There aren’t too many people who are neutral on the Electoral College. Most people’s opinions spring from whether your candidate won or lost a recent election, not because of how the Electoral College is structured.
The Constitution calls for each state to receive one elector for each member of Congress, which currently totals 538. The minimum number of electors in each state is three, one for each Senator and a minimum of one for the state’s lone Representative. The Electoral College never meets altogether in person. Instead the electors meet at their respective state capitals and transmits their vote totals to Congress. California as the most populous state has 55 electors. To be elected President, the candidate must receive 51% of the electoral votes. If a candidate fails to receive 51%, then the selecting of the President is sent to the House of Representatives, where the top 3 candidates from the Electoral College will be eligible to become President with each state getting one vote and 26 states required to win. If you aren’t up to speed on the Electoral College you aren’t alone The most watched 5 minute video on www.prageru.com is “Do you understand the Electoral College” with 64.7 million views.
If you study the US historical documents you will find that the Founders were very realistic about power and the tendency for it to corrupt political processes. They created a federal republic (a union of states with elected officials who represent the will of the people), based on a written Constitution which protects the minority from the majority and both from a tyrannical federal government. They did not create a direct democracy because they feared a tyrant would manipulate public opinion and come to power which would result in “instability, injustice and confusion.” Ben Franklin- “Democracy is two wolves and one lamb voting on what to have for dinner.” To that end, they included three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) with built in checks and balances like specific roles assigned to each branch and mechanisms that would check each others’ power. In like manner, they split responsibilities and power between the federal and state governments. If all worked well the countervailing forces would prevent or at least lessen the possibility of corruption or tyranny from overtaking our country. The Electoral College was part of their effort to insulate the Presidency from mob rule.
The Constitution as written, gives states the right to send electors to the Electoral College based on the popular vote in their state using several methods including: winner-take-all, percentage of the vote (each candidate would receive a percentage of the total popular vote in their state), and Congressional Districts plans. Currently, forty eight states have decided to use the winner-take-all method. Maine and Nebraska use the Congressional District Plan where the winner of each congressional district within the state is awarded one electoral vote and two electoral votes are given to the winner of the state wide vote. Both the percentage and Congressional District plan would result in Presidential grass roots campaigns being fought in every state and every district, since electors can be won in both conservative and liberal districts within states. Both small population states and large population states would have a say in who wins the election. It would also encourage coalition building and national political parties since the candidate would still need to win 51% of the electors in the Electoral College to be certified as President. Voter turn out would be increased in every state since there would be no winner-take-all states. Changing the way electors are selected would preserve the Electoral College role in selecting the President and at the same time make the campaign more grass roots and less media driven.
For over 200 years the Electoral College as the mechanism under which the President has been chosen has not been seriously challenged by a Constitutional Amendment because that process is very difficult since it requires approval of 38 states. Instead of utilizing the amendment process, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is seeking to change how the states electors vote utilizing a unique vehicle called an interstate compact. Currently, the electors vote for the Presidential candidate based on the votes cast within their state, the NPVIC would have the state electors cast their votes not based on how the state voted but how the nation as a whole voted. The individual states, especially the less populous states would be sacrificing their influence on the election to the population centers.
This plan would go into effect when states with a majority of all electoral votes (270) have approved the Compact. Currently, the plan has been enacted into law in 16 states or Districts who have 196 electoral votes including the following: CA, CO, CT, District of Columbia, DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI., VT, and WA. This Compact would insure that the candidate who won the most votes nationally but not necessarily a majority (possibly only 25% if 4 or more candidates run) would be the President. In the last Presidential election 136,669,276 votes were cast for 12 candidates. If the Compact went into effect, the future Presidential campaign would primarily consist of 30 second sound bytes in the metropolitan areas of the most populous states. If you add up the population of the 10 largest metropolitan areas they total over 86.1 million people in 14 states. The other 36 states and the people who live outside of a metropolitan area would likely never see a candidate and forget Iowa, New Hampshire and all the rest of the primary states. The Compact would likely be challenged in federal court as unconstitutional since they are in effect amending the Constitution without going through the amendment process, which has never happened in the history of our country.
