By Eddie Howell
There are some very important issues
related to the Electoral College today, and arguments over whether it
should be maintained or abolished. There is an effort by some of the
losing side of the presidential election to persuade electors pledged
to Donald Trump to change their votes to Hillary Clinton. This, in my
view is a subversive effort to undermine the Constitution.
Some articles by and some linked,
along with videos, by The Lexington Libertarian are quite
helpful. I will also add my own comments.
The following is a video explaining the
function of, and some of the reasons for, the Electoral College,
which seems to be the least-understood aspect of our presidential
election system:
And an even more serious
effort is underway for states to pass laws requiring electors to vote
for the candidate with the highest number of popular votes in the
nation, regardless of the vote in their own states. This would
completely negate the provisions of the Constitution on this matter
and disenfranchise the voters of the states.
This is an underhanded effort to
undermine the national electorate, and probably constitutes treason.
It is illegal to interfere with someone's legal vote. In my state,
Texas, for example, Trump was the winner, but under this law, Texas
would have to cast all its electoral votes for Clinton, assuming she
won the popular vote. Ridiculous, but people are seriously pressing
for this law, which would go into effect when the states passing it
have the required 270 electoral votes or more, circumventing the
Constitution.
It is patently unconstitutional, but a
liberal court might OK it if it were challenged. Dick Morris
ably explains the law, which has passed one house of the legislature in several states, and also
the urgency of stopping it before it can go into effect:
(Videos via The Lexington
Libertarian)
Mark Newman of the Department of
Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of
Michigan has provided several maps illustrating the results of the
2016 presidential election. I will refer to two of them, the results
by state, and by county. The county map shows that only a small
fraction of counties in the U.S. had Democratic majorities, and the
rest had Republican majorities. Also, as shown by the state map, significantly more states voted
GOP than Democratic.
The Electoral College is supposed to
represent the states. It was set up, very wisely, by the founders,
because the fact that the U.S. consists of united states
is important. States are
nor simply units of the Federal government, but, as the Declaration
of Independence describes it,
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. [Emphasis added]
Quite a
Declaration! The states subsequently established the U.S.
Constitution, and delegated certain powers to the Federal government,
which were considered advantageous to their people, carefully
enumerating the powers so delegated. The Electoral College was
designed to preserve a measure of state power while recognizing the
differences in population. To abolish the Electoral College would
eliminate the influence of most states in the presidential election.
The states with the most large cities would determine the winner, and
less-populated states would have no influence. The Electoral College
exists because the states are important. Without it, the major cities
would dictate policies for everyone, whether or not they would be of
any benefit to other parts of the country.
The Electoral
College should be preserved as a vital part of our political system,
and changes to it should be done only by constitutional amendment. A
change which would be beneficial, in my view, would be a requirement
that electors vote according to their pledges,
not using secret ballot but a public vote, and face severe penalties
for not doing so. Or, perhaps, create a mechanism to automatically
award electoral votes to candidates according to the state-by-state
results.
You may sign the petition Dick Morris referred to here.
You may sign the petition Dick Morris referred to here.
Further reading: Electoral College website
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