The US electoral system is a disgusting mess from head to toe.

[DetlefK]

Let me compare the electoral systems of the US and of Germany:

Who gets to vote?
- In the US, people have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get registered as a voter.
- Germany has automatic voter-registration and automatically updates the voter-rolls whenever someone moves or dies.

What's proof that they can vote?
- In the US, every state has their own rules what does and what does not count as voter-ID.
- In Germany, you get an election-notification by mail and you show that together with your national ID. (Which you also automatically get.)

Where do you vote?
- In the US, you can choose from a variety polling-places.
- In Germany, there is one fixed polling-place for you, within walking-distance, right in your neighbourhood.

When do you vote?
- Tuesday.
- Sunday.

How do you vote and how are votes counted?
- In the US, you may choose: You can vote via a hackable, worn-out, error-prone touchscreen. Or you can vote by paper-ballot and have your vote counted by a hackable, worn-out, error-prone optical scanner.
- In Germany, you vote by paper-ballot only. They are counted by hand only. And any citizen is allowed to witness the vote-counting in person.

How much is your vote worth?
- In the Electoral College, each vote from a rural state is worth as much as 2-3 votes from an urban state.
- A Two-Vote-system: You have one vote for whom you want to be your local Representative and another vote for which party you want to win nationally. The make-up of the parliament is calculated form a combination of both results.

What about federalism?
- In the US, every state has 2 Senators, independent of the number of people they represent.
- In Germany, every state sends 3-6 Reps. to the Upper Chamber, to represent how many citizens they represent.





I don't know about you, but if my vote were only worth 1/3 votes compared to some other guy, that would piss me off. Royally.

[Skittles]

1. when one party wins in party by actively SUPPRESSING THE VOTE, it's a fucking problem

Last edited Fri Dec 2, 2016, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

fucking cowards

[Fast Walker 52]

3. they are truly evil, and need to be called out as such-- on the air

not just online

[Fast Walker 52]

2. yes, it's an archaic mess, but the evil fuckers benefiting from it right now are in no rush to

change it.

[TomVilmer]

4. And in Germany, the popular vote decides nothing

In Germany, the president is elected by something quite like the Electoral College, but even more indirectly by the voters. The Electoral College in Germany is the members of parliament and an equal number of delegates from the local states to secure some geographic balance.

The president appoints the political head of state, the Chancellor - in practice after the real choice is made by the majority of the parliament. In modern elections, the parties have a candidate during the popular elections, but there is no laws about that. After the election, they could chose anybody by the above process.

In Denmark we by some stupid tradition have a Monarchy, but the process for prime minister is very similar, since he is selected by the majority of parliament. The guy in front in this election period does not in any way have a popular vote behind him, but was able to get a majority handed to him by the many political parties in parliament.

The idea, that the rest of the world prefers the winner by popular vote without some geographic adjustments, is just false. But the US Electoral College is more fucked up than most, and need some heavy changes.

[DetlefK]

5. But the german President has way less political power than the US President.

The US President is head of state and head of government.

In Germany, the head of government is the Chancellor. He gets elected democratically and here lies the true political center of power.
The President is head of state, but he's more of a figure-head, a national conscience. He gets picked behind the scenes to find a non-controversial compromise-candidate everybody can live with.

That's why the german politicians have trouble finding a suitable candidate for the next President. They can't just nominate and elect somebody. It has to be somebody everybody can accept from the get-go, because the german President is mainly a symbolical office in representing Germany as a whole. It has to be somebody non-partisan.

[TomVilmer]

8. Yes, but the Chancellor is elected by a geographically adjusted parliament

The German political system is a mix like in the United States. The parliament and the Chancellor is not elected by popular vote, but in a way supporting better geographic representation. The Chancellor then get appointed by a majority of a geographically adjusted parliament. The votes behind that political majority can be lesser than the popular vote, as it often is in Denmark.

In Denmark our ruler is appointed directly by God, and this fact is printed on the first page of all our very democratic laws. Most countries has very stupid systems, and the one in USA is not especially bad made.

[annabanana]

6. The graphic so simple a child can understand:

[Javaman]

7. once electronic voting became the norm...

we became a charade of a democracy.