#Presidential Electors

[deadpresidents]

Who has the most electoral college votes? Trump or FDR?

FDR won four Presidential elections while Trump won two of three, so it's not really a fair comparison, whether you're asking about the total number of Electoral votes or election-by-election.

All four of FDR's Presidential election victories were Electoral College landslides, while all three of Trump's elections were close.

FDR: 1932: 472 Electoral votes 1936: 523 Electoral votes 1940: 449 Electoral votes 1944: 432 Electoral votes (Roosevelt was also the 1920 Democratic nominee for Vice President and received 127 Electoral votes for the Vice Presidency that year.)

TRUMP: 2016: 304 Electoral votes* 2020: 232 Electoral votes 2024: 312 Electoral votes (*Trump won 306 Electoral votes in 2016, but two Faithless Electors cast their ballots for other candidates, so he officially was certified as having 304 Electoral votes.)

[politijohn]

Watching a debate between the two oldest presidential candidates ever - a felon and a man whose brain has turned to mush.

The Democratic Party deserves whatever they get in November, and it’s a shame we all have to pay the price.

[destielmemenews]

[victusinveritas]

[sinister-yet-satisfying]

Join something.

Doesn’t matter what it is. Doesn’t need to be political, but it can be.

Just join something. Join a book club. Join a knitting group. Join a kickball league, or a gardening club, or a climate action group. Just join something.

Fascists want you isolated, disconnected and despondent. Your main goal in life for the next 4 years (and possibly beyond) is to do the opposite of what fascists want you to do.

They are better prepared than they were last time but so are we. We know who they are and what they want to do. We can prepare ourselves and our communities for it, but only if we actually have communities.

If you do want to get engaged in politics, do it at the local level.

If you live in a blue area, you need to fight to keep it that way. Talk to your local representatives and make sure they are doing everything in their power to enact protections against Project 2025.

If you live in a red area, fight to change that. Work on city council campaigns, and state congressional campaigns. Keep an eye on local legislation and bring attention to all the universally unpopular policies republicans are going to push through.

Fascism only wins if we do nothing. Fascism wins if we throw up our hands and throw in the towel. Fascism win if we make it easy for them to win.

Don’t make it easy.

[felixcloud6288]

Y'know, I was thinking how messed up the electoral college is. From its very inception, it was designed to be abused by the wealthy elites.

Back during the slave era, we had the 3/5 compromise which made slaves count as 3/5 of a person for census purposes. And since the population census decides how many representatives the state has and the number of electors it gets to send, states with high slave populations had higher political power despite having fewer people who could actually vote. And slaves were overwhelmingly owned by the rich. So the more slaves you owned, the more political power you had.

Today, prisoners are used in the same way. They don't have any voting power, but if you're incarcerated, you are counted as a resident of the location you're incarcerated in and are used to increase the political power of the state you're in. It creates the same situation where states with high prison populations have higher political power despite having fewer people who could actually vote. So once again, the more prisoners you have, the more political power you have. And since most prisons are privately owned, the people who benefit from this the most are the rich.

The main point I want to make is that not voting inherently does not do anything. You're voting whether you actually cast a ballot or not. If you don't directly vote, you're yielding your voting power to everyone else who chooses to vote and your body is going to be used to decide how many votes your state casts. Your state will cast the same number of electoral votes regardless of the number of people in it who actually vote because a state's electoral vote count is based on the state's total population.

You're going to be used to decide the election no matter what. You might as well try getting a more desired outcome.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

A.B. Stoddard at The Bulwark:

1. Trump’s Not Taking the L. . .

The last two weeks—the unveiling of the Harris-Walz ticket, and Kamala Harris’s surge in the polls—feels like some surreal dream state. Everything has changed. Have you noticed Harris has pushed Donald Trump right out of the comfy lead he’s held for an entire year? He’s noticed. From FiveThirtyEight to RealClearPolitics—pick your polling average—they all now show Harris out in front after only two and a half weeks.

Trump is no longer on track to win the election—which he has been for more than six straight months. Instead, the momentum, money, voter registration, volunteering, grassroots organizing, polling, and online engagement all favor the Democrats and it looks now like Trump could easily lose. But that won’t happen, because Trump doesn’t lose. He beat Joe Biden in 2020—remember? So if he’s not the rightful victor on November 5, an entire army of Republicans is ready to block certification of the election at the local level. No need to worry about mayhem on January 6, 2025 when Congress meets in joint session; the election deniers plan to stop a result right away if it looks like Harris is winning. Their goal: Refuse to certify anywhere—even a county that Trump won—and prevent certification in that state, which prevents certification of the presidential election. A Harris victory could become a nightmare.

