Here is the Answer to Your Question, Mr. Kilander

Mr. Kilander is a U.K. citizen who has been a reporter for the British publication, The Independent, since late 2020. We believe that he fails to grasp that the U.S. is a strong Federation with a constitutiona republic federal government, and not a democracy. On purpose. By unanimously agreed to design!

UNITED KINGDOM
To the Editor, Independent.Com.UK -
 
Regarding Gustaf* Kilander's January 2nd Op-Ed against the Electoral College, "The Electoral College is a 'bad' and 'undemocratic' system.  So, why does the US still use it?", as “undemocratic":

In Federalist #39, Publius (James Madison) concludes, “... The proposed Constitution … is, in strictness, neither a national, nor federal Constitution, but a composition of both. In its foundation, it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of government are drawn, it is partly federal, and partly national; in the operation of these powers, it is national, not federal; in the extent of them, again, it is federal, not national; and, finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing amendments, it is neither wholly federal, nor wholly national.“
 
American students pick up at least the seeds of this in civics class. We understand the Electoral College to be one thread of a much larger operating infrastructure, one full of checks and balances. Such products of a Constitutional Republic of sovereign states, functioning as a representative democracy, cannot be “undemocratic.” It’s disappointing when attempts are made to isolate the Electoral College like some sort of dangling appendage.
 
Perhaps there are parts of the Swedish model that Kilander views through a similar lens.  
 
In choosing the CEO of the Federation, only STATE Electoral Votes have ever counted, never popular votes

I’m always puzzled when Electoral College skeptics begin with a litany of popular vote outcomes. (I will advise Kilander on this: In 1996 Bill Clinton got a smaller percentage of the popular vote-43%, than Donald Trump did in 2015-46%.) But the main point is that the only majority that matters in US presidential elections is the majority of electoral votes, representing each individual state.  America doesn’t have national elections and we don’t have a peoples’ president. POTUS stands for "President of the United STATES."
 
The Constitution, Article II Clause 3, stipulates “The Electors shall meet in their respective States.” All voting takes place on the same day. There is to be no outside pressure or colluding.
 
In like manner, from election night through state tabulating, the Electoral College draws a legal wall around every state, keeping those votes separate and distinct, and safe from any irregularities in any other state. Americans remember the 2020 election controversies in a handful of states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Thanks to the Electoral College, the 20 states that border the ones in question: (New Mexico, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Indiana,  California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, New York, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota) were unaffected by the disagreements. 

Our States are NOT "over-represented"!
 
The Electoral College enables minorities to prevent an action, specifically, presidential election by a handful of population centers. Rather, successful candidates must secure support from multiple regions of the country.

Regarding the (tired) idea that small states are over-represented: California alone has 55 electoral votes, more than the total electoral votes of the 12 smallest states scattered across the country, half of which are very liberal. Just since 2000 alone, there have been 11 different “swing” states .

The President of the United STATES has always been elected by the STATES

The 2016 inaugural was followed by mass demonstrations in Washington, DC and The Washington Post promoted “impeachment” on their front page. Later, large, coordinated, unruly crowds intruded into the Capitol Building, disrupting the Kavanaugh hearings, among others. There were no arrests. In 2020, 75 million Americans voted against Joe Biden. He got into office, many believe to the detriment of the country. 

Next year voters in each of our States are free to make different decisions. But the decision will emerge from the STATES via the Electoral College. It’s how the game is played.
 
Roberta Schlechter
Portland, Oregon, USA

* Gustaf Kilander is a US reporter based in Washington, DC. Before joining The Independent in late 2020, he worked at The Sun in London and Swedish public service radio and TV in Stockholm.

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