Time to dump the Electoral College

[muon2]

The comparison to parliamentary systems touches on the real weakness of the NPVIC. It fails to guarantee the national leader wins the majority of something, instead of just a plurality. In modern democracies there are typically two ways to insure a majority for the national leader.

Parliamentary democracies use an intermediate body to elect their national leader. An outright majority of that body is needed. The US constitution preserved that concept in the Electoral College while divorcing it from the actual political body of Congress except in the case of no EC majority. The key to these systems is that a majority of that intermediate body is essential to protect the public from a minority faction that is able to win a plurality, but not a majority and presumably be unable to govern. I do feel that a CD-based system in the US is not the solution unless there is a uniform, neutral system of drawing districts.

For democracies with direct election the usual process is a run-off election between the top two vote-getters. France is a typical example. The intent is to insure that the national leader can be supported by the majority of voters. A minority faction that cannot swing the votes for a majority is blocked. Some jurisdictions use a ranked vote on the ballot to act as an instant runoff vote.

The NPVIC completely overlooks this. The NPVIC could have only applied when there was 50% or more for a candidate, but that doesn't get at a 2000-type election where neither candidate gets 50% of the vote. The NPVIC could have required its signatories to institute IRV to help resolve ties, but then the question remains as to how it would integrate with non-signatory states. I think the more appropriate method is along this line, but it takes a bit more work than the simple NPVIC can provide.