The Electoral College is an unfair system, as it’s not a clear representation of American voters. There are several cases in United States history where the candidate for president wins the popular vote but doesn’t win the election because of the Electoral College.
According to the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans want to change the system for electing a president. Roughly two-thirds of American adults believe that the candidate who wins the popular vote should win the presidency; a third wouldn’t change the current system.
The Electoral College was originally created because government leaders didn’t want to give too much freedom directly to the people. Citizens used to vote for their preferred candidate to represent their state in the presidential election. The Electoral College was also meant to give more representation to smaller states and elect the most qualified candidate as president (with the second most qualified candidate as vice president).
The Electoral College was created by the framers of the Constitution and has existed since the first election in the United States. After George Washington won two terms unanimously, he decided not to run in a third election. John Adams (a Federalist) was elected president with Thomas Jefferson (a Democratic-Republican) as vice president, despite being from different political parties. Electing these two opposites challenged the system for the first time; luckily, it did its job of selecting two exceptional candidates.
This system initially included 13 states along the Atlantic coast, but as the country grew, the electoral vote consequently became more disproportionate in fairly electing a president.
Moreover, the Electoral College lacks voter representation because the ratio of population to electoral votes isn’t equal for all states.
In a tweet from 2020, the former United States Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich said, “Wyoming is 92% white. California is 37% white. A Wyoming voter has nearly 4x more influence than a California voter. The Electoral College is racist. It must be abolished.”
Candidates who’ve lost the popular vote have still become president five times in American history. The United States shouldn’t have a system that doesn’t match the majority of public opinion nearly 10 percent of the time.
In 2020, President Joe Biden won the popular vote with 81,282,916 votes, which is more votes than any candidate has received in a presidential election. President Biden also received 306 electoral votes while former President Trump only received 232; this is how elections should be — the winner of the popular vote wins the election.
The 2016 election is an example of the Electoral College selecting the unpopular vote. According to CNN, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by roughly three million votes; she received 65,853,516 votes and former President Donald Trump: 62,984,825 votes. Even though Clinton won the popular vote by 2.1%, Trump secured the electoral votes. Trump earned 306 electoral votes while Clinton only received 232 electoral votes.
Even though I believe the Electoral College should be abolished, the system has some advantages; it helps to account for voices in less populated areas and the issues they face.
Additionally, the Electoral College allows states to split their votes using the congressional district method. This method allows the electoral vote to represent different congressional districts in each state. Two out of the four electoral votes in Maine can potentially be awarded to someone other than the statewide winner. In Nebraska, two of the five votes go to the popular winner, leaving three votes in play.
While there are a few benefits of the Electoral College, I believe the disadvantages greatly outweigh them; the most qualified candidate should be elected by the people directly — not through the Electoral College.