For the second time in my lifetime, someone who lost the popular vote will be President. In 2000, Al Gore beat George W. Bush by half a million votes. Now Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by over 2.8 million votes. The Electoral College is a broken system, and it should be replaced with a popular vote.
The reason is simple—one person should equal one vote. The Electoral College was designed to give extra political weight to rural regions during the founding of our country over 200 years ago. Time has moved on and our country is far more complex than it was back then, and its time to drop this outdated system.
Here’s some arguments I’ve heard against dropping the Electoral College:
“You’re just mad that your candidate didn’t win!”
My candidate did win, by 2.8 million votes. But apparently some of those votes count less. That doesn’t seem fair, does it? If Trump had won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, I’d be saddened that my candidate only won on a technicality. I certainly wouldn’t begrudge those that felt they had been cheated of their voice.
“Without the Electoral College, candidates will only campaign in states with high populations!”
Right now candidates focus most of their time in swing states, how is that any better? And I don’t think they would necessarily ignore rural voters. We live in a communication age—candidates would have to appeal to all Americans to win the popular vote. Maybe I’m biased because I’m on social media so much, but it seems like regional differences between Americans are a smaller factor than they have ever been.
I also find it insulting that people say voters in rural areas deserve to be heard but seem to think that millions of people living together in a big city shouldn't have the same voice.
“High population states like California will become more important!”
Almost 4.5 million people voted for Trump in California, and it didn’t mean anything. Because Clinton won the popular vote in the state, all of its electors went to her. If you don’t live in a swing state, your vote doesn’t matter. In a national popular vote, every vote matters, and it matters equally. How many people don’t vote because they know it won’t change the way their state goes, for or against? How many people voted for a third-party because they didn’t think their vote mattered in the national election? Give everyone one equal vote and every voice will be heard.
“The Electoral College is a stop-gap to prevent the people from electing someone dangerously unfit for office!”
Obviously not, because it didn’t stop Trump. We’re too entrenched in tradition to break the system with faithless electors.
That’s actually all the arguments for the Electoral College I could find that seemed valid. I found a few arguments about the mathematics of the system ensuring a voice for minorities and a larger voice for populous states, but again those are invalidated by the fact that it didn’t work against Trump.
I don’t see why this is a difficult issue. Give everyone a vote, and we’re closer to the Democracy we like to pretend we are.
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