the electoral college

[joe shmoe]

ok, so i'm a dumbass...no problem. but can someone explain the electoral college to me. my main point of interest is if i vote republican, will it make any difference considering that NY is basically democratic? from the very little i understand about the electoral college, my vote wont mean shit.

have a nice day

 

[6 String]

Math Against Tyranny
by Will Hively, Discover magazine, November, 1996

"When you cast your vote this month, you're not directly electing the president--you're electing members of the electoral college. They elect the president. An archaic, unnecessary system? Mathematics shows, says one concerned American, that by giving your vote to another, you're ensuring the future of our democracy."

"James Madison, chief architect of our nations electoral college, wanted to protect each citizen against the most insidious tyranny that arises in democracies: the massed power of fellow citizens banded together in a dominant bloc. As Madison explained in The Federalist Papers (Number X), a well-constructed Union must, above all else, break and control the violence of faction, especially the superior force of an . . . overbearing majority. In any democracy, a majoritys power threatens minorities. It threatens their rights, their property, and sometimes their lives."

The full text is here:
http://www.avagara.com/e_c/reference/00012001.htm

 

[Bob Smith]

http://www.fec.gov/pages/ecmenu2.htm