The Electoral College, Misunderstood

It is common to see articles and editorials urging us to do away with Electoral College; the writers yearn to “move forward” and adopt a “one person, one vote” direct election process. At least three such editorials appeared in The Telegraph, my local Georgia newspaper. 

Although the editorials seek to explain how the Electoral College process works and why the Founding Fathers created the system for presidential elections, they are not always accurate. For example, one writer wrote that, “The framers…felt the common, every day, average, eligible voter was not intelligent, well-versed, well-read and knowledgeable enough to vote for the most qualified and best candidate.” That statement is simply incorrect.

While it is true the Founders distrusted idle mobs and realized that demagogues could easily incite such mobs in larger cities, the vast majority of Americans in the late 18th century lived in rural districts as farmers and yeomen, working the land and living by the fruit of their labor. The founders favored a fairer geographical distribution of voting power balanced between urban and rural areas, large and small states, and highly populated and scarcely populated regions.

Besides, the Founders were well-read men, fully acquainted with the tragic, historic fate of Athenian democracy and the death knell of the Roman Republic at the hands of Roman mobs that were incited by popular demagogues and sold their votes for “bread and circuses” (panem et circenses).

On the other hand, a constitutional republic requires an informed, vigilant, and virtuous citizenry. As John Adams stated, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The framers’ faith in Americans became evident when they entrusted the people with the power to elect the members of the House of Representatives by direct popular vote, and in turn, the House was given “the power of the purse.” In the words of James Madison:

Who are to be the electors of the Federal [House of] Representatives? Not the rich more than the poor; not the learned more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscure and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States.

During this period, most Americans were well informed and voraciously devoured such political pamphlets as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and The American Crisis–the best sellers of the day. Just a few years later, the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers were widely circulated and devoured by the citizenry with the same avidity that trendy Americans today consume television images and online articles about the scandalous lives of sport figures and movie celebrities. There is no doubt that most early Americans understood the workings–and stakes–of their new government system.

The American Founders created the Electoral College system because of the central issues of federalism and fairness–preserving the delicate geographical balance between the urban and rural populations of the small and large states in the federal union.

And yet, the newspaper commentator cited earlier further opined, “The biggest problem with the current system is the propensity for an election to take place that would elect a candidate who did not represent the demographics and wishes of the entire county, and only the sentiments of voters in the 11 most populous states.” In fact, that statement clearly demonstrates the reason to support the Electoral College.

The Electoral College, then, operates as one of the safeguards in America’s constitutional republic. Without it, a heavily populated section of the country, like the northeast, could determine all future presidential elections, while citizens of Wyoming and the Dakotas would have virtually no say at all. That scenario is less likely with the Electoral College system, which serves as a check against the tyranny of the majority. Abolition of the Electoral College system would be a disaster for our delicate balance.

Some political pundits aim to transform our carefully crafted Electoral College into a quasi-European parliamentary system, but in reality there is no need–the Electoral College works as intended, and continues to function well to preserve our republic.