The Death of the Electoral College Will Not Come Easily

It is time to complain again about the woefully anachronistic and anti-democratic Electoral College. When Al Gore won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote in 2000, Senator Hillary Clinton promised an all-out effort to end the Electoral College. That effort died with nary a whimper. I am not blaming Hillary for her good intention nor her endeavor to do the right thing. The fact she has not raised the Electoral College issue recently is simply an indication of how difficult it will be to deal a death blow to that artificial institution which has sent made three losers of the presidential election into inaugural winners.

Let us get real. Congress is not going to pass a proposed amendment for two reasons. First: There are few issues that can attain a 2/3 majority—certainly not the Electoral College. Second: Do you really think that the House of Representatives is going to give up its power to elect the President when no candidate has a majority of the electoral votes?

It’s not just that presidential election popular vote winners sometimes lose those elections that drives up my annoyance meter, it’s that during the presidential campaign the candidates necessarily pay extra attention and pander to the constituents of “swing states.” Hey, I am a citizen of the most populous state and I think that my state deserves more attention. If we had no Electoral College, Californians and New Yorkers would be getting the attention they would deserve in a fair and meaningful democracy. Instead, we Americans have a plutocracy.

So, how do we kill the Electoral College? Article V of the Constitution gives us the answer. Two-thirds of the state legislatures must call upon Congress for a constitutional convention. And that will not be easy. Let us not have a 2nd Con Con just for one issue. While we’re at it, let us propose at least three more proposed constitutional amendments that will end the existence of three other obstructions to representative democracy: the presidential veto, the filibuster/motion for cloture, and the private financing of public elections. Let us show the power of democracy in its most meaningful manifestation: from the bottom to the top.

Posted on 8th September at 11:43 am

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