In this episode we will focus on how the president is elected through the system of the electoral college.
In this episode we will focus on how the president is elected through the system of the electoral college. (1:00) We will look at why the system was created by the founders (2:11) and how there are arguments for and against it promoting democracy (5:18) in our electoral process.
Today’s question of the day is (7:52): Getting rid of the electoral college system requires amending the Constitution. What are the two ways that this can happen?
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Hi and welcome to the APsolute Recap: US Gov Edition. Today’s episode will recap the Electoral College.
Lets Zoom out:
Unit 5 - Political Participation
Topic- 5.8 Electing A President
Big idea - Civic Participation in a Representatives Democracy
The electoral college: part of the foundations of our democracy or a relic of the past? This is debate, which has intensified over the last twenty years since the election of 2000 where Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral college, which then happened again in 2016. Today we will look at the history surrounding the creation of the electoral college, the way it works, and the arguments for how it facilitates and impedes the democratic process in the country.
Lets Zoom in:
Contrary to popular belief, the creation of the electoral college was not the result of the famous founding fathers we learn about in school. Adams, Franklin, Jefferson and Hamilton were not the main individuals who decided how to elect a president. In fact, the system of the electoral college was in many ways an afterthought at the Constitutional Convention that summer. It was already a given that George Washington would be the first President, and there were so many other things to figure out that the debate about choosing the next president was pushed aside. It was, for lack of a better phrase, thrown together at the 9th hour as the convention was wrapping up so the Constitution could be pushed out to the states for ratification. Even at the time, there were those who argued that the president should be elected by a national vote, namely James Wilson from Pennsylvania. However, the founders were skeptical of direct democracy and ultimately didn’t trust the people to choose a person suitable for the job.
As much as they are beloved in our history, the founders were elites in early America and wanted to retain that position of power. One also cannot ignore the role that slavery played in the creation of the electoral college. At the time of the writing of the Constitution, the populations of the North and South were relatively the same. However, roughly one third of the South’s population was made up of enslaved people who counted in the population, but couldn’t vote. This means that the interests of the Southern plantation owners were outnumbered by the businessmen and freed people in the North.
The electoral college was another way to protect the interests of the South, which will become evident when we discuss exactly how the electoral college works. Originally, the person who got the most votes in the electoral college would become president, and the runner up vice president. However, the election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ended in a tie, sending the decision to the House of Representatives. This ultimately ended in the election of Jefferson, the death of Hamilton in a duel with Burr, and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution to get rid of the idea that the runner up becomes the vice president.
Now that we have looked at its origins, let’s talk about how it works. The president is technically chosen by state electors. These electors are charged with casting the states’ electoral votes for the president. Electoral votes are equal to the number of representatives that state has in the Senate and the House combined. Therefore, the smallest number of electors a state can have is three: two for their Senators and one for the representative in the House. This means that the number of electoral college votes that each state has is adjusted every ten years after the census. In order to win the presidency, a candidate must receive the majority of the electoral college votes, which at the moment is 270. Currently, all states but two award their electoral votes in their entirety, meaning you win them all or none. The two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska which allow their votes to be split between the two candidates.
The Founders wanted the electors to be able to cast the votes for the candidate who was most qualified; they were worried the people might choose someone unqualified or be swayed by a powerful personality. Therefore, the system was created so that the electors could ignore the will of the people if the people made a poor choice. However, the Supreme Court just ruled that states can punish or remove “faithless electors” who cast votes for a different candidate than the state voted for. This means that electors now have to listen to the popular vote of the people of that state, which leads many to ask whether or not the electoral college is still necessary.
Proponents of the system argue that it supports democracy because it forces candidates to be a national rather than a regional candidate because no one region of the US has enough electoral votes to win the election. There is also the argument that it makes candidates focus on smaller states as well as ones with larger populations that have more electoral votes because the large states on their own are also not enough to win the election.
Constrastingly, one could argue that the electoral college inhibits the democratic process in many ways. It is not a direct system of election, since the peoples’ votes are filtered through electors. Rather than focus on the entire country, oftentimes the “safe” states are ignored in favor of winning the electorate over in those states that are swing states. Furthermore, in states that are considered safe (California is a safe democratic state) voters who belong to the other party may feel their vote doesn’t matter, so why show up and participate in the democratic process? Finally, one could argue that the electoral college is contrary to the process of making the country more democratic. There have been three amendments to the Constitution since it was written to increase participation in the process and allow more people to vote. One could argue that switching to a direct election of the president is continuing that trend.
To recap……
The electoral college was created because the Founders were wary of having too much democracy in the republic and to satisfy Southern owners of enslaved people who were worried their interests would always be overruled by the population of the North. State’s electoral college votes are based on the number of representatives they have in Congress. A candidate must win a majority of electors (270) to win the presidency, and electors are not allowed to change their vote from the will of the people in their state.
Coming up next on the Apsolute RecAP US Government Edition: The Judicial Branch
Today’s Question of the day is about changing the electoral college.
Question: Getting rid of the electoral college system requires amending the Constitution. What are the two ways that this can happen?