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Why We Should Preserve the Electoral College
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In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College, but not the popular vote, spurring calls to abolish the Electoral College in favor of direct national popular voting. Now, weeks before our current election, the Electoral College is once again under fire, criticized as unfair, outdated, and ultimately undemocratic. Why not simply let a popular vote decide the election?
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The founders debated heavily on instituting an electoral college, and the Constitution is more detailed about the Electoral College than any other issue it addresses.
Why was the Electoral College Created?
The framers struggled over the desire to let the people decide, to provide adequate checks and balances between the branches of government, and to support the federation of states.
Some raised the concern that a national popular vote may lead to a monarchical executive, one who took his win as a license to rule without opposition. Alternatively, others worried that allowing Congress (i.e., the legislative branch) to decide would yield a weak and ineffective executive branch.
In the end, the Electoral College was created to support the balance of our constitutional government while protecting the varying interests of the states—particularly less-populous states such as Democrat-tending Vermont and Republican-friendly Alaska.
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Differing Popular and Electoral College Votes
Every U.S. presidential election (save the 1824 and 1800 elections, when the House of Representatives decided**) has been decided by means of the Electoral College.
The Electoral College's structure means that, though rare, a presidential candidate can win without the majority of the popular vote, as long as he/she wins the majority of electoral votes. In four elections throughout our history, the popular vote and the Electoral College vote did not align (2016, 2000, 1888, and 1876).
If the Electoral College differs from the votes of the majority of the nation's population, as it has done in a small number of cases, what is the point of continuing the Electoral College? Why not move to a national popular vote?
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Representing the Will of Citizens
The Founders imagined that Americans would be citizens of their states, first, and the Federal government, second. The Federal government relied on the states to reflect the decisions of individual voters. After all, the states would be more responsive and in a better position to address the concerns of their own citizens.
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Furthermore, the government must properly protect minority interests by giving the less-populated states a say, as noted in Federalist 10 and Federalist 68. Without a form of political protection, interests in those states may be drowned out by larger-state interests in an election.
As pointed out by faculty partner Allen Guelzo, a direct national popular vote would also encourage candidates to pander to the most populated areas of the country instead of the wider range of swing state voters that they currently appeal to.
Preserving a Federal Republic
Overall, the Electoral College preserves our government's role as a federal republic, a federation of states with a republican central government. Our founders were protecting us from too strong a central government by reinforcing the separation of powers between the federal government and the states (a system known as federalism).
The Electoral College also upholds the separation of powers within the government itself by preventing the executive branch from using popular support as an excuse to usurp the legislative branch.
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Education Strengthens the Nation
The Electoral College seems arbitrary and antiquated unless we familiarize ourselves with the original reasons for which it was written into the Constitution. Returning to a study of American politics and history thus strengthens our civil institutions by improving our understanding of them.
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History can always teach us something about the present, but only if it remains a priority. Without knowledge of our past, we have no basis to make important decisions about our country's future.
JMC supports those teachers who are championing education in America's history and its founding principles. Our growing network of nearly 1,000 dedicated professors are making a difference on hundreds of campuses across the country. So far, they have taught more than one million students. Will you help us reach more?
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Learn More About the Arguments For and Against the Electoral College
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Fast Facts
Where do the electors come from? Each state has a number of electors determined by the state's number of seats in Congress (namely, the two in the Senate and the number in the House, which corresponds to the state's population). Currently, there is are 538 electoral votes total in the country.
"Faithless Electors" In most states, electors are selected by each political party before the election. After the general population votes for the president, the electors are called to vote based upon their state's results. On very rare occasions (only 90 votes out of the 23,507 cast in the United States' history) has an elector not voted for the candidate they were called to vote for.
**What Happened in 1800 and 1824? To become president, a candidate must receive a majority (51%) of electoral votes. When a candidate fails to secure a majority, the election moves to the House of Representatives for a process known as a "contingent election." Prior to the 12th Amendment, the candidate who secured the most votes became president and the candidate with the second-most became vice president. When both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr secured the same number of electoral votes in 1800, Congress passed the 12th Amendment, necessitating that electors must specify whether they are voting for the president or vice president (to prevent future ties). In 1824, a contingent election was held in the House of Representatives when four candidates ran and none of them secured a majority.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
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