Debate Over the Electoral College in the United States
Debate Over the Electoral College:
Introduction to Debate Over the Electoral College
The most common criticism of the electoral college, and in particular the winner-take-all system, is that it makes possible “the wrong winner”-that is, a candidate who did not win the popular election. These critics say the winner-take-all system is largely responsible for the possibility that a candidate can be elected president even though he or she polls fewer popular votes than the opponent. If a candidate receives a minority of the popular vote nationally but carries a sufficient number of states to ensure a majority of the electoral votes, the candidate is elected. As a result the will of the majority can be frustrated through the normal operation of the electoral college.
Basic democratic principles, the critics argue, suggest that the people ought to be able to decide directly who should govern them. They point to the dispute caused by the election of 1876 and also to the elections of 1888 and 2000. In the 1888 election Democrat Grover Cleveland, the defeated candidate, polled about 100,000 more popular votes than Republican Benjamin Harrison. In the states that Cleveland carried, however, he received only 168 electoral votes to Harrison’s 233. Harrison won key states having large numbers of electoral votes by narrow margins and lost states having fewer electoral votes by large margins. In the highly disputed 2000 election, Democrat Al Gore, the losing candidate, won more than 500,000 more popular votes than Republican George W. Bush, but Bush won the presidency by capturing 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266.
Further, the critics argue that the electoral college is outmoded because the government of the United States has changed fundamentally since the nation was founded. Early in U.S. history it was intended that the government would take the form of a republic, in which the people give elected representatives and officials the power to govern for them. However, the critics suggest, the U.S. government has, over the course of more than 200 years, gradually become a democracy in which elected officials are expected to reflect the views of their constituents and to subordinate their own views. Consequently, they argue, thwarting the direct will of the people through the intervention of intermediaries-such as presidential electors-is no longer appropriate.
Defenders of the electoral college respond that these disadvantages are outweighed by benefits, which are often unappreciated. A “wrong winner” emerges only rarely, the defenders point out. More often, the electoral college tends to magnify the results of a popular victory, which thus lends legitimacy to the election results and helps provide the winner with a mandate for legislative or executive initiatives. For example, in 1912 Woodrow Wilson received only a 41 percent plurality of the popular vote but won 81 percent of the electoral vote.
Moreover, the defenders argue that abolishing the electoral college would likely have unforeseeable consequences that could alter every element of the political system. No one can predict, they suggest, how abolition of the electoral college would affect state political parties, campaign finance, the power of minorities, the strength of the presidency versus Congress, the strength of the federal government versus state governments, or the vitality of the two-party system. This is why John F. Kennedy, as a senator, opposed abolishing the electoral college. “It is not only the unit vote for the presidency we are talking about,” he said, “but a whole solar system of governmental power. If it is proposed to change the balance of power of one of the elements of the solar system, it is necessary to consider the others.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Debate Over the Electoral College in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
Guide to Debate Over the Electoral College
In this Section
Voting Rights, Voter Participation, Election Redistricting, Electoral College (including Electoral College Selection, Counting the Votes, Electoral College Origins, Electoral College First Years, Electoral College History and the 12th Amendment, Disputed Elections of 1824 and 1876, Electoral College and the Influence of Political Parties, Winner-Take-All System, Debate Over the Electoral College and Electoral College Reform), Electorate Age and Electorate Constitutional Provisions.