Our Constitution Needs to be Amended to Eliminate the Electoral College
Popular Vote Should Determine the Winner: It is Necessary for Reforming the Supreme Court and Preserving Democracy
The Electoral College was the biggest mistake of the founding fathers. It was an accommodation to the small states as was the organization of the Senate where all states get two Senators no matter how large or small their population.
But one result of the Electoral College is the ability of a presidential candidate to win election to the presidency even though that candidate has lost the popular vote. This has happened several times in our recent past. Electing a president who loses the popular vote is contrary to any theory of democracy.
But the Electoral College not only can result in popular vote losers gaining the presidency, but those candidates who did not achieve an electoral popular vote victory, can then proceed to enact policies and programs consistent with the views of the minority of voters and contrary to the policies and issues important to the majority of voters.
But in addition, the presidency winners who lose the popular vote but win the Electoral College can then nominate Justices to the Supreme Court whose views are inconsistent with the views of a majority of the voters. We just have experienced the election of Donald Trump in 2016 even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, and then Trump nominated Justices to the Supreme Court whose strongly conservative views are contrary to the views of the majority who voted for Clinton. So a result of the Electoral College is that Justices can be nominated to the Supreme Court whose views are very conservative while a majority of voters have very different views.
So the Electoral College has resulted in populating the Supreme Court with radical right Justices, and then those Justices, have life long terms to adopt their highly conservative views as the law of the land.
The result is the Dobbs abortion decision, the NY Rifle case expanding greatly the Second Amendment to undermine gun regulations, the EPA decision undermining the ability to improve the environment, the Harvard and North Carolina cases undermining or eliminating consideration of race in college admissions causing significant problems for colleges as universities seeking to promote diversity, and the case reducing the ability to promote clean waters and to protect wetlands.
How can a democracy tolerate adoption of positions, programs and constitutional rulings which are inconsistent with the views of a majority of Americans? The Electoral College is resulting in anti-democratic policies and laws by popular vote losers.
Though amending the Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College would be a difficult task, with many vested interests, particularly among small states, but how can we continue to elect presidents who lose the popular vote but then have four years to adopt policies inconsistent with those of the majority of voters?