, one vote. It would sort this election out fair and square.
While it makes a lot of sense to keep most of the Electoral College system in place, it could be very easily improved by ensuring that College representatives from each state vote in proportion (or as close to) with the result within the state.
The other point to make is that any democratic system must be "subject to the constant tyranny of the majority" - isn't that the point of democracy?
Philip Grebner, Peoria, Illinois, USA
What I don't understand is why have an Electoral College at all? It seems that some states get a raw deal as they only have 3 Electoral College votes, whereas California has 52. Doesn't that mean that the candidates are more likely to spend time campaigning in California, where there's 52 votes on offer rather than in Delaware that only has 3 - that seems unfair to the people of Delaware.
The elections in Yugoslavia were said to be undemocratic - partially because the opposition didn't have sufficient access to the media.
To my mind the same can be said of America.
The Greens and the Reform Party couldn't afford the advertising campaigns of the two main parties and weren't included in the TV debates - stacking the odds against them (and other) parties.
The capping of campaign expenditure seems to be the only democratic option, but as the Democrats and Republicans profit from the current set-up, I can't see any reforms coming on that front.
Matt Lyon, Oakland, CA, USA
Thank you to those 19,000 American voters who spoiled their ballots. They've given third world despots a perfect excuse to say "even Americans don't have a working democracy, why should we?"
Shawn, Columbus, OH, USA
To answer the question posed by Mr. Clive Mitchell as to why so many people stayed home: You have to consider the simple fact that many people in this country believe - and not without some justification - that no matter who wins the presidency or is elected to Congress, the result will be the same. The giant corporations, the almighty political lobbyists, and the super-rich will continue to get their interests served ahead of the public interest. I don't see any major change coming, and I went and voted (for Ralph Nader)!
Well it is a bit of a mess, but a sad reflection that 45% of Americans never even bothered to vote! Who are they to complain about government after that! Yes, Florida is a mess (as are probably other States as well). The solution would be to make Florida and states with very small differences, hold another vote, with just the two candidates names for choices (leave out the obvious losers) and that way there will be a clear winner! Forget about lengthy and costly court cases - just re-vote.
Jon Livesey, Sunnyvale, CA, USA
May I point out that in 1997 in Iran
President Khatami was elected on over 80%
of the vote on a 90% turnout.
This from a country that is frequently vilified
and demonised as backward
and undemocratic. Even the not-
always-entirely-impartial media here and in
America could not find fault with the electoral
process there.
To me that's real democracy and proof,
if any were needed, that you can't always
trust what you get told in the mainstream news and media.
To quote Gore Vidal
the Republicans and Democrats
are merely two wings of the same party, the party of Big Business.
A little bright spot in this messed-up election: The school-children in our community are more engaged in the process than ever and I expect increased voter participation as these school kids come of age. Both my children participated in mock-elections at their schools: Gore carried the elementary school (ages 8-10), Bush won at the middle school (ages 11-15)!
Kirsty Carter, Zimbabwean living in North Carolina, USA
When the media gave the state of Florida to Mr. Gore early on as the counting started, there was no talk of improper ballots. But as soon as it became apparent that Mr. Bush was going to win Florida all these complaints came in. It's a shame, Mr. Gore, just accept the recount and let the balance of the overseas vote decide the winner, it could still be you since the lead has dwindled down to a bare 300 odd votes. If you are going to be such a sore loser I wonder what the world will have to go through if you do become the 43rd president of the United States.
The American people and the rest of the world need to have confidence that democratic processes are functioning in Florida exactly the way they should be. The only responsible thing for both parties to do during the recount is to say nothing about the recount, except to praise Florida's officials and the recount process. However, vote recounts rarely yield new results, except by fraud, and the Democrats know this. Therefore, rather than patiently await the outcome of the final vote tally, they are pushing are the hot buttons they can find. In the meantime they are doing a tremendous disservice to the country and to the world by portraying West Palm Beach, Florida, as though it were the democratic equivalent of Port au Prince, Haiti. This is only another Vice Presidential lie, but this time it is a lie designed and intended to bring rioters to the streets. Shame on Al Gore and the Democrat Party.