An investigation by Rolling Stone identified “in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania . . . at least 70 pro-Trump election conspiracists currently working as county election officials who have questioned the validity of elections or delayed or refused to certify results.” Of those 70, 22 of them already have “refused or delayed certification” in recent past elections. Nationwide, Republicans have refused to certify results at least 25 times since 2020, in eight states—the most in Georgia.

The article describes social media posts from the zealots who have infiltrated election administration as showing “unapologetic belief in Trump’s election lies, support for political violence, themes of Christian nationalism, and controversial race-based views.” There are more than enough such individuals in these key posts to bring us to a constitutional crisis. “I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election” in November, Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias told Rolling Stone. “Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.” Sit with that.

Then there is this. Trump’s self-destructive attacks on Georgia’s popular governor made the headlines from his Atlanta rally last Saturday, but he also singled out for praise three little-known Georgians—Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King—calling them “pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.” Who are Johnston, Jeffares, and King? They are three of the five members of Georgia’s State Election Board. Three days after Trump’s speech, this past Tuesday, those three Republicans approved a new rule requiring a “reasonable inquiry” prior to election certification that—while vague and undefined—could be exploited to delay certification and threaten the statewide election certification deadline of November 22.

The law in Georgia, where Trump and fourteen1 others are charged with plotting to overturn the 2020 election result, requires county election boards to certify results “not later than 5:00 P.M. on the Monday following the date on which such election was held”—so this year, by the evening of November 11. The secretary of state is then to certify the statewide results “not later than 5:00 P.M. on the seventeenth day” after the election, so November 22.

Across the country, the November election results will have to be certified in more than 3,000 counties, and all state results must be final by the time electors meet in each state on December 17. Members of county election boards are not tasked with resolving election issues; certification is mandatory and “ministerial,” not discretionary. Disputes over ballot issues are separate from the certification process—investigated and adjudicated by district attorneys, state election boards, and in court. Election experts say the new rule could disrupt the entire process across the state by allowing local partisans to reject results. And Georgia appears to be at the center of Trump’s plans. Casting doubt on Fulton County, which makes up the bulk of Democratic votes in the state, will help him claim he won the Peach State as the rest of the results come in red.

But even without an explicitly permitted “inquiry” like the new Georgia rule provides, Republicans in other swing states still plan on acting at the county level to slow or stop certification. Because questioning the outcome at the very start of the process will create delay. Any doubt and confusion, and perhaps even violence, makes it easier to miss essential deadlines and can threaten the chance that the rightful winner prevails. Election deniers also hope that sowing chaos might prompt GOP legislatures to intervene—in Georgia, Arizona, or Wisconsin for example—a dangerous scenario I wrote about in April.

[...] It’s crucial that these plans are widely publicized. And they can be. Just like Project 2025, which was virtually unheard of and is now in the forefront of the political debate. Putting a media spotlight on this issue will force Republican officials to address what they are well aware of and are refusing to call out. Yesterday CBS News reported Biden said in his first interview since leaving the presidential race he is “not confident at all” there will be a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses. Harris isn’t likely to talk about this in her campaign, so it’s critical that other high-profile surrogates do. President Obama, President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and others must educate voters about the plot underway to force more public pressure and accountability on the process. Every Republican must be asked about local certification of elections, electors honoring the popular vote of their state, preventing political violence—all of it. Repeatedly. As Elias told an interviewer, there are things we can do, as citizens willing to invest some time, to take action. This isn’t a threat from abroad. This year—and likely for years to come—we will all have to continue to fight against what our fellow Americans are doing to subvert elections. Because without free elections—and facts and truth—we cannot be a free country.

A.B. Stoddard wrote in The Bulwark that Republicans will seek to cause chaos post-election to try to block certification of a potential Kamala Harris win.

[brick-van-dyke]

As the final votes are counted in the US election and the results draw near, I want to warn once again:

Don't blame other leftists for whatever happens.

Remember, it is the electoral college, propaganda and the system at fault here. Please do not use your energy blaming other leftists, rather, use that energy to hold the system accountable.

I know it's easy to fall into the line of thinking that "others must be privileged and so I should blame them first and foremost for any struggles I face under Trump" and to hate all those who didn't vote at all. I know that perspective may feel satisfying when you need to blame someone material, accessible and easy to hold accountable, but they are not the root cause of what is happening. And no, there is a way to fight back and to use the power of your voice, actions and resistance to harm this system and hold it accountable.

