You may be interested in Harvard Prof. Alexander Keyssar's column in Monday's New York Times discussing his recent book Why We Still Have the Electoral College.
"The legacies of slavery and white supremacy run wide and deep in American society and political life. One such legacy ... has been the survival and preservation of the Electoral College.
"It is, of course, no secret that slavery played a role in the original design of our presidential election system. The notorious formula that gave states representation in Congress for three-fifths of their slaves was carried over into the allocation of electoral votes. ... This constitutional design gave white Southerners disproportionate influence in the choice of presidents.
"In 1816, when a resolution calling for a national popular vote was introduced in Congress for the first time, it was derailed by the protestations of Southern senators. The slaveholding states 'would lose the privilege the Constitution now allows them, of votes upon three-fifths of their population other than freemen,' objected William Wyatt Bibb of Georgia on the floor of the Senate. ...
"After Reconstruction, the white 'Redeemer' governments that came to power in Southern states became the political beneficiaries of what amounted to a “five-fifths” clause: African-Americans counted fully toward representation (and thus electoral votes), but they were again disenfranchised. ...
"By the 1940s, many Southerners also came to believe that their disproportionate weight in presidential elections, thanks to the Electoral College, was a critical xxxxxx against mounting Northern pressures to enlarge the civil and political rights of African-Americans.
"The politics of race and region also figured prominently in the stinging defeat of a national popular vote amendment in the Senate ... [after the 1969] ... House of Representatives voting overwhelmingly in favor of a constitutional amendment that would have abolished the Electoral College. ...
"Had the politics of race been less salient, both in the 19th century and the 20th, the Electoral College would most likely have been relegated long ago to the status of a historical curiosity."
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP GET A NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE FOR PRESIDENT
The National Popular Vote bill will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In November, some or all state legislators in almost every state are up for election. So, this is the perfect time to send them an email asking them to support the National Popular Vote bill in your state. They are listening now!
