| Why Keep the Electoral College? | |
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Any change to the way in which America chooses its president will require a constitutional amendment. For this to come about, the following will have to happen:
First, the fear must become reality. That is, a presidential candidate must lose the nationwide popular vote, but be elected in the Electoral College.
This has happened exactly
twice in 213 years:
In 1876, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, with 4,036,298 popular
votes won 185 electoral votes. His main opponent, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden,
won the popular vote with 4,300,590 votes, but won only 184 electoral votes.
Hayes was elected president. In 1888, Republican Benjamin Harrison, with 5,439,853 popular votes won
233 electoral votes. His main opponent, Democrat Grover Cleveland, won the
popular vote with 5,540,309 votes, but won only 168 electoral votes. Harrison
was elected president. You may hear people say that Richard M. Nixon received more popular votes in the
1960 election than winner John F. Kennedy, but official results showed Kennedy
with 34,227,096 popular votes to Nixon's 34,107,646. Next, the loser/winner must turn out to be a particularly unsuccessful and
unpopular president. Otherwise, the impetus to blame the nation's woes on the
Electoral College system will never materialize. Finally, the constitutional amendment must get a two-thirds vote from both
houses of Congress and be ratified by three-fourths of the states. [See: Amending
the Constitution] Even if all of the above were to happen, it remains highly unlikely that the
Electoral College system would be changed or repealed. Under the above circumstances, it is probable that neither the Republicans nor
the Democrats would hold a strong majority of seats in Congress. Requiring a
two-thirds vote from both houses, a constitutional amendment must have strong
bi-partisan support -- support it will not get from a split Congress. (The
president cannot veto a constitutional amendment.) To be ratified and become effective, a constitutional amendment must also be
approved by the legislatures of 39 out of the 50 states. By design, the
Electoral College system grants the states the power to elect the president of
the United States. How likely is it that 39 states are going to vote to give up
that power? Moreover, 12 states control 53 percent of the votes in the Electoral
College, leaving only 38 states that might even consider ratification. Come on critics, can you really say that in 213 years of operation, the
Elector College system has produced bad results? Have your fears ever come true?
Only twice in its history have the electors stumbled and been unable to choose a
president, thus throwing the decision into the House of Representatives. Who did
the House decide on in those two cases? Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams. If you can propose any other system for electing America's leader that offers
the safeguards and stability of the Electoral College, please share it with us. Click
here to offer your idea or opinions on the Electoral College. A reader suggests: "I think a good compromise would be the
proportional or district plan. The popular vote winner in the congressional
district would get the one electoral vote. The popular winner in the state would
get the two "senator" votes. It would give more strength to the people
and open up our political system a bit more. We are a more informed people than
the people who voted in the first election...plus more people would vote because
they could see their vote ‘count’ more." Express Your
Opinions
Posted by
PKRUMRIE on Oct. 25, 2000
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