On this date, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College and provide for the direct election of the President using the results of the national popular vote. Third, a national election might provide a cure for the delegitimation of presidential authority that has afflicted the last three presidencies. This is the result of an amazing technological revolution, but what does it have to do with the Electoral College? John Kasich, a Republican, even though Colorado law required electors to cast their votes for state-winner Hillary Clinton, a Democrat. A split of electoral votes has occurred once in each of these states. But in the end, Republicans and Democrats are virtually tied. It channels presidential politics into a two-party system, which is superior to multiparty systems where fringe factions can exercise too much leverage. Electoral vote totals will equal 538. What Might Make Joe Biden Unelectable Is a Very Scary Threat The political game in the United States would change dramatically without the Electoral College present. Amending the Electoral College: The 12th Amendment The basis for the Electoral College is found inArticle II, Section 1of the Constitution, which spells out how the president shall be chosen. The corrosiveness of this system isnt only a modern concern. These states currently total 196 electoral votes, although after the 2020 census is completed, projections suggest a net loss of two seats, lowering that number to 194. Having this structure go away would encourage more third-party development. The U.S. Census creates the allocations of electoral votes that each state receives. Mr. Wegman argues that reforming the Electoral College isnt a partisan issue its a fairness issue. What happens if a candidate with electoral votes dies or becomes So what would happen if we got rid of the Electoral College? The Constitution is silent on whether states or the electors themselves ultimately can decide which candidate gets the electors vote, and the U.S. Supreme Court has not addressed that issue in the handful of cases it has considered related to the Electoral College. How to get rid of the Electoral College - Brookings First, there's the Constitutional problem. That position, shared by many Republicans, makes it highly unlikely that there would be sufficient support for changing the system. As far as the 2016 election is concerned, Hillary Clinton would still be the likely winner if the Electoral College didn't exist. (John . 2) The Electoral College ensures that different parts of the country, such as Iowa and Ohio, are involved in selecting the president, rather than just the most populated areas. Your membership has expired - last chance for uninterrupted access to free CLE and other benefits. That is, the compact does not go into effect until there is a critical mass of states for it to be effective. Our 230-year-old jerry-built system for picking the president, known as the Electoral College. James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, was very disturbed by the state winner-take-all rule, which he considered one of the central flaws of the Electoral College as it took shape in the early 19th century. Currently, 15 states and DC have approved the NPVIC. Including prescription drug benefits and all seniors at every income level. But they spend almost no time talking about issues that matter to millions of voters elsewhere, like public transportation in New York or climate change in California. Take the Electoral College, Americas system for picking the president. That could have happened even though Biden won the popular vote by 7,060,087 (and counting)a margin even larger than the margins won by George W Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2012. If this system were to be abolished, then every vote counted would have the exact same weight in the final tally. Thrown together at the last minute by the countrys founders, it almost immediately stopped functioning as they thought it would. If the remaining states with Democratic control of the legislature (Maine, Nevada, and Virginia) were to sign on, it would add an additional 23 Electoral College votes. Electors manage the needs of the state and community instead of following the will of the general public throughout the country. Hamilton believed that it would prevent the Office of the President from falling into the lot of a person who was not endowed with the requisite qualifications to serve the American people. Whether youre Republican or Democrat, your vote probably doesnt count the way it should. Changing or eliminating the Electoral College can be accomplished only by an amendment to the Constitution, which requires the consent of two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states. Here are the yea and the nay. In May, the Washington State Supreme Courtuphelda state election law that said an elector who did not vote for the candidate he pledged to support could be fined up to $1,000 in civil penalties. 61% of Americans Support Abolishing Electoral College by Megan Brenan Story Highlights 61% prefer amending Constitution to use popular vote to elect president 89% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans. ABA Legal Fact Check: Can the Electoral College be abolished? This reflects how uncommon it is to reach the Oval Office without winning the popular vote; it has only happened four times in United States history. Do you support this movement? US election 2020: What is the electoral college? - BBC News The cost of conducting a nationwide recount could be hundreds of millions of dollars, which is money that may not always be in the budget. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power - & we cant let that happen. Its possible the Supreme Court will ultimately decide who gets to decide how individual electors vote. Candidates had to go to each state to talk about what they wanted to do for the country because there was no other way to let people know what was happening. In the video above, Mr. Wegman argues that the Electoral College is undemocratic. We will focus on elections in the 20th and 21st centuries. /content/aba-cms-dotorg/en/news/abanews/publications/youraba/2019/october-2019/q--the-electoral-college--is-it-open-for-interpretation-by-the-c, Trade, Sports & Professional Associations, Affordable Housing & Community Development Law. But dont forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. 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. This is just one way the legacy of slavery still taints our politics today. It would create problems when multiple candidates run. "How would that work?" 260, February 19, 2020, p. 9, https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/destroying-the-electoral-college-the-anti-federalist-national-popular-0. The two-party system solves the fractured vote problem more effectively than the Electoral College ever did, and the electors never exercised genuine independence. The Electoral College was created by the framers of the U.S Seventy percent of Americans between the ages of 18-29 said that the president should be chosen through a popular vote model, while just 56 percent of those over the age of 65 agreed. "And places where there are more people become more important when you're counting votes.". Although he said that the system was far from perfect, it was at least excellent. Getting rid of the Electoral College would radicalize politics. ** Adjusted Maine to act as one state rather than separate EV districts. But the Electoral College is worse than merely useless. This has happened five times in American history. 1. But specifics vary. It is true that the Electoral College no longer serves its original purposes, and that it creates a grave risk that a candidate not favored by a majority of the people will, from time to time, be elected president. However, a constitutional amendment is not the only means by which an alternative to the current Electoral College can be implemented. Using bots can streamline some law firm work, American Bar Association It was replaced by party conventions, which eventually were replaced (almost) with strings of single or multiple state primaries and caucuses. Every vote matters, commented Senator Elizabet Warren (D-Mass) in an early campaign stop in Mississippi in 2019, and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College.. 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. It also prevents candidates from going into states where the electorate typically votes for the other party. Almost no one would adopt an Electoral College today if we were starting from scratch. Of the 700 attempts to fix or abolish the electoral college, this one Erdogan's 'polar opposite' wants to replace him as president of Turkey. As far as the 2016 election is concerned, Hillary Clinton would still be the likely winner if the Electoral College didn't exist. That meant more power for those states under an Electoral College system, and slave states didnt want to give up that power. Residents of places like Puerto Rico and Guam would have their votes be counted in the final total, and these locations consistently vote for one party. Christine Stenglein and Saku Gopinath provided research support for this post. Getting Rid Of The Electoral College Isn't Easy - Bustle For example, in 1967, 58 percent favored its abolition, while in 1981, 75 percent of . However, in the five presidential elections of the 21st century, two ended up with the winner of the popular vote losing the Electoral College. Two closely watched cases arising from the 2016 electoral process, however, might provide the justices with an opportunity to do just that. The point is, even accounting for demographic changes, neither party has a built-in advantage under a popular-vote system. The winner of an election should be the person who gets the most votes. Do you agree with Mr. Wegman that we should change how the Electoral College works to ensure that the popular vote chooses the president? Throughout history there have been over 700 attempts to reform or abolish the Electoral College, according to the Congressional Research Service. Based on your understanding, do you believe the Electoral College is democratic? Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at an organizing event in February. .just the large States - the Cities would end up running the Country. There were two additional votes for Sanders that were invalidated in Minnesota and one for Kasich in Colorado. Democracy is, at its core, about fair, equal representation one person, one vote. Thats when the Founding Fathers crafted a compromise between those who argued for the election of the president by a vote of Congress and the election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. Map. Click the links below for answers to these frequently asked questions. It creates 50 individual contests. John Locher/AP This toolkit provides guidance and resources to those associated with community colleges who are interested in either creating a pathway program to law school or enhancing an existing program. For one thing, slavery. They do not matter because they have any special civic characteristics. 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. Source: Daily Kos Elections. That fall, former Vice President Richard M. Nixon defeated . In the U.S., 65 percent of adults think whoever wins the popular vote should hold the nation's highest office, according to an Atlantic/PRRI poll last year. In a polarized political environment, such an institutional structure remains entrenched. That means that the national winner would start out with 102 Electoral College votes. 