The current system for electing a U.S. president traces back to 1787. Hans von Spakovsky, Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Vote Scheme, Heritage Legal Memorandum No. We have an Electoral College because thats what the founders added to the Constitution at the last minute. Third, defenders of the Electoral College also claim that it supports the underlying value of federalism. In 2000 Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote against Governor George W. Bush by 543,895. Iowa farmers might lose out to California union workers since their population numbers are larger. In 1892, the court upheld inMcPherson v. Blackerthat Congress can set the date nationally for the Electoral College to meet, but it also said that the states could determine how electors were apportioned and chosen. In a polarized political environment, such an institutional structure remains entrenched. So if the results of most presidential elections tend to reflect the choice of the people, why do we still have the Electoral College? In each state, electors meet after the presidential election on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December and cast their votes for president and vice president in separate ballots. Some laws simply state that electors must vote for the candidate of the party they represent; others require electors to sign an oath or a pledge. In late September, when the Republican nominee's numbers in the polls saw a significant rise and nearly eliminated Clinton's huge post-convention lead, forecasts still had her snatching the election with 17 more electoral votes than her opponent. Instead of a politician trying to appeal to someone with specific needs, the adoption of a general platform that maximizes votes in urban centers would become the emphasis of each party. So what would happen if we got rid of the Electoral College? In part, that is because the Electoral College is constitutionally mandated, and abolishing it would require a constitutional amendment. Today, 48 states use winner-take-all. Americas auto industry auto industry auto industry At least in part because its located mostly in swing states, like Michigan and Ohio, states whose electoral votes he needed to win. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power - & we cant let that happen. These arent small states. Presidential elections have little if anything to do with the subject, even when some candidates claim to be running against Washington.. 4. The supporters of the NPV are not hiding their goal: They are trying to circumvent the AK constitutional amendment process and manipulate the Electoral College out of existence.11. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. Under the current structure of the United States, there are 50 unique presidential contests instead of one nationwide affair to elect a President. Do you think this means the system is broken? As Madison wrote in an 1823 letter, states using the winner-take-all rule are a string of beads and fail to reflect the true political diversity of their citizens. But the fact is that we are now one country, whereas in 1789 we were 13 colonies desperately trying to hold onto some semblance of their independencehence a political deal was struck that now threatens the very democracy for which they were trying to create a lasting framework. The Electoral College thus presents democratic risks without serving any of its original purposes. Recurring debt ceiling fights will only be solved by budget reform, Amend the Constitution so the candidate who receives the most votes wins. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/learning/is-the-electoral-college-a-problem-does-it-need-to-be-fixed.html. Despite California having millions of more people living in the state compared to Wyoming, the weight of a vote is 30% less. In recent years, a new scheme has emerged that claims it can bypass the seemingly insurmountable impediment of a constitutional amendment process but have the same result of nullifying the Electoral College: The National Popular Vote Compact (NPV). So overall, while the Electoral College may not make much of a difference to the results of our modern elections, it forces our politicians to have a larger scope of the issues facing this country, rather than just focusing on the concerns people in areas with large populations care about. George W. Bush won the Electoral College in 2000 even though he received 0.5% less of the popular vote against Al Gore. Parties must obtain no less than 7% of votes - either on their own or in alliance with other parties - in order to enter . As far as the 2016 election is concerned, Hillary Clinton would still be the likely winner if the Electoral College didn't exist. The primary benefit of the electoral college is that it works to protect the best interests of the minority in every election. In each case, the number of faithless electors who exercised that behavior would not have had a meaningful impact on the outcome. Support for direct popular election. As far as the 2016 election is concerned, Hillary Clinton would still be the likely winner if the Electoral College didn't exist. Switching to this standard system would not likely create an adverse result. I wrote a whole book on the subject. If the Electoral College system begins to prevent, on a regular basis, the popular vote winner from becoming president, it will create systemic challenges. Continually updated tools and resources to help move your practice and the legal profession forward during COVID-19 and beyond. After a long battle in Florida Bush won the state narrowly, giving him an Electoral College victory of 271 to 266 over Al Gore. The 2010 census is therefore valid for the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Presidential elections. 