Our founding fathers were not perfect, but the “American experiment” of a constitutional republic still looks pretty good.
Like many foundations of our government, the Electoral College was a compromise after the framers of our Constitution debated for many months.
Many founders wanted the president to be elected/selected by the U.S. Congress, a much smaller body of elites at that time. Others advocated for a popular vote to pick the “non-king” to lead our colonies and then-nascent nation forward.
Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth were the primary authors of this great compromise. With the War for Independence in the rearview and Britain’s return and attempt to reconquer in 1812 yet ahead, the founders wanted to escape the overbearing yoke of a monarch and the overstepping rule of Britain’s appointed colonial governors. Yet, at the time, no other nation on the planet elected its ruler by a popular majority vote.
The compromise, with an acknowledged nod to America’s original sin, was a system where states would fashion their laws for selecting electors, each state would have two electors to mirror their representation within the U.S. Senate (two members for each state), and additional electors for each Congressional District within the U.S. House of Representatives.
Much later, most states awarded the popular vote in a winner-take-all fashion to the party's electoral slate, which won a plurality of each state’s votes.
Maine and Nebraska are the exceptions, with electoral votes awarded by the Congressional District matching each other's results.
Though founded upon democratic principles, our nation is a constitutional republic. We select and elect officials in the three branches of government to determine policy, set budgets, and enact the people’s business. From those original 13 colonies with a population of nearly four million, we are now 50 states with a population of 330 million-plus. And we all now vote for a slate of electors rather than candidates for president.
The Electoral College gives voice and votes to all states, large and small. Out of 538 total electors, California, with nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population, has 54—just under 10 percent of all electors. There are 100 electors to represent the U.S. Senate, 435 for the U.S. House, and three for the District of Columbia.
Washington, D.C., with three electoral votes, was created from land donated by three states—and a good bit of salvaged swamp land and Intracoastal waterway along the Potomac River — just to host our nation’s capital.
Each time there is a disconnect between the popular vote results and the Electoral College's, a hue and cry rise to amend the Constitution and move to the popular vote determining the White House occupant.
This argument typically comes from the non-prevailing side after the Electoral College chooses the other candidate.
However, non-alignment is far from rare. The last Republican to win both was President George W.
Bush in 2004 to start his second term.
Based on modest populations, many states in New England (including several original colonies) and across the Rocky Mountains and Alaska have only those three Electoral College votes.
Shifting to a popular vote system would eliminate the need for candidates to appeal to a broad cross-section of the American people or to campaign in between major population centers.
The East Coast and major cities and metro areas like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas would see candidates and become centers of campaign activity, but “flyover country” most likely would become almost exclusively that.
The Trump campaign created a map, painting the nation by the voting results in all counties: red for Trump's victory and blue for Harris's.
Without including Hawaii and Alaska, the map shows ink blots of blue surrounding almost every major metro across the nation, predominantly along the eastern seaboard. The Heartland, Sun Belt, and Deep South are a nearly uninterrupted Red Sea.
While the popular vote margin did close some, Trump still led Harris by more than 3.5 million votes, and the GOP flipped 10 counties from blue to red in California – which may decide the majority party in the U.S. House.
When your position on an issue looks starkly different, dependent on who is large and in charge, you must face the reality that politics and your party preference may cloud your thinking and preferences, not necessarily for “the good of the nation.” And that’s why the Electoral College still has my vote.