An Electoral Solution

We all know that the electoral college tilts the balance of power in the selection of the President in favor of small States, and consequently in favor of the Republican party.  We are living through the disaster that this undemocratic feature of the Constitution has created.  I hardly need tell anyone that this is true.  And yet, we all know that it would prove virtually impossible in our current political environment to change the Constitution to allow Presidents to be selected by popular vote.

What is this flaw in the Constitution that allows Republicans to maintain an unfair advantage? Well, here is the text, from Article 2, section 1:

"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress"

The problem is that representatives are apportioned according to population, while Senators are not; resulting in, for example, every person who votes in Wyoming having 69 times the power of everyone who votes in California; a gross injustice.

Here is my proposal:  An amendment be passed that limits the quantity of electors to the number of representatives, by simply eliminating the words "Senators and."  This will have the effect of moving the Presidential election process so it corresponds much more closely to the will of the population, without any major change in the Constitution.

Of course, Republicans will scream their heads off to stop this, because they benefit from the current law's unfairness, but I suspect it would be far easier to muster support for this elimination of two words from the Constitution, than to eliminate the electoral college altogether, and my proposal would have largely the same effect of moving to a popular vote for President.

Comments

Grung_e_Gene said…
No Amendments can ever be passed in this century. Additionally, a Constitutional Convention will be dominated by Libertaryans and the Plutocracy. A better solution is too dilute the Senate by changing the house appointments which is not set by the Constitution and can expand the EC. Additionally, if President Professor E. Warren has 50 Senators the SCOTUS should be doubled.
November 4, 2019 at 2:22 PM
toto said…
Now we need to urge state legislators, in states with the 74 more electoral votes needed, to enact the National Popular Vote bill.

There have been hundreds of unsuccessful proposed amendments to modify or abolish the Electoral College - more than any other subject of Constitutional reform.
To abolish the Electoral College would need a constitutional amendment, and could be stopped by states with as little as 3% of the U.S. population.

Instead, state legislation, The National Popular Vote bill is 73% of the way to guaranteeing the majority of Electoral College votes and the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country, by changing state winner-take-all laws (not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, but later enacted by 48 states), without changing anything in the Constitution, using the built-in method that the Constitution provides for states to make changes.

It requires enacting states with 270 electoral votes to award their electoral votes to the winner of the most national popular votes.

All voters would be valued equally in presidential elections, no matter where they live.
November 5, 2019 at 11:05 AM
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