Lakshmi, NJ, USA
I thoroughly agree with President Clinton's argument that no American will henceforth be able to argue that his or her vote does not count - and perhaps this is something that we in the United Kingdom should learn from. It will be interesting, though, to see how the courts play their part in a so-called "democracy"; I agree entirely with Fiona Donnelly's consternation at the matter being decided in the courts. Dictating perhaps the most powerful job on earth to someone based on the interpretation of constitutional language laid out decades ago rather than on the basis of a popular vote seems to me somewhat anachronistic at best.
The Americans always brand other countries, especially developing countries as undemocratic at the slightest hitch in their electoral processes. This incident shows that American presidents are actually elected by less than 30% of the population and the saddest thing is that, as shown by the people in Florida, most of them don't even know who they are voting for. This incident proves two things: Firstly, most less educated people in third world countries are much smarter than the Americans when it comes to voting and, secondly, most leaders in third world countries are elected by popular votes from the people. So much for American democracy and the so called "government by the people".
If it were here, they´d say "this is so third world". Well, we have just had elections for mayors all around the country. Only 2 hours after the last Brazilian voted, there were final and official results, no doubts, no crisis. If you guys in the US wish, consider yourselves welcome to learn a better election process from the "Third World"
Thomas Jacob, Dresden, Germany
The American system is a fair and functioning system as many correspondents have already pointed out. What is worrying is the quick recourse to legal channels that the loser will no doubt take. To have an election decided by one or a panel of legal representatives makes a whole mockery of the election process. If Gore is still behind after the second recount, then perhaps he should just concede defeat gracefully, wait his time and try again next time.
Once again the professional political pundits have gotten it wrong. The "crisis" in American Presidential election politics is actually a wonderful boon, a reiteration that our Constitutional processes allow for peaceful, legal change. In this instance, the weaknesses of the two party system and the electoral college (an anti-egalitarian institution) are being revealed in a way that demands redress. Deficiencies that have existed for more than 150 years now may finally be corrected. God Bless peaceful political chaos for it injects life into what otherwise has become a stagnant democracy.
If it had been the Third World, America would be sending observers, now it is time for the Third World to send Election Monitors.
Adam, London, England
The electoral college was a system devised by America's educated elite to ensure that the nation be run by the wealthy landowners. It holds no significance in this day and age, and additionally is rather undemocratic. A system which can let 270 individuals decide who the president should be (they are not required to vote for the person who carried the state), is certainly not a democratic one.
This is democracy at it's best - the current situation shows that neither candidate has a credible majority - and hence neither deserves to be President.
Asmerina, Asmara, Eritrea
The current US election situation has highlighted the fragility of the American system. The federal system of government can be exposed by the semi-autonomous systems which each state adopts. Take the ballot papers in Palm Beach County - if I were a presidential candidate spending millions of dollars on a campaign I'd make damn certain that voting mechanisms had been checked by an independent authority - to ensure fairness and impartiality in presentation and clarity - long before election day.
Maybe Gore and Bush should have another TV debate on the current situation. They certainly should have both kept quiet whilst the recounts take place. It sums up the entire campaign - neither candidate has shown any qualities which place them above the other.
Albert Devakaram, Chennai, India
Some would consider India to be a vast country, even the largest democracy in the world - $3 billion on an election there would be interesting. For all this cash spent getting out the vote, you have a 50% turnout. That cannot be put down purely to political apathy!
Also the money that has come from commerce and industry was not given purely as a gift, there has to be a payback of some sort - it's not just independent white rich men that buy power, even more frightening is unelected Western corporations greasing the palms of politicians seeking election. I personally have taken great pleasure on observing the farce being played out in Florida, it takes my mind off our unelected House of Lords.
