Bad Idea: Group wants to retire the Electoral College

Radio Iowa

People can't get George Bush out of their system.  The election of 2000, which saw Bush win even without a majority of the votes cast, has gotten into the heads of these people.  It is hampering their judgment.  There's at least one problem with their proposition, which is this: the Electoral College exists so as to make it a federal election.

The presidential election is not just one election, it is 50 state elections.  A requirement that the popular vote becomes the deciding factor will change the federal nature of the election to a national one.   How does that preserve liberty and justice?  It won't, and it can't.

So, why does that happen?

Small states will lose influence.  All of the attention will then focus in on large population centers which is where most of the votes are.  Most parts of the country, consisting of small populations, will seem to disappear, and become irrelevant.  This is not what was intended during the Constitutional Convention.  In fact, before the Constitution could be ratified, small states had to be enpowered.  That's why there are only 2 Senators for each state.  That means every state has equality in the Senate.  By having an Electoral College, smaller states have more influence than what would be indicated by their population alone.  This gives the election its Federal quality.  The Founding Fathers believed that the principle of federalism was a key to preserving liberty.

There's another problem with this.  Let's say a blue state votes overwhelmingly for the Democrat, but the candidate loses anyway.  By this law, all of their Electoral votes will go to the Republican even though the people of that state didn't vote for that candidate.  How is that fair?  Some people might figure that their votes don't matter anymore because it will be ignored anyway.  Is that what we want?  Do we really want to disenfranchise voters in that way?  How does that preserve justice?

You can't retire the Electoral College by this method.  You need an amendment to the constitution.  The first time the above scenario occurs will be the last, and it must happen immediately, because states will often vote for the loser, and therefore it is impossible to avoid the above scenario.

For these two reasons alone, it is a bad idea.  George Bush is gone, so forget about it.  You can't do anything but cause even worse outcomes, judging by your own standards.  For example, how does disenfranchising millions a fair outcome?  Forget about Bush, he's history.