The Vital Role of the Electoral College
As the election approaches, criticism of the Electoral College is intensifying. Pundits and some candidates, particularly on the Left side of the aisle, fear an election in which a presidential candidate wins the popular vote yet loses because they failed to secure 270 votes in the Electoral College. That concern is not without precedent. It has happened five times in US history: 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and most recently, in 2016, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Is such an outcome just or unjust?
One of the primary debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was how to ensure smaller, less populated states had a voice in the political process while still accounting for the larger populations of the bigger states. Legislatively, the issue was resolved by granting each state two senators, regardless of size, while the number of representatives was based on population.
To achieve the same balance in electing the president, the Founding Fathers devised a similar plan. In Article II, Section 1, the Constitution established what we now call the Electoral College.* Under that framework, each state is assigned electors equal to the state’s total number of senators and representatives. For the current 50 states with 100 senators and 435 representatives, that adds up to 535 electors. In 1961, the 23rd Amendment granted 3 additional electors to the District of Columbia for a grand total of 538. The president is chosen by a simple majority of 270 of the 538 electors, which may or may not reflect the national popular vote.
In each state except Nebraska and Maine, all electors are required to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote. In Maine, which has 4 electoral votes, and Nebraska, with 5, the presidential candidate who wins the statewide popular vote receives 2 electoral votes. The winner of the presidential race in each congressional district earns an additional 1 electoral vote per district, allowing for a potential split in the state’s allocation.
Thus, the Electoral College levels the playing field between the populous and less-populous states, forcing presidential candidates to pay attention to one degree or another to every state, not just those with a large population. For example, in a close election, a state with just three electoral votes—of which there are five (Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming)—could be the deciding factor in pushing a candidate to the 270-vote threshold needed for victory. In the 2000 election, New Hampshire, with 4 electoral votes, was critical to George W. Bush’s win over Al Gore.
Currently, it is members of the Democratic Party who tend to advocate for the abolition of the Electoral College. With high-population liberal states like California, Illinois, and New York, they see an easier path to presidential victories via the national popular vote. In fact, 18 states representing 206 electoral votes, and Washington, D.C., with 3 votes, have already passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Although it doesn’t abolish the Electoral College, NPVIC requires the participating states to award their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote regardless of the state’s winner. It would take effect when enacted into law by enough states to total 270 electoral votes. Whether or not the change would be constitutional has yet to be determined.
However, one thing is sure: if the national popular vote determines the presidency, the votes of citizens in small and medium-sized states would be effectively diminished.
The Electoral College is an ingenious, time-tested system ensuring that each state has a voice in selecting the occupant of the highest office in the land. Abandoning it would create an injustice.
*Although the specific term “Electoral College” is not found in the Constitution, it began to be widely used in the early 19th century to describe the body of electors prescribed by the Constitution that cast the official votes for president and vice president.