Please, please remember that it wasn't any other leftists not voting in 2016 who led Trump to get in and it wasn't them who designed the electoral college to be unfair, all when Hilary did get the majority of the individual votes in 2016 but the system appointed Trump anyway because of the electoral college and because the US system is inherently unfair.

I want to remind everyone that the same backwards laws were still passed under Biden after Trump was replaced in 2020. The same aggression towards democracy existed as evident from Trump's fanning of flames even away from the presidency, the appealing of protections under Biden's watch and racism still increasing after 2020 and to this day.

And I want to remind everyone that it is the system that allowed Trump to run again, that allowed a felon to run at all in 2024.

I don't say this to dismiss voting, bit to remind despite any result that we have to remember who the real enemy is, and it isn't each other; it is the system that pits us against one another so that we are too distracted to fight it.

Regardless of who we voted for or didn't, we must all work together to resist.

[foxy-kitsune-fox]

Kamala Harris lied about she worked at McDonalds, but on Sunday, October 20, 2024, Donald Trump volunteer to work at McDonalds at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Donald Trump 2024, MAGA. ❤️

HAHAHAHAHA! LOL! LMAO! ROFL! LMFAO! 😄😆😅😂🤣😝😜🤪

~ Baron Tremayne Caple A.K.A. Foxy Fox/Foxy Kitsune Fox/Fox Man/Fox King/King Fox/Gemini Man/Autism Man/Rainbow Man Is A Metrosexual/God Of Autism/King Of Autism/God Of Asperger/King Of Asperger 🦊

[akiizayoi4869]

Raise your hand if you think that the electoral college needs to go

[nando161mando]

‘We must push past the merry-go-round of leaders that say every four years “This is our time” then “We must wait more”.

We must pour that snake oil out onto the road. No more waiting on the messiah Democrat politician. None seeks to be our “retribution”.

Patience has only led us to the gate of lynch mob rule.’

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/8/24/black-freedom-has-never-been-on-the-ballot

[deadpresidents]

I found out recently that William Harrison was a Presidential Elector and was wondering if any other Presidents or Vice-Presidents ever served as Electors?

Yes, it's actually much more common than you might imagine. The people chosen to serve as Presidential electors by the political parties in each state are often leading figures in that party -- from local party chairs and municipal office holders to incumbent and retired major elected officials. Just for example, Bill Clinton was an elector in New York in 2016 and 2020 (Hillary was a 2020 elector, too).

[cosmiiqueer]

congrats to everyone who successfully voted for the "leopards eating peoples faces" party

in case you're wondering, the leopards will eventually eat your face

[buggbuzz]

also, the electoral college needs to be dismantled. that shit is the reason why gerrymandering works and swing states exist. we need to use the fucking popular vote to determine what the american people actually want. all this points system bullshit does is waste votes and silence voters.

[beauty-funny-trippy]

[todaysdocument]

Resolutions of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Amend the Constitution to Abolish the Electoral College and Establish Direct Popular Election of the President

Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of RepresentativesSeries: Committee Papers of the Committee on the JudiciaryFile Unit: Petitions Received by the Committee on the Judiciary during the 91st Congress

[center] The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary State House, Boston 02133 May 15, 1969 [/center] [left is seal] John F. X. Davoren Secretary of the Commonwealth [right] can't read it M-175 RESOLUTIONS MEMORIALIZING THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES BY PROVIDING FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHING THE DIRECT POPULAR ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. [ul] Whereas [/ul], The national election of nineteen hundred and sixty-eight has once again demonstrated the dangerous potentialities for deadlock inherent in the Electoral College system; and [ul] Whereas [/ul], The Electoral College system is archaic, obsolete and undemocratic; and [ul] Whereas [/ul], The Electoral College system does not offer full realization of the one-man, one-vote doctrine in national elections; and [ul] Whereas [/ul], The abolition of the Electoral College system will result in bringing the voters, the ultimate source of all electoral power, directly into the process of electing a President and Vice President of the United States; now, therefore, be it [ul] Resolved [/ul], That the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to support an amendment to the Constitution of the United States which will provide for the abolition of the Electoral College system and its replacement by the direct popular election of the President and Vice President of the United States; and be it further [ul] Resolved [/ul], That copies of these resolutions be transmitted forthwith by the State Secretary to the presiding officer of each branch of Congress and to each member thereof from the Commonwealth. [right] Senate, adopted, April 28, 1969. NORMAN L. PIDGEON, Clerk. House of Representatives, adopted in concurrence, April 30, 1969. WALLACE C. MILLS, Clerk. [left] green seal ----------------- A true copy. Attest: [signature of] John F.X. Davoren JOHN F.X. DAVOREN, Secretary of the Commonwealth.