Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism
CT VIEWPOINTS -- opinions from around Connecticut

A fairer, safer way to elect our presidents

  • CT Viewpoints
  • by James K. Glassman
  • February 22, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Robert Mueller’s indictments last Friday confirm that even Russian hackers know where to find the people who elect America’s president. “The defendants and their co-conspirators,” says the federal court filing, “learned…that they should focus their activities on ‘purple states like Colorado, Virginia & Florida.’”

Under our system, the outcome of the winner-take-all contest in about 40 states is practically preordained when campaigning starts. So Russian election-disrupters — like U.S. presidential candidates — know where to put their resources. And it’s not in Connecticut, where Hilary Clinton became the seventh Democrat in a row to win the state’s electoral votes.

In 2016, two-thirds of 399 presidential campaign events were held in just six states, according to the organization National Popular Vote, and 94 percent were held in just 12 states (11 of them identified as battlegrounds early that year). Just one event was held in Connecticut.

This is no way to run an election. Americans are alienated and disheartened about politics and distrust their government. They have a good reason: For the vast majority, including here in Connecticut, their votes simply don’t count.

But Hartford has the opportunity this spring to pass a bill that could soon guarantee that the candidate who gets the most popular votes throughout the country will become president. Polls have consistently shown that most Americans prefer this system to the one we have now – and a survey released Wednesday [ed: Feb. 21] finds that most Connecticut voters, including most Republicans, want to pick the president by popular vote as well.

The survey found that 78 percent of Connecticut voters – including 92 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of Republicans, and 76 percent of independents — agree that “the person who wins the most votes nationwide should be elected president.”

In addition, a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents “would be more likely to vote” for a candidate for Connecticut governor or legislator who “promised to support the National Popular Vote plan.” The survey last month of 1,202 voters throughout the state was conducted by the national pollster Andrew Claster.

But shouldn’t Republicans like me support the status quo out of self-interest? In the past five elections, the current system has produced two GOP presidents who received fewer popular votes than their opponents. But that view is short-sighted. Consider:

  • Of the six largest states, three are solidly Democratic (with 104 electoral votes), one is solidly Republican (38), and two are toss-ups (49).
  • If 60,000 Ohio voters had cast their ballots for John Kerry instead of George W. Bush in 2004, the Democrat would have been president — despite losing by 3 million popular votes.
  • Surveys show the United States has been a right-of-center country for the past quarter-century. Republicans should win a popular-vote majority in a nationwide race

Some Republicans argue that a nationwide popular vote violates the Founders’ intentions, but that isn’t true. The Constitution (Article II, Sect. 1) says, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors….” It’s the right of the states to determine how their electoral votes are awarded.

Connecticut can now join 10 states and the District of Columbia in requiring its electoral votes go the candidate who gets the most votes nationally. When states with a total of 270 electoral votes pass this law, or compact, it will go into effect – and a popular vote will determine the presidency.

Let’s get back to the Russians. It’s still unclear whether their conspiracy affected the outcome of the 2016 election, but it certainly could have. After all, with a shift of just 40,000 votes in three states, Donald Trump would have lost.

If we elected the president by popular vote, “It would be more difficult for a foreign entity to sway many millions of voters scattered across the country,” wrote national security experts Ben Haas and Matt Olsen in Politico. “And it would be more difficult to tamper with voting systems on a nationwide basis than to hack into a handful of databases in crucial swing districts.”

Turning every state purple and allowing every vote to count equally will help restore confidence in American democracy. It’s the right and fair thing to do, and, in these times, it’s the safe thing to do as well.

Ambassador James K. Glassman, formerly of Falls Village, served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy in the George W. Bush Administration. He is a member of the board of directors of the Making Every Vote Count Foundation.


CTViewpoints welcomes rebuttal or opposing views to this and all its commentaries. Read our guidelines and submit your commentary here.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

A just stimulus package is a start toward true racial inclusion
by Carlton L Highsmith

For centuries Blacks have been denied full participation in the American Dream. But for the sake of our collective progress, as we recover from the crippling economic effects of COVID-19, our country has a mandate to acknowledge its history of systematic institutionalized exclusionary practices and not repeat them.

Hamden taxpayers are left in the dark
by Lauren Garrett

“A budget is a moral document.” This phrase is often heard during budget season from both sides of the aisle advocating for their personal values. The municipal operating budget is the cost of running a town which includes paying for employees, schools, and other services. Asking residents to pay property taxes requires a public trust.

In the grip of a pandemic: What would Dr. King say?
by Suzanne Lagarde MD

No one can dispute that we are in the midst of a history making week —the inauguration of a new President and the departure of a President under the cloud of accusations that he incited an insurrection against American democracy. However, the coming week will prove to be a week like no other in American history for more reasons than what is happening in our country’s capital.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Opinion A just stimulus package is a start toward true racial inclusion
by Carlton L Highsmith

For centuries Blacks have been denied full participation in the American Dream. But for the sake of our collective progress, as we recover from the crippling economic effects of COVID-19, our country has a mandate to acknowledge its history of systematic institutionalized exclusionary practices and not repeat them.

Opinion Hamden taxpayers are left in the dark
by Lauren Garrett

“A budget is a moral document.” This phrase is often heard during budget season from both sides of the aisle advocating for their personal values. The municipal operating budget is the cost of running a town which includes paying for employees, schools, and other services. Asking residents to pay property taxes requires a public trust.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO