The Evolution of the Electoral College

The Evolution of the Electoral College

The Electoral College is one of the most controversial institutions in the US. Since its inception, there have been over 700 attempts to amend or abolish it, indicating the controversy surrounding the institution. Despite being responsible for selecting the president, most Americans are still confused about the Electoral College’s functions due to changes implemented at various electoral levels. Today, it is possible for a presidential candidate to lose the popular vote but win the presidential race based on the Electoral College’s vote results, with a recent example being Trump’s 2016 election win. The controversy surrounding the Electoral College is because the Electoral College, as it is today, does not align with its founders’ intentions.

One of the most significant changes in the Electoral College has been brought about by the emergence of political parties. Initially, the Electoral College constituted wise men and women (electors) who would make independent choices in electing the president. However, as partisan political parties took center stage in American politics, parties began nominating Electoral College representatives based on loyalty (Dautrich et al., 2020). Today, electors at the Electoral College represent their parties, implying that the intended independent decision-making is no longer relevant in the US Electoral College. The founders of the Electoral College envisioned an independent institution whose decisions would reflect Americans’ desires, but that is no longer the case, as partisan interests take center stage at the institutions.

Another significant change is the shift from proportional representation to a winner-take-all framework. The founders of the Electoral College envisioned a framework whereby presidential candidates would be allocated electors’ votes based on the percentage of the popular vote garnered (Dautrich et al., 2020). That means that all presidential candidates would be assured of getting electors in every state as long as they get a percentage of the popular vote. However, this changed following the introduction of the winner-take-all system, whereby a candidate who wins the popular vote is allocated all electors in the state (Dautrich et al., 2020). Today, all states apart from Maine and Nebraska, which use district representation, have adopted the winner-take-all system. The winner-take-all was introduced to solidify the two largest political parties in the US. The winner-take-all framework has impacted how presidential candidates utilize their campaign resources and where they choose to campaign based on historical voting patterns. To that end, if a candidate is convinced that they stand no chance of getting significant votes in certain states, they may choose not to campaign in such states altogether since such efforts end up in futility.

According to Mazzei (2004), the 12^th Amendment significantly impacted the Electoral College process. Before the constitutional Amendment, the runners-up in the race automatically became the Vice President. The 12^th Amendment separated presidential and Vice-presidential ballots, with each candidate entering the race with their respective Vice-Presidential candidates. This change was because it became obvious that a winner and a runner-up had significant differences in opinion, complicating the running of the government.

Conclusively, the Electoral College, as it is today, represents a significant departure from its founders’ intentions. As mentioned above, electors in the Electoral College represent political parties, a departure from the initial intentions of an institution comprising independent thinkers. Also, all but two states have adopted the winner-take-all framework, a departure from the initial proportional representation based on the popular vote. Besides, the 12^th Amendment changed the initial arrangement where the runner-up automatically became the Vice President, with each candidate entering the race jointly with their Vice-Presidential candidate.

References

Dautrich, K., David Alistair Yalof, & Bejarano, C. E. (2020). The enduring democracy. Cq Press.

Mazzei, G. (2004). The Origins of the Presidential Election: The Creation of the Electoral College through the First Federal Elections. Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539626466. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-tbj9-8160

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How do the processes within the Electoral College today differ from how the Founders intended for the Electoral College to function?

The Evolution of the Electoral College