Quote:
Originally Posted by Over
What?! I've heard something about this in a tv series episode (Boston Legal), but I didn't give it any credit.
What's the story? And what kind of democracy is that?!
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The original reason for it was that, in the early days of the United States, the country was extremely large and sparsely populated, and, before the days of good communications, there was simply no practical method for all the people to vote directly for President. The only practical way to do it was for the people of each state to cast their votes locally, and then for a small group of people to physically travel to Washington to cast votes on behalf of the state.
Another reason sometimes cited for an electoral college system is that the electors are selected by the state, and they are supposed to be the "great and the good" of the state, and can therefore be relied on to act with greater "wisdom" than the "uneducated masses".