Far-right Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado is one of many Republican elected officials who have embraced former President Donald Trump's fantasies that the 2020 election was somehow "stolen" from him through Democrats engaging in widespread election fraud.
Boebert objected to the counting of electoral votes in swing states Trump lost and has continued to sensationalize the rare occurrences of voter fraud in U.S. elections, none of which have been substantial enough to come anywhere remotely close to influencing final tallies in national elections.
On Sunday, Boebert was apparently alluding to voter fraud again when she tweeted the following.
One citizen. One vote.
End of story.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 9, 2022
But in doing so, Boebert paraphrased a popular slogan calling for the end of the electoral college.
Under the electoral college system, states send electors to cast a predetermined number of electoral votes in a presidential election that reflects the will of the voters in that state. Whichever candidate hits 270 electoral votes is the next President. Critics of the system argue that it grants voters in swing states an inflated voice over who the winning candidate will be. This is why it isn't necessarily rare for the winner of the popular vote to still lose the electoral college, as 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did to former President Trump in 2016.
The electoral college system is hugely beneficial to Republicans. According to data scientist David Shor, Democrats needed to win at least 52 percent of votes in order to have even a 50/50 shot at securing the presidency.
While Boebert certainly didn't call to abolish the electoral college, social media users jokingly claimed she was calling for equally distributed voter impact.
So you want to abolish the electoral college? Great! https://t.co/zu7aLSxPaP
— BadTableConvo (@BadTableConvo) January 10, 2022
I completely 100% agree. I'm absolutely floored she has tweeted something intelligent. The electoral college needs to end. One person. One vote. End of story! https://t.co/vKKAykNXnI
— Alternative NOAA (@altNOAA) January 10, 2022
Interesting to see the MAGA loons come out in favour of abolishing the Senate and the Electoral College, lol. https://t.co/MrpQ96QTBP
— kestrel1hawk2🔰↙️↙️↙️ (@kestrel1hawk2) January 10, 2022
Great. Let’s get rid of that pesky electoral college. https://t.co/5r19cTHH0K
— Caravans of Retirees (@TwinmomSue) January 10, 2022
It has been 371 days and this is the first time I actually agree with you.
Abolish the electoral college. Nationwide popular vote. https://t.co/bQoecKgYCO
— Thorongil (@Thorongil16) January 10, 2022
Nice to see the right coming around to eliminating the electoral college. https://t.co/A2lx36PIpr
— So Fain (@sofain) January 10, 2022
Meanwhile, criticisms of the electoral college persist.
In 2020, Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes.
In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes.
Both won the Electoral College by the same margin.
The Electoral College needs to go.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 7, 2022
If everyone votes, Republicans will never win again.
If elections are safe, secure, easy, free, & fair, Republicans will never win again.
If we abolish the Electoral College, Republicans will never win again.
They know it.
We know it.
That’s why they’re fighting it so hard.
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) January 9, 2022
The electoral college was designed to throw presidential elections into the House. It's a relic of a preindustrial world in which nation-wide campaigning was unimaginable and it was presumed that regionally popular candidates would split the EV among 3+ candidates. https://t.co/2K8RFMb1zK
— preorder CHAOTIC NEUTRAL now (@edburmila) January 6, 2022
It's highly unlikely, however, that the electoral college will be going anywhere anytime soon.
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AMC