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. But its logic, its distortion of the democratic process and its underlying flaws will still strongly influence the conduct of the election. There are currently 538 electors up for grabs in an election, which means a majority of 270 is necessary to elect the President. Today, 48 states use winner-take-all. While people were moving to the coasts, especially California, the Electoral College stayed the same. Maine and Nebraska, however, have enacted the congressional district method, which allocates one electoral vote to the winner of the popular vote in each state-drawn district. No amount of campaigning will change that. Most people in America want the Electoral College gone, and they want to select a president based on who gets the most votes nationally, polls say. 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. What happens if the President-elect fails to qualify before inauguration? Having the person who loses the popular vote win the presidency will seriously undermine the legitimacy of our elections. In a truly national election, parties and candidates would have the incentive to turn out their votes wherever they were, fostering a deeper sense of engagement across the whole population. A second argument holds less populous states deserve the further electoral weight they gain through the senatorial bump giving each state two electors, because their minority status entitles them to additional political protection. Having the states play an autonomous role in presidential elections, it is said, reinforces the division of governing authority between the nation and the states. Instead of having a regional focus that incorporates specific campaigning elements, there would be a national campaign instead. But as people moved and the economy changed so did that ratio. The three-fifths clause became irrelevant with the end of slavery (thankfully! Without the Electoral College, big states like California and New York would dominate elections. Why? This isnt a partisan issue its a fairness issue. Despite what you may have learned in school, it was not the product of careful design by brilliant men. Why? 3. As the Washington Post has shown, the four most populous states, California, Texas, Florida and New York are all dramatically underrepresented in todays Electoral College. Having the states play an autonomous role in presidential elections, it is said, reinforces the division of governing authority between the nation and the states. Why? By 2019, the median state was Kentucky with 4,467,673 which made it 11% of the population of California, the biggest state in the union with 39,512,223 people. Moreover, the electoral college method preserved the two compromises over representationthe three-fifths clause and the big state-small state compromiseand guarded against a fracturing of votes for many candidates, which they thought might occur once George Washington was no longer available as a nationally respected consensus candidate. "The game will not be any longer to be a [politician who is] liberal but be able to appeal to a rural Ohioan," he said. The chances of a recount would increase dramatically with election. The system calls for the creation, every four years, of a temporary group of electors equal to the total number of representatives in Congress. The only difference is that in this unique structure, the voice of the minority can actually shout down the desires of the majority. Plenty. Source: Daily Kos Elections. One of the ways that states are considering a way to go around the Electoral College is called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The party structureswhich, for all their faults, have a vested interest in candidates from the moderate middle who are able to work with Congress and other officials to governhave been sidelined. The Electoral College has elected a president who did not win the popular vote twice in the past 20 years, in 2000 and 2016. 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. Today that system is threatened by a proposal called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, or. Under these laws, which states adopted to gain political advantage in the nations early years, even though it was never raised by the framers states award all their electors to the candidate with the most popular votes in their state. But swing states distort our national priorities, even when the president wins the popular vote. 326 Galvez Street Do you think this means the system is broken? We need to think hard, and quickly, about how to reform three aspects of the presidential nomination process: the debates, the primary elections and the conventions. Sticking to the electoral college format allows us to use electors as intended instead of relying on all of the votes counting. Trump made a similar argument earlier this week, warning that "smaller states & then entire Midwest would end up losing all power.". With the divide between Democrats and Republicans currently in place, the likelihood that this idea will receive any movement any time soon is quite minimal. So it's possible for a candidate to win more votes overall across the country than a rival but not be inaugurated because of insufficient support from the Electoral College: a scenario that has occurred twice in the past two decades. This is the heart of the problem with the Electoral College. "Precisely what it does is proportionately advantages where the people are," Levy said. 