2016 is on track to be the fifth election in U.S. political history in which the candidate who wins the most votes is not the one elected president -- giving rise to another round of calls to. Alexander Hamilton was a significant supporter of the Electoral College. Instead of having a regional focus that incorporates specific campaigning elements, there would be a national campaign instead. Donald Trump was open about ignoring the pleas of the safe blue states like New York when they were suffering the most from the coronavirus pandemic. And the most recent major occasion took place in 1969, 1970, when there was a strong bipartisan effort to abolish the electoral college and have us utilize a national popular vote. [2] The compact would then be 43 Electoral College votes short of going into effect. The Electoral College is not going to be changed, and there are far more urgent and promising topics for reform of our presidential selection system. Students, watch the video and read Mr. Wegmans Op-Ed, and then tell us: What does democracy mean to you? Do you agree? Abolishing the Electoral College seems to be the next logical step in that process. The voices of small states, like Rhode Island and Wyoming, would be drowned out. Five times in our history, presidential candidates who have won more votes than their opponent have still lost the election. In the current Congress, this would require every Democratic House member to vote in favor of such an amendment and be joined by 59 Republicans and every Democratic Senator to be joined by 19 of their Republican colleagues. Alternative 1: Two electoral votes to national popular vote winner; state winner-take-all for the remainder, *Each of these races included faithless electors, such that the total of electoral votes, as shown, does not equal 538. Throughout our nations history there have been many unwise attempts to abolish the Electoral College, but these proposed constitutional amendments saw little success and unsurprisingly failed to gain traction. Reagan also dominated in 1980, taking 489 votes to Jimmy Carters 49. In most cases this should prevent the popular vote loser from becoming president. However, in the five presidential elections of the 21st century, two ended up with the winner of the popular vote losing the Electoral College. While people were moving to the coasts, especially California, the Electoral College stayed the same. Then in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College despite receiving 2.1% less of the popular vote. That means the major party that can maintain its base could win elections without a clear majority. A plan to scrap the Electoral College via constitutional amendment would not pass in the current environment. Both times in 2000 and 2016 it was the Republican candidate who got fewer votes but ended up in the White House. "Precisely what it does is proportionately advantages where the people are," Levy said. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren calls for abolishing the Electoral College and moving to a national popular vote: Every vote matters #WarrenTownHall https://t.co/pPFMVywETf pic.twitter.com/yy0J0HgAjc. But get this, the way the Electoral College actually functions today isnt even enshrined in the Constitution. A supporter of President-elect Joe Biden holds up his cellphone to display the electoral college map, outside the Philadelphia Convention Center on Nov. 7. Stanford, California 94305. I think it would make more sense to split the electoral votes based on the state-wide vote so if a state has 10 electoral votes and the election goes 60% to 40%, the candidates gets 6 votes and 4 votes respectively. And the reasons people think we need to keep the Electoral College the way it is, theyre all wrong. Find all our Student Opinion questions in this column. Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? The Electoral College has been the subject of debate since it was first implemented centuries ago, but when George W. Bush won the presidential election in 2000 despite Al Gore winning the popular vote, controversy surrounding the institution rose to a much more intense degree. Lauren Wesley Wilson Is Making WHCD Weekend More Inclusive, Dylan Mulvaney Wanted To Be An Actor, Not An Activist, Olivia Munn & John Mulaney's Meet Cute 8 Years Ago At A Wedding Is Relatable, 10 Times Tom From 'Succession' Was Actually Mr. Darcy, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. A lot of people dont even want to talk about changing the Electoral College because of this idea. Redirecting to https://m.startribune.com/one-clear-result-of-the-2020-election-at-last-let-s-abolish-the-electoral-college/. In the history of the United States, there have been five elections where the eventual winner didnt receive a clear majority of the vote. So lets put the power to select the president where it actually belongs, in the hands of all the people. {{currentYear}} American Bar Association, all rights reserved. Under this option, Florida would give 15 Electoral College votes to Clinton and 14 to Trump. 7. This shift would likely benefit that party for more than a generation. This process means that each candidate must speak with the entire country instead of visiting the largest cities as a way to solicit for votes. Next week five hundred and thirty-eight American citizens will travel to their state capitals and elect the president of the United States. The current structure limits Americans from pushing in this direction even though candidates tend to visit swing states more often. Bill Clinton won the White House in 1992 with only 43% of the vote, and then in 1996 with 49.2%. While there are two different means to amend the founding document, this country has always used the same route: a 2/3rds vote in both houses of Congress, followed by the ratification of 3/4ths of the states. In this video excerpt from our Oct. 22 panel, Mr. Wegman argues that states should join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a plan to guarantee that the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia wins the presidency. The pact raises questions of its own for democracy: It creates a situation in which voters in, for example, Colorado, may cast most of their votes for the Democrat in a presidential race but the state might wind up giving its electors to the Republican depending on the national outcome. The interests of the minority would no longer receive protection. Right now, those circumstances tend to benefit Republicans in the Electoral College, while disadvantaging Democrats who have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight elections. The corrosiveness of this system isnt only a modern concern. Even when it is against the law for these folks to vote for someone other than what the electoral results in their state indicate, there is always an option to become a faithless elector under the American structure.
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