A thread on the #ElectoralCollege as voting gets underway. This is day that 538 privileged people out of 239 million eligible voters actually get to vote for president and vice president. 1/11

A reminder that "college" is probably the wrong term. That word does not appear in the US Constitution. By design, the full set of electors never actually meets as a group. 2/11
This bizarre and antiquated system violates the fundamental norm of "one person, one vote." States such as mine get showered with attention from the campaigns while most others are ignored. It is well known that voter turnout is higher in the battleground states. 3/11
What is often overlooked is the system also makes elections less secure. An election that turns on a few states is easier for a malicious actor to get a foothold. Hacking a decentralized national system is nearly impossible, but targeting a few states is not. 4/11
The system also fosters partisan disputes. When it all comes down to a few battlegrounds, political parties are incentivized to manipulate election rules, file lawsuits, & generally do all they can to win by small margins. 5/11
There is no ideal way to run an election, but over time the U.S. has come to embrace the notion of voting equality. The Electoral College remains one of the few places where that value is violated. 6/11
The Electoral College system as outlined in the Constitution is not exactly the problem. It's the use of winner-take-all rules in the states for awarding electors that turns a national election into one focused on a few battlegrounds. 7/11
A remedy that does not require amending the Constitution is for states to award their electors on a proportional basis. If that rule was in place, we would have known quickly after election day that Wisconsin was going to award Biden & Trump 5 electoral votes each. 8/11
Other options include the national popular vote interstate compact or amending the Constitution to do away with the electoral system altogether. For these reforms, adopting ranked choice voting would be welcome. 9/11
Just don't allocate electors by congressional district. A district-based system heightens incentives for partisan gerrymandering, where SCOTUS has already removed the guardrails. Making the presidency dependent on districts would only intensity the manipulation of maps. 10/11
Best wishes to everyone for a smooth round of electoral voting today and counting in Congress on Jan. 6. But for the sake of enhancing representational equality, reducing partisan legal disputes, and improving election security, let's make some changes for 2024. 11/11

More from Politics

My piece in the NY Times today: "the Trump administration is denying applications submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services at a rate 37 percent higher than the Obama administration did in 2016."

Based on this analysis: "Denials for immigration benefits—travel documents, work permits, green cards, worker petitions, etc.—increased 37 percent since FY 2016. On an absolute basis, FY 2018 will see more than about 155,000 more denials than FY 2016."
https://t.co/Bl0naOO0sh


"This increase in denials cannot be credited to an overall rise in applications. In fact, the total number of applications so far this year is 2 percent lower than in 2016. It could be that the higher denial rate is also discouraging some people from applying at all.."

Thanks to @gsiskind for his insightful comments. The increase in denials, he said, is “significant enough to make one think that Congress must have passed legislation changing the requirements. But we know they have not.”

My conclusion:

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दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।