The Electoral College dates back to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. There, in Philadelphia on September 6th, 1878 a body of electors was formed.The whole idea of an Electoral College that ultimately decides the final outcome of Presidential elections, was born out of fear and was flawed from its very origin. In fact, we almost had Aaron Burr as our President instead of Thomas Jefferson.
Since its inception, the system has been amended many times, until we have what we have today, and that is a system that does not do what it was intended to do.
What people don’t realize is that the Electoral College system was devised to prevent someone with little sense, without governing experience, a person who could possibly do more harm than any good from being elected. The system was considered a safeguard for sensible legislators to have the ultimate final say.
What our founding fathers did not come right out and say, was that they did not completely trust the voting public. There was real fear in mob-mentality and that some fanatic from The Great American Awakening movement might rile the masses and influence the voting and take the seats occupied by more sensible elected officials, rather that the fear mongering fire and brimstone Bible thumpers who could roll into town and draw huge crowds.
The real problem with this system is that it’s simply not fair. It sends the wrong message to American citizens. It tells citizens in more than half of our 50 states that their votes don’t count at all towards electing a President, because that is going to be decided by the most populous states. These are also called battleground states and if you win these you’ll win the election. This system does not motivate or inspire people to actually go out and vote at all in these less populated areas and that behavior gets passed along from generation to generation. It’s probably the main reason for low voter turnout.
Before every Presidential election the songbirds come out and call for changes or call for an end to this flawed system, and only time will tell if we are fortunate enough to see it happen. However, there is hope. A National Popular Vote campaign has been going on for some time and it is gaining some momentum. So far to date, 14 states with a total of 189 Electoral College votes have pledged to give their votes to the Candidate who has the national popular vote, regardless if the candidate wins their state or not. Before this movement becomes law, we need more states to agree. When the movement gets to 270 votes this will then take effect and whoever wins the popular vote will become the next President. Only when we get to this point will every vote count!
Four times in our history has a candidate been elected President who did not win the popular vote and twice in our very recent history.
Curiously, back in 2012 in support of Mitt Romney, Trump called the Electoral College “a disaster for a democracy … a total sham and a travesty.”
I doubt he’d support getting rid of the Electoral College now.
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