4 ms·

This statement confuses me. What one or two counties contain the majority of the US population? If elections moved to a popular vote, it would be much harder to

by evv 7y ago

This statement confuses me. What one or two counties contain the majority of the US population? If elections moved to a popular vote, it would be much harder to rig the election because you'd need to manipulate the whole country, rather than a few key states.

drak0n1c 7y ago
The popular vote difference between candidates sometimes comes within 0-2 million votes. LA County has 10 million people, and there are over 40 other counties that have more than 1 million people. If elections are decided by popular vote, then just LA County alone, or a combination of the others, could artificially add or flip enough votes to overcome that 0-2 million vote difference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_populous_counties_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_populous_coun...
- evv 7y ago
  Would it really be so bad for people in LA County to have as much of a vote as the rest of the country? If we switched to a popular vote, I bet the number of voters would shoot way up, which is undoubtedly a good thing!
tropo 7y ago
We already have a problem with counties reporting more registered voters than should be possible, and a problem with poll workers who vote on behalf of missing voters after the polls officially close. Currently the damage is limited to flipping one state. If we used a popular vote, a malicious county could supply an extra 50 million votes. Just one corrupt county could change the election results, even when the results would not have been close, and there is nothing that could be done about it after the election day.
jakeogh 7y ago
That would take us back to the (original) Tea Party. A few cities would rule the country. Large groups generally magnify the effects of groupthink and become unstable if left to make the decisions for everyone else.

4 ms·

This statement confuses me. What one or two counties contain the majority of the US population? If elections moved to a popular vote, it would be much harder to

by evv 7y ago

drak0n1c 7y ago
The popular vote difference between candidates sometimes comes within 0-2 million votes. LA County has 10 million people, and there are over 40 other counties that have more than 1 million people. If elections are decided by popular vote, then just LA County alone, or a combination of the others, could artificially add or flip enough votes to overcome that 0-2 million vote difference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_populous_counties_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_populous_coun...
- evv 7y ago
  Would it really be so bad for people in LA County to have as much of a vote as the rest of the country? If we switched to a popular vote, I bet the number of voters would shoot way up, which is undoubtedly a good thing!
tropo 7y ago
We already have a problem with counties reporting more registered voters than should be possible, and a problem with poll workers who vote on behalf of missing voters after the polls officially close. Currently the damage is limited to flipping one state. If we used a popular vote, a malicious county could supply an extra 50 million votes. Just one corrupt county could change the election results, even when the results would not have been close, and there is nothing that could be done about it after the election day.
jakeogh 7y ago
That would take us back to the (original) Tea Party. A few cities would rule the country. Large groups generally magnify the effects of groupthink and become unstable if left to make the decisions for everyone else.