• NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    we are not commuting by horseback any longer.

    Is there some reference specifically to the electoral college and horses, or was this just about the passage of time?

    Half of me thinks there was something very specific about horses and the college after you wrote that lol.

    • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      One of the arguments for the electoral college was that news travels by horseback and a new development needed a representative at Washington to accout for it.

      These representatives (electors) must therefore be able to vote differently that how they were asked to if they deem the situation requires it. Say it’s uncovered that one candidate was plotting treason, or has a heart attack.

      Because we can communicate instantaneously now, electors are not needed to vote for people or states anymore; a direct vote is easily accomplished.

      The unfair allocation of those votes is a different aspect of the Electoral College, but also a reason to be rid of it.