I wasn't attempting to get anyone to change their minds here, nor was I trying to be condescending..hope I didnt come off that way..

I was raising this subject because of my belief that voting for either candidate for the presidential election is a waste of time because of what they represent, and how they came to be nominated, and the EC process.

Their names are right there on the ballot, before all the other offices up for election in your district. If you choose not to vote down party lines at the beginning you can crush that ballot with as much democracy as your pen, or pencil, or lever, or computer button will let you. It's a power that Americans have protected for centuries-- since the Founding Fathers wrote that all men (women eventually, minorities a little later) are created equal with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to choose which douchebag or Turd will jokingly represent your interests in government and protect you from Nazis or something.

So right at the beginning you see the choice for President. And there are names with boxes next to them. It stands to reason that whichever one you choose is getting your vote. Bzzzz. Wrong. But thank you for playing Voting 101. Wait. What?

Yeah. That's right. You are not actually voting for who you want to be President. Now, this is not the case for any of the OTHER candidates you vote for on that ballot because they are elected through a popular election: most votes wins. Not the President though. That office is special and requires a special list of ridiculous but amazingly interesting rules associated with it.


Many people have heard of the Electoral College. Few people, other than those that are REALLY into Presidential elections understand how it works, most of whom are the ones actually running for President. On election night they keep talking about how the winner needs 270 electoral votes in order to be declared the winner. Seems like a low number of votes in order to be elected president. Suzie Q probably got that many running for First Grade hall monitor. So why 270? Let's do some quick math:

Congress is composed of 435 members in the House of Representatives and 100 members in the Senate. Each of these elected officials represents 1 vote in the Electoral College, plus Washington D.C. gets 3 (1 for the House and 2 for the Senate). That's a total of 538 electoral votes available. One-half of 538 is 269. One more than half is 270, or the number of votes necessary to become President. Yay!

But how does this relate to my vote you say? Simple, each state has X number of electoral votes associated with it (total House seats + 2 Senate seats) and each state is considered winner-takes-all. So whichever candidate gets the most votes in a state receives ALL the electoral votes that go with it. Or not. Wait. What?

That's right! Members of the Electoral College are appointed by the governors of the respective states. But there are no federal laws requiring them to vote in accordance with the popular vote. And in the states that have local laws the punishment is simply a fine but the vote cannot be changed.

Ok fine you say! Whatever. Even if someone else is voting for me no one would ever actually vote against the will of the people would they? Of course they would! And it's happened 156 times since the founding of the Electoral College! Such delegates are referred to as "faithless electors."

So in summary. Not only are you not voting for the President, you're voting for someone to cast your vote for President and that person can just say "go effff yourself" and vote for whoever the hell they want.

Regardless, the whole process is so corruptible its sickening...hence my reasoning.