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From: mark@elsie.UUCP (Mark J. Miller)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Electoral college
Message-ID: <4099@elsie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Dec-84 07:08:42 EST
Article-I.D.: elsie.4099
Posted: Tue Dec 11 07:08:42 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Dec-84 02:14:42 EST
References: <204@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA>
Organization: NIH-LEC, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 19

> I was taught that the Electoral College was originally created because:
> 	-1- it would have taken too long to gather up the popular vote
> 	-2- the founding fathers didn't really trust the people to make an
> 	    intelligent choice.
> 

(Perhaps the founding fathers were right?!)

The major argument that remains for the Electoral College is to prevent one
region of the country from forcing a popular regional candidate on the rest
of the nation. In 1976, for example, Jimmy Carter ran as the first
Southerner to get a major party nomination since the Civil War and won
the South by an overwhelming margin. His EC vote was very close, however.

-- 
Mark J. Miller
NIH/NCI/DCE/LEC
UUCP:	decvax!harpo!seismo!elsie!mark
Phone:	(301) 496-5688