The claims that the Electoral
College system somehow gives
the smaller states more representative
power, as far as the Presidency
is concerned, is nonsense. This
result of this election demonstrate
that the larger states still carry
the majority of the vote. If the US is really a republic
modelled after that of ancient Rome then
perhaps the president should be
called Emperor for his/her term
and the election should be done
away with in favour of a good stabbing.
Granted these would be Clinton's
last days but he could at least
take solace that quite a few
Republican Senators would have been
forced to take their own lives by
the Praetorian Guard (the ATF?)
after the Monica Lewinsky debacle.
Nathan Taraska, College Park, MD USA
American democracy is not what the Americans say it is.
It is certainly better than a dictatorship, but
it has to change a lot in order to be considered
a model.
The problem is that Americans are not modest enough
to accept that they are not a model, that their system is old
and may lead to things like what has happened.
They keep saying "Our democracy is beautiful", when
they must be saying "We have a solid democracy but
we have to make it better". Then they might be able to change
the system.
The electoral college,
the winner-takes-all system favour the two main
parties to remain as the only options. If the US had a system
more alike to the Western European ones (regardless of the fact of
being presidential), many people who have never voted would
go to the ballots and change history, voting for new parties,
new ideologies, and perhaps building a new and better democracy.
Brian N Chandler-Lorenz, Bad Krozingen, Germany
I think that if the election was only for the need to overhaul of the Electoral College system. Al Gore has won the popular vote, but he still may not become president. The American people have spoken, and yet their choice may still not get into office. If there is again a chance for the people to give the vote it will happen again. So what is the need for revoting?
I am shocked to know how a US president is elected, in the 21st century. If the US want to follow the Electoral College system, why do they have such elections in first place? Why can't all congressmen elect the president? Maybe as in India?
As a non-American (British) I felt Gore was the least bad of the two, but whatever great things he might do as president could never make up for the damage he'd do by winning an election via the courts. The presidency is not some prize that he has a right to. He should wait for the recount and the postal votes and leave it at that, which will probably be a win for Bush, albeit by a tiny margin. Gore can't claim victory because he "nearly" won. The world would indeed be horrified if America allowed that.
Valerie West, Redditch, UK
Latest Information Technology techniques should be used for voting and counting; the current system is too slow for the coming 3rd millennium. Voters will have to be at least this much computer literate.
P. William, London, UK
America is obviously split down the middle between Republicans and Democrats. Maybe the best solution is Gore and Bush combining in a government of national unity: One being President and the other Vice-President, then swapping roles after 2 years.
Egos, I fear, might get in the way, however.
A happy democracy? It's becoming less and less like it every day - possible Presidents scrabbling around in the dirt to pick up a few votes here and there. It's demeaning. How can foreign nations take a president seriously when he doesn't appear to have the support of the majority of his people? To be honest, no conclusion is going to be truly satisfactory, even if they replay the whole expensive shambles again.
This is a great revelation! After all the Western Democracy is superbly faulty! I think we should all learn from this US election which shows that even after 200 years of practising democracy, the USA can still turn clumsy.
From what I've heard, this is likely to be another battle in the US that'll be won by the lawyers!
Rob, UK
I cannot believe this is happening in the US, the bastion of democracy and the land of justice and equality. This is clearly not democracy. Some others have called the US a republic & I tend to agree with this view. What I find annoying is that the US wants to have its cake and eat it. For so long, they have championed the rights of the majority in "democratic" elections in other countries while they ignore it in their own backyard. If America is truly a republic, the electoral college votes should decide the matter & the popular vote should be dispensed with in future elections. If it is not, I think it is time to revisit the electoral college system. Keeping both the popular vote & the electoral vote will cause confusion again sometime in future.
If we got a result as close as this in the UK, people would be talking about hung parliaments and coalition governments. Sad that it doesn`t seem to have occurred to anyone in the US to try co-operating for a change.
Maybe they ought to give the presidency to the person who can eat the most raw eggs in 60 seconds. It would then be a meritocracy of some kind - at the moment it certainly isn't "best man wins".
Nikola Cobic, Belgrade, Serbia
It seems that the United States needs independent monitors as is so often imposed on other countries where the USA would scorn their so-called democracies.
The States is the country of advanced technology yet their antiquated system is laughable.
I'm sure Bush will win the election and Al Gore the popular vote implying that the majority vote did not mean anything - democracy, I'm not so sure?
I haven't been more entertained by an election before in my life! It is amazing how the Democrats will justify changing all of the rules as a tactic to get their guy in office. The lawsuits are a joke! The Constitution says that the Presidential Election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Period. A re-election on any other day is unconstitutional. My suggestion, pay better attention when you vote, it might actually count. The only change I would make is to have revolving primaries. Here in Oregon, I would have voted for McCain if I'd had a choice.
John W, Holland
Much is made of the 19,000 'spoiled' ballots in Palm Beach, FL. The assumption made by many is that if the ballot paper had been designed differently these 19,000 votes would have gone to Gore, thus securing him the election.
Before we make this assumption, we should ask 'How many spoiled ballots were there last time in 1996'. The answer, according to a commentator on 'Newsnight' (BBC, Nov 10), was 16,000, and this with a more 'user friendly' ballot design!
I sincerely hope that the Gore campaign do not mount a legal challenge based on their perception that these 19,000 voters were disenfranchised as this would give the Bush camp every right to challenge the results in Wisconsin and Iowa, where the margins of difference were both below 10,000, on the same basis.
Let the Florida recount take its due course, include all the postal ballots, and hope that both Gore and Bush honour the result without recourse to the courts.
Any democratic system basing its decisions on simple majorities allows for this situation to occur - this is no more undemocratic than a landslide victory. The fact that people are unhappy about it does not invalidate the system. Rather than attempting to assign blame to a system that has operated with little objection for centuries, perhaps residents of the US ought to ask their friends and neighbours whether they voted - this result seems to be more about apathy than the alleged corruption. the responsibility ultimately lies with a population either too apathetic to vote at all, or too ill-informed to vote correctly.
Balaji Raghu, India
Americans are the only ones with a right to bitch about their electoral system?!?
It would be nice if the Americans took the same approach to other countries systems / cultures / politics! That aside, I think that the rest of the world does have a right to an opinion, seeing that America is the self-elected 'Leader of the Free World'.
The Americans' choice of President has an effect far beyond America's borders, so it's only right that the rest of the world takes an interest.
The USA is in the unenviable position of being in one of the closest Presidential elections in our history with a single states electoral votes making the difference, but isn't it every vote cast being equal that makes a representative form of government a democracy or a republic.
For those that don't understand our system, the electoral college was a compromise our founders decided on to ensure all the states would have a voice in who would be our President, of course at the time only white male land owners were permitted to vote so agricultural states that had fewer land owners therefore fewer voters, if it were only the popular vote that they thought important the states would simply have sent representatives to declare the tally. Thank God it has never been disbanded, with a narrow 200,000 votes separating our present candidates, can you imagine the task of recounting the ballots from the entire country!
For Richard in the UK, a concession speech is not binding, it's just a show of good sportsmanship which unfortunately isn't being shown at present in either camp.
Dan, San Jose, CA USA
Of course it is democracy. To an outside observer the problem seems to be a dedication to gadgeteering which extends into all aspects of American life including elections. As far as I can understand the process, there were holes punched so that a machine could read them ¿ here in Switzerland they have "votations" on the federal level every few months. Voting begins at 7am finishes at about 5pm on a Sunday and results are known by seven o'clock. Ballots are hand counted on the spot and the only gadget used is a pencil.
Needless to say that exit polls are virtually unknown and television gurus are not allowed licences to spout hogwash.
I voted and I was not confused. I am a registered Libertarian. Do I care how things turn out? Yes. My biggest concern is that we keep things on a high plane, but I despair that will not be so. It looks like we are in for a god awful mess and there is no telling where it will go and when it will end. Perhaps if we had someone with integrity ...
