Electoral College in the US: How It Came about and How It Works

The most ideal title should be: “How the Electoral College in the USA came about and how it works, which even ordinary Americans completely fail to understand.”

We will indirectly refer to three texts, the “US Constitution” (1787), Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States (1980), but also Paul Johnson’s book, A History of the American People (1997—it took him 32 years to write!). Here are some key ideas we find:

The Electoral College could be a legacy of the Wild West, but it isn’t. It is a “heavy legacy” of the era of slavery, and not only. As the various States stood on their own two feet, there were also fundamental differences. The worthy Founding Fathers had studied the experience of ancient Greece, where every citizen had one vote. So, when they were thinking about how to draft America’s founding documents, the fact of the vote had to essentially be this: one citizen equals one vote, as that is also the rule of democracy.

In the American South, slaves did not have the right to vote. The state rulers and “Southern thinkers of the time” (if such a thing can be said) wanted the slaves to be counted and considered as part of the general population to increase the power of each State, but not to vote. In addition, the Founding Fathers also wanted a compromise between electing the President by Congress—it was an idea—and electing him by the popular vote. It also played a role that, in the 17th century when all this was planned, the fastest way to convey information was on horseback.

How could these issues be resolved? With electors, i.e. the institution/body of the College of Electors.

In each State, the electors are a number proportional to the population, as it is made up of the number of representatives and the number of senators, two in each State. The representatives and senators of each State cannot become electors themselves. Each of the States starts with three electors. (After the Constitution was revised in 1961, the District of Columbia, where Washington is located, also gained three electors). The two senators and “the starting point of three electors” which is the minimum guarantee the equality of the States. The total number of electors is 538, of which 438 are representatives and 100 are senators. (For example, California has 54 electors, Arizona 11, Alaska 3).

The acceptance of the electoral system as a fixed system of electing the President has a long history and special weight. And, paradoxically, this College helped to stabilize and grow America (…buying territories from France, Russia, and elsewhere, and in time, to become the superpower of the 21st century. It is the leading power of the West. The US election concerns every corner of the planet).

The District of Columbia and all but two states have chosen the first-past-the-post system in how electors are apportioned. In other words, the party that wins in the State —with the classic 50+1 of the votes— also gets all the electors. The two states that “go against the current” are Nebraska and Maine. Here, the distribution of electors is done proportionally, i.e. according to the percentage of each party. But usually, their electors divided somewhere in the middle.

The Electoral College has “gone against” the popular vote only 5 times (there have been 59 US presidential elections). “Gone against” means there is a mismatch between what the people in the 50 States plus the District of Columbia want/vote for and what the Electoral College tally that decides who will be President finally gives. In 2016 we had such a mismatch, when Donald Trump was elected President, while Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

Let’s add another observation here: American voters —who themselves do not understand much how the Electoral College works— do not vote on November 5 directly for president, but “tell their State” how to vote for president. Electors are not “obliged” to follow what the citizens have told them: if they wish, the law allows them to change their minds. The 538 electors will meet in December to “elect” the President and the Vice President.

In elections there are states that traditionally vote for Republicans and others for Democrats. There are seven states in total, and it is their own electors who make the big difference. As an example, Pennsylvania with 19 electors, Michigan with 15, Wisconsin with 10… And you reach the most powerful office in the world when 270 electors gather. Thriller. But, recently, there is hope that a woman will cut the thread for the first time… (And, also, one day in the future, it could be a progressive idea to return to the ancient rule of democracy: one citizen equals one vote, and reform to its core the Electoral College, or even to be completely abolished.)

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Dimitris Eleas.