[EM] In defense of the Electoral College (was Re: Making a Bad Thing Worse)

[Chris Benham]

Kevin Venzke wrote (Fri.Nov.7):
Hi,

--- En date de : Ven 7.11.08, Markus Schulze <markus.schulze at alumni.tu-berlin.de> a écrit :
>Second: It makes it possible that the elections
>are run by the governments of the individual
>states and don't have to be run by the central
>government.

I especially agree with this second point, or at least that it has been
a good thing that the elections have not been conducted by a single
authority.

It's possible to imagine a different American history, if the federal
government had been in a position to cancel or postpone or manipulate the 
presidential election.

Kevin Venzke

 
Kevin,
Why does having elections for national office run by a "central authority"
like a federal electoral commission  necessarily mean that the "federal
government" (presumably you refer here to partisan office-holders with
a stake in the election outcome) would have the power to "cancel or
postpone or manipulate" the presidential election?

Can you please support your point by comparing the US with other
First World countries, perhaps just focussing on the last few decades?

Chris Benham



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