Jim Martin, North Carolina/USA
Due mainly to the preferential system of voting, Australia has had a number of very close elections, both at federal and state level, where the results have not been known for weeks. We have even had by-elections after the main election, which have actually determined who would occupy government. Our 'version' of democracy has been able to withstand this without a credibility loss. The one issue that has amazed me in the current US elections is that, if you felt that you made a mistake, you could not recast your vote, due to the process of voting. We still rely on the pencil and eraser. This seems to provide basic democratic safeguards !
Our generations have volunteered, fought and died for this system of representation. Under our elected leaders, we have a legacy of life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A democracy? I believe its a shining model of democracy!
A Democracy? If you have 60 million dollars to spend on a political campaign you too can become a U.S. senator. Mr. Corzine did so in New Jersey. Maybe we should start selling seats for congress on ebay to the highest bidder in the next election.
If you flew over the US from New York on the east coast to Seattle on the west coast, the reason for keeping the Electoral College would be more apparent. You would spend hours over a vast state like Wyoming, where the population is smaller than that of a few blocks of New York City. If presidents were elected directly, the particular concerns of such a state would never be addressed by the executive branch, and Wyoming citizens would feel less like a part of the union. The United States of America is first foremost a union. The Electoral College, far from being a curious relic, plays a vital part in preserving that union. It certainly would not be an appropriate mechanism for most countries, but it is a workable solution to the US's unique geographical/political pressures.
I think far more important reforms need to be addressed before we modify the Electoral College. Issues such as campaign finance reform and standardized voting processes would go much further towards creating "a more perfect union."
Amy from Washington, DC, USA says, "It's our system so we should be the only ones who get to bitch about it". Would all Americans everywhere please take note before meddling in the internal issues of other countries?
The system they have in UK, Australia, India etc. are better which selects the leader of the country and the parliament members in one go, it saves time, energy and tax payers' money. Why spend time and money to just select one person even though it selects the leader of the country!
There is a monopoly of power in the US. No independent candidate or new party can gain power. American people do not have much choice in the election, because
they don't know about candidates other than Republicans and Democrats due to
lack of media coverage.
Mike, Chicago, USA
Carl Osborne, Taylorstown, USA
A US voter said, 'I couldn't figure the ballot paper out and I have a doctorate'. What a chump! The ballot paper has an odd layout but it's very clear where to punch your hole, by the look of the web image. People who can't pass that simple test shouldn't be voting anyway.
It sometimes makes me ask myself if I live
in a democracy when our entire upper house
of Parliament isn't even elected by
the people.
The writers of the US Constitution designed a republic and not a populist democracy, thank God.
We elect our Government representatives and we expect them to run the Government. If they don't do a good job in our criteria, we vote them out of office at the next election.
In a Democracy like in ancient Greece, all laws were approved by the direct vote of the citizens. That worked in Greece because there were a few thousand citizens and fewer laws, but there are 270 million Americans and we would need a 50-wagon train to carry all the federal laws on the books.
Clive Mitchell, UK
The United States is a republic not a democracy. Democracy in its purest form is MOB RULE. The American people and the rest of the world have been lied to for so long they actually believe the United States is a democracy. Each state is a democracy and the group of states as a whole is a Republic. The Electoral College voting system was/ is designed to give each state some power regardless of population. If it were not for the Electoral College only a few states would have power over the remaining ones. It is another "states rights" issue. Do we in the United States want a strong imperial Federal Government or do we want strong State Governments and a weaker Federal Government? This is the bottom line.
I'm disappointed with this election and the American system in general. Leave alone the antiquated Electoral College - that can be reformed by legal means. But the voting irregularities! As I read the news, what do I see? Two boxes with ballots that weren't sent to Florida's electoral commission uncovered; 400 more votes for Gore found. Maybe Americans became so confident in their system, they didn't notice it rot from the bottom up? Anyway, I lost my best example of a democratic country for arguments with Communists over here.
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