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. The current system is weighted too heavily in favor of celebrity appeal, demagogic displays and appeals to narrow special interests. When enough states join in this interstate compact, itll mean that the popular-vote winner will always become president. The Electoral College has given one candidate a majority win in this political structure since 1992, but there have been four times when the winner of the election didnt receive a clear majority of the votes across the entire country. It's just not clear how you could do that.". Swing or battleground states are mere accidents of geography. Well, American democracy operates on a whole collection of cherished ideas and practices, but our system also includes some dusty old artifacts from its founding two centuries ago. This is clear in polling on the topic. What Is the Electoral College and Why Was It Created? - History Second, a national popular vote would eliminate the battleground state phenomenon that has now become the key feature of post-convention campaigning, leaving most Americans alienated from the decisive phase of presidential elections. Younger voters also tended to support abolishing the Electoral College. This agreement includes several states and DC, giving the electoral vote count assigned to them to the candidate who receives the most votes in the national election. And so each Electoral College vote in a small state like Delaware or Wyoming is worth more than an Electoral College vote in a big state like California. No other advanced democracy in the world uses anything like it, and for good reason. But it's possible the candidate with the most votes from the public won't be the winner. Note: A previous version of this post stated that awarding 2 electoral votes per state (plus D.C.) to the national popular vote winner would form a baseline of 138 votes. They are simply party loyalists who do not deliberate about anything more than where to eat lunch. That means more people can feel like their government accurately represents their needs. We already see gridlock and partisanship in Congress that limits the opportunities for collaboration. There is a trigger for NPV to go into effect, and we are creeping ever closer toward it.10 When enough states have entered the compact to reach a majority of the electoral votes270 out of 538the compact will then kick in. Save Our States, The Status of National Popular Vote, https://saveourstates.com/threats/the-status-of-npv (accessed April 17, 2020). 3Qs: Should the Electoral College be abolished? - News Colin Powell was the primary beneficiary, receiving three votes. This action would allow the popular vote winner to take the White House. The elected officials of both parties have incentives to choose candidates with an eye toward popular electability and governing skill. Support for direct popular election. According to Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper Number 68, the body was a compromise at the. Many of them were unhappy with the results. Another 15 legislatures with varying degrees of Republican control would also need to ratify such an amendment for the Electoral College to be removed. Myth No. We survived. Next week five hundred and thirty-eight American citizens will travel to their state capitals and elect the president of the United States. Should We Abolish the Electoral College? | STANFORD magazine Blue states give all their electors to the Democrat, no matter how many Republicans voted for their candidate; vice versa in the red states. In each case, the number of faithless electors who exercised that behavior would not have had a meaningful impact on the outcome. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Here, again, there are three main points to make. Each of those states has Democratic control of the state legislature. Then the 2020 census will be valid for the 2024 and 2028 elections. 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. Five times in our history, presidential candidates who have won more votes than their opponent have still lost the election. Sometimes one party does better for a few election cycles. What would happen if the Electoral College was abolished? It gives each state in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct electors equal to its representation in Congress. https://saveourstates.com/threats/the-status-of-npv, https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/destroying-the-electoral-college-the-anti-federalist-national-popular-0. FiveThirtyEight polls-only forecast have predicted. 3. The issue that could make Joe Biden unelectable is not in his control and is a far greater threat to his re-election than any single policy question. . Continually updated tools and resources to help move your practice and the legal profession forward during COVID-19 and beyond. Beto O'Rourke Announces His Run For President In 2020, Moderate Democrats Under Pressure As Party's Left Grabs Attention. Our votes would count the same wherever they were cast. Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College - New York Times A lot of people dont even want to talk about changing the Electoral College because of this idea. Warren says she wants to get rid of the Electoral College, and vote for president using a national popular vote. Yet, ratification happens not by popular vote but by state legislature. So if the results of most presidential elections tend to reflect the choice of the people, why do we still have the Electoral College? An amendment hasn't been adopted since the 27th, in 1992, and one hasn't been adopted relatively quickly since the 26th, which took 100 days from proposal to adoption in 1971. Only two Republicans voted for someone other than Trump and Pence. To understand why, lets start from the point we make above: the Electoral College system currently benefits Republicans, as two Republican presidents in the last 20 years have been elected despite losing the popular vote and that nearly happened a third time this year. The effect is to erase all the voters in that state who didnt vote for the top candidate. It is the formal body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States. hide caption. The following table shows how this would have changed the outcome in two contested elections of the 21st century, and how a third would have remained the same.

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