The Electoral College must remain an enduring American fixture
While clamoring for a popular presidential vote is wildly favored by American progressives, the proposal was quickly scrapped at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The Electoral College remains a feature, not a bug, of our democracy. It recognizes that states and communities have interests that deserve a voice and protection, and it forces presidential candidates to broaden their base of support rather than play to large population centers alone.
Consider the population of Los Angeles County, for example, which is higher than that of 40 states. Every citizen in L.A. County deserves a voice, but can we expect them to understand and protect the interests of Wyoming ranchers, Maine fishermen, and Iowa farmers? If there were no Electoral College, presidential candidates would merely cater their agenda to a few densely populated regions, dismissing most states and especially more rural concerns. The Electoral College is “the basic institution that has given structure to American politics,” declared the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former Democratic Senator from New York.
An Electoral College gives us swing states that represent the middle view of the nation over extremes, providing a key safeguard for peaceful coexistence. It, like many other features of American government that appear odd to outsiders, pushes us toward compromise by keeping any one faction from overruling the others.
There have been only four presidential elections in American history when a candidate won the Electoral College but didn’t receive the most votes from the entirety of the people. It’s not a common occurrence, but it does remind us that we are a United States, not a utilitarian collection of individuals in which the desires of 50-percent-plus-one is paramount.
A frequent argument against the Electoral College is that it diminishes the presidential vote of an individual who is not on the side of the majority in his state. Of course in an election where over 150 million votes are cast, no one’s vote is consequential. But our presidential vote was always supposed to be less consequential. Nearly every state and local race is and should be more essential in a federalist system that looks to promote self-government over the wreckage of centralizing impulses.
And at a time when these impulses are stronger than ever, the Electoral College reminds us that states and localities still carry an essential voice in national affairs and elections. The dispersion of power remains a linchpin of self-government; something we certainly need more of and not less.
