Oh dear.

[conuly]

I wasn't really expecting anybody to take me seriously with the whole Electoral College thing. I really do know it's a pipe dream. And I don't really want to shut them down, but on the other hand, I don't want to crush their hopes and dreams either, and if they actually think this is a possibility they're just going to drag out the agony. Denial is fun if you know better, but if you don't isn't it better to rip off that bandaid? I have clearly got to be more careful with what I say on the internet. Does anybody have any practical advice that is realistic but not super blunt? I don't want to be all "Give it up, it's not actually gonna happen", but I don't want them to think it is actually gonna happen because I put that idea in their heads!

I suppose I ought to put my money where my mouth is and actually write to somebody. Where the heck can I get a list of electors and their contact information? Or maybe the media is the place to go with this, and I can at least say I tried? (Ohhhh, man, I don't actually want to try, because then it won't just not happen, I will have failed and it won't happen.)

Edit: Strike all that, good thing they're not as naive as I thought. I was really worried for a minute!

But here's a few things I found out while trying to find some genuine advice for them.

First, I'm not the only person with this ridiculous idea.

Secondly, apparently when it looked like Romney might win the popular vote (but lose the electoral), Trump was completely opposed. "This is not democracy!" Which I actually agree with, but what's he saying now? Crickets, right?

So you know what? I'm done. I'm absolutely done. You want to tell me I'm being stupid? You want to tell me it's futile? You want to tell me I could've done more practical good going to that rally tonight? I know, but I don't care. Fuck him. Just fuck him and his hypocrisy. I'm going to make all the ruckus I can from now until December. My electors are presumably voting Clinton anyway, but I'm going to write to all the others if I can track them down. I'm going to write to all the legislators, even the ones who don't give a shit about me because they're in, like, Alaska. I'm going to harass the hell out of everybody. And the very least you can do is write to your own legislators and ask them to support a national popular vote, and your own state governor, etc. asking them to join the Interstate Popular Vote Compact. Maybe it's a waste of time, but it's not a waste of very much time. (You can boost the signal a bit too, online and in real life. I mean, if you're talking/posting/tweeting about the election anyway....)

I was speaking to somebody elsewhere who thinks an Article V Convention is the way to go. Frankly, I think that's even less likely than a revolt among the electors, but I'll try it too. Because fuck that loser.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I think you're getting me mixed up with someone else. I'm the one who said "Marching in the street isn't going to change either this election's result, or the election laws for next time. Your time would be far better spent staying home and sending e-mails to all your elected officials."

The electors aren't going to overturn this, no. But you're absolutely right about increasing the pressure now, and I'm all in favor of it. It's not a futile and pointless stand; it's a long-range strategy. We'll have to get used to thinking in long-range strategies over the next four years, because a GOP Congress under a GOP POTUS won't be motivated to do jack-shit about election reform.

[conuly]

The electors aren't going to overturn this, no.

I would actually be deliriously happy if we convinced one or two to simply abstain, and I'll explain why.

Republican voters strongly dislike the electoral college - they're about 65% against, which is more than Democrats (about 60% against). However, the GOP's platform is pro-electoral college. This could be because they're all Constitutional Originalists, but I think we both know that isn't the reason.

The truth is that their base is getting older. So is ours, but with ours that means they're reaching voting age and with theirs, not to be crass, it means they're dying.

Which is why the GOP leaders like the electoral college - it gives them a chance to steal a win where they ought to have lost.

But if they see that the electoral college isn't their friend, they've got two choices. The first is to impel the states to close that loophole and make the electors vote in a certain way. That's not actually going to be popular with their voters.

The second, of course, is to ditch it.