Electoral College

On December 19, the Electoral College will prove its obsolescence.

Some argue that the Electoral College lost its purpose about 10 years after its institution. Others have argued that it remains and should remain as a safety measure.

Alexander Hamilton supported the College. In a blog post, law professor Bruce Hay summarizes Hamilton's view:

They would make sure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications,” turning away anyone whose only qualifications were “talents for low intrigue” or “the little arts of popularity.”

They would also keep out the stooges of hostile governments, being the best “practicable obstacle” to “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils” by “raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union.”

Hays summarizes the reason for the institution of the Electoral College:

The framers rejected direct popular election of presidents, fearing that it would attract demagogues. They also refused to let other governmental bodies or officials choose the president, fearing that it would invite corruption and foreign interference. And so they erected a buffer institution, strikingly similar to a jury: a body of citizens assembled for the occasion, called upon to exercise their independent judgment, composed as a bulwark against demagoguery, official intrigue, and foreign meddling.

If ever in US politics there was a reason for the electoral college to be a bulwark against demagoguery, it is this year. But the electoral college will not exercise this responsibility—and will prove it has no purpose.

There is something we can do about it, not for this election but future ones. It's called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a bipartisan effort to guarantee the presidency to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. This leaves the College in place in case an elected candidate dies, and it avoids the need for a Constitutional amendment. It ensures that candidates direct their campaign to all Americans, and it prevents special treatment for battleground states. The effort has close to 2/3 of the votes it needs to convert the Electoral College to an institution that serves us all. Let's add more states to the compact.

Write your legislators. Or help organize a state referendum. Or both.