Election season is a good time to take another look at a glaring flaw in our system: the electoral college. The problem is that 48 states, and D.C., operate on a “winner-take-all” premise. For example, if a presidential candidate carries a state 51% to 49%, which is not unusual, that candidate cops all of the electoral votes from that state. Thus, it is possible, and has happened, that a candidate gets a minority of the popular vote, yet still is the winner.
This system, which defies reason, was put in place two centuries ago essentially to protect the interests of the landed aristocracy against the will of the people. It has long outlived its usefulness. While disbanding the electoral college would take a constitutional amendment, a monumental task, a more common-sense approach would be to have every state proportional in allocating electoral college votes. That is, if a candidate received 40% of the popular vote in a state, they would get 40% of that state’s electoral votes. This policy could be enacted by state legislation, and would make a lot of sense.
Mike Bradley
Hillsboro,