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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFive Common Misconceptions About the Electoral College
Defenders of the Electoral College argue that it was created to combat majority tyranny and support federalism, and that it continues to serve those purposes. This stance depends on a profound misunderstanding of the history of the institution.
November 29, 2019
G. Alan Tarr
Board of Governors Professor at Rutgers University-Camden
Two of the nations last three presidents won the presidency in the Electoral College, even though they lost the popular vote nationwide. In 2000, Al Gore outpolled George W. Bush by more than 540,000 votes but lost in the Electoral College, 271266. Sixteen years later, Hillary Clinton tallied almost 3 million more votes than Donald Trump but lost decisively in the Electoral College, 306232. And, as a recent New York Times poll suggested, the 2020 election could very well again deliver the presidency to the loser of the popular vote.
Despite this, defenders of the Electoral College argue that it was created to combat majority tyranny and support federalism, and that it continues to serve those purposes. For example, Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas, responding to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs recent criticism of the Electoral College, tweeted that we live in a republic, which means 51% of the population doesnt get to boss around the other 49%, and that the Electoral College promotes more equal regional representation and protects the interests of sparsely populated states.
But arguments like these are flawed, misunderstanding the pertinent history. Below, I identify five common mistakes made in arguing for the preservation of the Electoral College.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/five-common-misconceptions-about-electoral-college/602596/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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world wide wally
(21,754 posts)proportional. We undermine democracy itself when 3 voters in Wyoming get more representatation than 3 voters in California.
One person, one vote!
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)representatives of all the states in favor of such admission knew the rules.
All of this carping about the Electoral College is just wasted time. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama managed to work within the system to win. I firmly believe our Democratic nominee will be able to do so as well.
world wide wally
(21,754 posts)and oddly enough, W and Trump have been two of the most influential Presidents in recent history.
Bush and his War in Iraq.
Trump by undoing everything Obama accomplished.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)how much we fume about the EC, it's not going away. All it takes is thirteen states to quash a constitutional amendment, and I'm sure there are at least fifteen states benefited by the EC who will not ratify an amendment eliminating it.
Our nominee will simply have to work around that. Biden and Buttigieg are positioned to be able to do that, while in my opinion, Sanders and Warren are not.
LAS14
(13,783 posts)All along I've had a vague sense that the framers knew what they were doing and so the argument of "tyranny of the majority" would have to be respected. So to find out that the main reason they didn't want the president elected by popular vote was that it was unreasonable to expect people to be well informed about an issue so far away, given the size of the country, was a (the?) main reason for keeping the popular vote limited to state boundaries changes everything for me. I can imagine an initiative to get rid of the electoral college proclaiming that fact, in suitably sound byte fashion, all over the country! I'd sure be on board, now that my faint, misplaced, respect for the framers' thinking has been blown out of the water.
Now common sense can have its sway. The tyranny of the majority can't be relevant in a binary choice. It's either the majority or the minority that makes a simple choice. Why guarantee that the minority can sometimes win? They the rights of minorities are protected in the Constitution. The minority doesn't have a right to choose the president. Duh!