The Electoral College
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:49 am
The Electoral College sets a high bar that irks politicians whose base is in the big cities. But this is by design. Right from the beginning, one reason for the Electoral College was to check the power of big cities and to require some geographic balance in our politics.
The Electoral College is a two-step, democratic process. Each state gets the same number of electoral votes as it has U.S. representatives and senators. This means small states get at least three, and big states get more. To win the White House requires a majority of electoral votes. All this means that no one can win the White House by running up huge support in just one region of the country or in a collection of big cities. Even overwhelming popularity in places like New York and Los Angeles is not enough to win. Middle America gets a say, too.
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), a clever plan to nullify the Electoral College without changing the Constitution.
NPV would change how states select presidential electors (the people who cast a state’s electoral votes). Under NPV, states would ignore their own voters and instead choose electors based on the national vote. This would manipulate the Constitution to create a direct election for president — an outcome rejected at the Constitutional Convention.
NPV takes effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes support it. So far, 15 states and D.C., with 196 electoral votes, have passed legislation to join the compact. This puts the compact nearly three-fourths of the way to taking effect.
NPV would shift more power to big cities. And because it has no majority requirement or runoff system, it would allow candidates to win with smaller and smaller pluralities. This would encourage splinter parties and spoiler candidates that could produce dramatically anti-democratic outcomes. These are some of the reasons why most major countries elect their presidents or prime ministers with a two-step process, like the parliamentary systems in Canada and Great Britain.
The Electoral College is a two-step, democratic process. Each state gets the same number of electoral votes as it has U.S. representatives and senators. This means small states get at least three, and big states get more. To win the White House requires a majority of electoral votes. All this means that no one can win the White House by running up huge support in just one region of the country or in a collection of big cities. Even overwhelming popularity in places like New York and Los Angeles is not enough to win. Middle America gets a say, too.
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), a clever plan to nullify the Electoral College without changing the Constitution.
NPV would change how states select presidential electors (the people who cast a state’s electoral votes). Under NPV, states would ignore their own voters and instead choose electors based on the national vote. This would manipulate the Constitution to create a direct election for president — an outcome rejected at the Constitutional Convention.
NPV takes effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes support it. So far, 15 states and D.C., with 196 electoral votes, have passed legislation to join the compact. This puts the compact nearly three-fourths of the way to taking effect.
NPV would shift more power to big cities. And because it has no majority requirement or runoff system, it would allow candidates to win with smaller and smaller pluralities. This would encourage splinter parties and spoiler candidates that could produce dramatically anti-democratic outcomes. These are some of the reasons why most major countries elect their presidents or prime ministers with a two-step process, like the parliamentary systems in Canada and Great Britain.
