With election season in full swing, Democrats, including vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, are questioning the prominence of the Electoral College. “I think we all know we need to abolish the Electoral College.” Walz said at the fundraiser. The event was reportedly held at the home of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Many Democrats describe the Electoral College as undemocratic, arguing that it reduces individual votes. In contrast to the outdated electoral system, opponents of democracy advocate a pure democracy in which the president is elected by popular vote.
This begs the question: Is election by popular vote the original intent of our founding documents? For that matter, are the original intentions of our Founding Fathers still worth following today? Or?
Importantly, the United States is not a pure democracy. It is a constitutional republic that protects individual rights even against the will of the majority.
The Electoral College serves as a safeguard against tyranny, one of the Founding Fathers' chief fears. James Madison argued that pure democracy paves the way for tyranny. ”[In a pure democracy],” Madison wrote“Common passions and interests are almost always felt by the majority of the whole; communications and concerts arise from the form of government itself; and the temptation to sacrifice weaker parties or offending individuals. It follows that such democracies have hitherto been a spectacle of chaos and strife, and have never been found to be compatible with the rights of personal security or property. And generally their lives were as short-lived as they were violent.”
The Constitution provides the necessary framework for a small, decentralized government that gives equal powers to the states protected by the Electoral College. Empowering the states ensures that individuals are more equitably represented than blanket, overreaching and unbalanced voting.
The Founders spent a great deal of time framing the electoral system in the Constitution, especially the Twelfth Amendment. of The 12th Amendment states:“Each state shall appoint a number of electors equal to the total number of senators and representatives to which that state is entitled in the Congress.”
In other words, the allotment of electors to which a state is entitled is equal to the number of members in its Congressional delegation, plus one representative in the House of Representatives plus two senators. Currently, the Electoral College consists of 538 electors. As a result, a majority of 270 electors is required to elect the president.
Without the Electoral College, a presidential candidate would only need to win a few large states to garner the votes needed to win the nation's highest office. But the Electoral College protects this great nation by allowing each candidate to build a national coalition of like-minded individuals.
The Electoral College ensures that every state has a voice, regardless of population. This means, for example, that people in Iowa are represented and protected regardless of the size of the state, even though their economies and livelihoods are different from those in California. Just because voters don't agree with the majority opinion doesn't mean their voices need to be drowned out by the will of the masses.
During elections, even though the president represents the entire country, the national popular vote forces presidential candidates to focus on only some states and ignore others.
Currently, 17 states and Washington, D.C., are part of the so-called National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. These jurisdictions are all left-leaning, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Included. . In 2023, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democratic) signed the agreement.
If a state passes a bill to join the National Popular Vote Compact, all electoral votes will be awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, rather than the candidate who actually wins the state. I promise. These laws only go into effect if states with a majority of their electors pass similar legislation and join the compact. These governors are willingly giving up their states' 12th Amendment rights, the constitutional rights of the people to protection and representation.
The essence of being American is the ability to think freely and pursue the American Dream. This is a warning to the free people of this country. If the Electoral College is dismantled, human voices will be drowned out. Because America no longer protects the freedoms of all its citizens, but only the freedoms of the majority.
Amelia Kane Prout earned a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in history. She works as a public affairs coordinator and correspondent for Judicial Watch.
