The Electoral College

The electoral college is part of the election process for the President of the United States. Each state has a certain number of electoral votes which are equal to the number of representatives in Congress (the House and the Senate). The electoral college acts as a step between the people's vote and the elected president. The electorates are supposed to be representative of the peoples opinion and after the people cast their vote, the electoral college then casts their own vote which determines the next United States President. 

The reason we have an electoral college can be blamed on the founding fathers, as can many other things. It was a compromise between the federalists, anti-federalist, southern and northern states, as well as big and small states. In their eyes it was a win-win-win situation. the president was not solely chosen by the people. The states obtained their representative power through the ⅗ compromise which gave them representation but not votes. The smaller states were happy because their rights were protected and the larger states could not as easily pull their weight in the election. The bigger states were happy because they still had, through the proportional representation via the house of representatives, a significant amount of proportional power. And James Madison (a federalist) was happy because it would prevent tyranny of the majority, also known as mob rule. 

However, the electoral college has fostered an environment where tyranny of the minority is more easily obtained. Take the last six presidential elections. Out of those six presidential elections, only two elections were aligned with the popular vote. In other words two of the last four presidents have been elected not by the popular vote, but by the electoral college. 

Do not fret, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud of bad news. Many states have joined what is known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. All the states that sign onto this agreement have agreed to give all their electoral college votes towards the popularly elected candidate for president. Once enough states join this compact it will be guaranteed that the president will have been elected by the popular vote. 

Bibliography:

“What is the Electoral College”. Library Of Congress. September 12th 2021 https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/presidential-election-process/what-is-the-electoral-college/#:~:text=When%20citizens%20cast%20their%20ballots,popular%20vote%20in%20an%20election.

“Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote”. National Popular Vote. September 9th 2021

https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation