The Electoral College: An Unconstitutional American System

The Electoral College is an American institution designed to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since the founders believed the average voter to be dangerous to democratic order, they set in place a system of voting that would allow the public to elect members to represent them and cast their votes for these two offices. Article II Section 1 allowed each voter in the Electoral College to cast two votes for the Presidential seat but this created problems in the election of 1800 when the race ended in a virtual tie. The 12th Amendment eventually revised this clause, stating that every member of the college must cast their vote once for the president and once for the vice president (National Archives and Records Administration). As times have changed, this process has remained the same, though much controversy surrounds this flawed institution. Not until after the elections of 2000, when former Vice President Al Gore lost the overall nomination but won the popular vote, did any real criticism arise. It has been stated that this system is undemocratic in that the voice of the people is not being heard, that “for the people, by the people” is not actually the truth. The opposition believes that staying with this system allows for our leaders to be chosen by a federal system allowing the voices of all states to be heard (Best 45-78). With the presidential election of 2008 right around the corner, I believe that a fundamental reform needs to be made to do justice to the spirit of the American system of democracy, through the use of the Proportional Plan.

This plan would essentially break down the amount of electoral votes each state has by the percentage in which the population voted for each candidate ticket. In the upcoming election if Barack Obama got 54% of the popular vote in New York, and John McCain received 46%, the electoral votes would be broken up by giving Obama 17 votes and McCain 14, getting rid of the winner-take-all system. As stated by the Green Party of California, “the proportional system would allow for more representation of minority and majority constituencies” (Green Party of California Platform). In the media, this system would hold candidates accountable for their words and actions, making the air time and coverage much more important to the life of their campaigns. Double speak and “flip-flopping” would be the demise of a political career, making the overall presentation and content of each platform