Thursday, October 29, 2020

Sharing explanations of the US electoral college voting system

Although I’m a Canadian, I have a strong interest in the presidential race happening south of the border.  I suspect many other Canadians or other people around the world share this interest. It seems for me that every 2 years (votes for congress) and every four years I have decode the basics of the US government structure and it’s voting and electoral systems.

I started with Wednesday’s episode of the New York Times Daily podcast - The Shadow of the 2000 Election.  This episode explains the issues in Florida in 2000 with iffy voting systems, legal battles and the media’s impact and why GW Bush became president.  I’m afraid it paints a pretty dark picture of what could very likely happen next week.

I then listened to another Daily podcast from last week - A Peculiar Way to Pick a President.  This one explains the origins of the electoral college system and potential ways to make the US presidential election more fair with the National Popular Vote Compact (NPVC).

And finally, I got most of my questions answers by a well-written and illustrated article in the Guardian - Electoral college explained: how Biden faces an uphill battle in the US election.

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