Challenging the Case Against the EC

CONNECTICUT
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To the Editor, The Quinnipiac Chronicle

I’d like to respond to Thomas Potter’s October 1 views on The Electoral College, in The Case Against the Electoral College.

First, I challenge the idea that “everyone” knows about the Electoral College. Even if people have heard the name, how many know the extent to which it is embedded in America’s governing infrastructure? I’ll bet most don’t understand its composition or context.

But for the Electoral College, Those Urban Areas Would Dominate
Potter cites the population of “all 100 cities” as being 63 million people. But today’s campaigns target media markets. ThoughtCo lists the 30 most populous metropolitan areas in the US. They account for 145.1 million people, nearly half the country’s population and close to the entire 2020 vote count of 155.5 million. And guess what states/regions they don’t encompass? But for the Electoral College, those 30 urban areas absolutely would dominate presidential election campaigns.

Mark Alexander recently noted, “In the 2020 election, there were more votes cast in Los Angeles County than the vote totals in (each of) 38 (INDIVIDUAL) states.” Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by seven million votes nationally — five million in California and two million in New York.

Who the "Swing States" Are Changes
Potter cites swing states, that can “go either way” in an election. But this picture isn’t static. California used to be ‘red’ and Texas used to be ‘blue.’ In recent years people have migrated away from the woke states, favoring those with lower taxes and regulation and more personal freedom. Wikipedia reports that since 2000 there have been 11 different swing states.
 
I join Potter in disparaging the winner-take-all system. But that’s not about the Electoral College. This issue needs to be hammered out in every state legislature save Maine and Nebraska. These two states wisely allocate electoral votes to congressional districts.
 
Small States Are NOT Over Represented
Regarding the (tired) idea that small states are over-represented: California alone has 55 electoral votes, more than the total of the 12 smallest states scattered across the country, half of which are very liberal. New York’s 28 electoral votes dwarf the impact of North Dakota (3), Rhode Island  (4) and Alaska (3). Following mass migration to formerly ‘blue’ Florida, it now casts 30 electoral votes.
 
The Founders were more than just bright and clever. They were guided by two overarching forces: knowledge of history, specifically what becomes of mob rule; and a compelling need to preserve the Union. And I challenge the idea that there is much about human nature that they did not, or could not, envision.

And many times the candidate who lost the popular vote* won the Electoral College. The bi-partisan list includes Lincoln (1850), Hayes (1876), Garfield (1880), Cleveland (1884, 92), Wilson (1912, 16), Truman (1948), Kennedy (1960), Nixon (1968), Clinton (1992 and 1996), George W. Bush (2000), and Trump (2016).- (See Statista .com “Share of electoral college and popular votes from each winning candidate, in all United States presidential elections from 1789 to 2020”).  This has been the case about 40 percent of the time since 1824.

Did you know, in 1996 Bill Clinton got a smaller percentage of the popular vote (43%) than Donald Trump did in 2015 (46%)? Such details are both interesting and meaningless. The Electoral College delivered both men to the Oval Office. (See Wikipedia.)
  
Roberta Schlechter
Volunteer for Michigan-based KEEP OUR 50 STATES
Portland, OR

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   *  (Editor's Clarification: This list includes Presidents elected that had less than a Majority of the total "popular votes" that were cast, although most did win a "Plurality" (the MOST votes) of a "popular vote tally".  A total of five Presidents were elected when they had fewer "popular votes" than one of their opponents - in effect, "losing" the popular vote.  They are J.Q. Adams^ (1824), Hayes^ (1876), Harrison (1888), Bush (2000) and Trump (2016). 

    ^ John Quincy Adams and Hayes were not elected by the Electoral College because neither received the required Majority of Electoral Votes to win.  They were elected by the States, each using their House of Representatives delegations to cast each State's sole Vote.  Popular vote tallies, however, have never been required by the Constitution nor Federal Law nor counted in electing the U.S. President.)