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Hawkins Proposes To Abolish The Electoral College


The Green Party Candidate for the 2020 US Presidential Election, Howie Hawkins, has proposed some radical reforms for the US electoral system.

Hawkins' proposals could help to build support for parties other than the Democrats and Republicans, though it is hard to see these proposals come to life anytime soon, if at all.

The Presidential candidate has said on Twitter that he wants to see an end to the Electoral College, a system which sees the winner of each state take all of that state's votes, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska.

By abolishing the EC it can be assumed that he supports the President being elected by popular vote across the entire USA, something which would have seen Hillary Clinton elected instead of Donald Trump. It would also have resulted in Al Gore being elected president in 2000, instead of Texas Governor George W. Bush.

The Green Party can expect most of its support from safe Blue States, such as New York and California, while in vlose states such as Pennsylvania and Florida, the election will be too tight for voters to opt for a third party candidate.

But under a popular vote system spanning the entire country, people would feel less pressured to vote for the candidate that has the best chance of winning their state, and go with their preferred candidate.

However there is also the argument that in a Presidential Election where the two main candidates are close in national polls, that this could have a negative impact for third parties right across the fifty states.

Abolishing the EC won't necessarily give the third parties a better opportunity to win the presidency, but it will allow voters to look at the bigger picture, rather than just at their own state.

The negative side to the argument is that this could almost disenfranchise rural areas of the USA, where there are low populations and therefore fewer voters. States such as Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, which are very important for the current EC system, would almost become irrelavant in a popular vote system, with candidates shifting their priorities to large urban centres such as New York, Chicago, LA, and Miami.

Either way this is a bold proposal from the Green Party candidate that is sure to attract some support from those that strongly oppose the EC system.

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