Elections and Representation | Sandra Deng

Elections and Representation Elections and Representation

Elections and Representation By Sandra Deng

This issue’s theme of representation is fitting, considering that I am currently writing this piece in the midst of election season. With everyone being bombarded with voting campaigns, from pop-ups on social media to news outlets reporting on the polls, it is nearly impossible to escape thinking about the 2020 presidential elections.

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But amidst all this talk about voting, how does it work?

Like most modern day countries, the United States has a democratically elected leader. Every four years, a nationwide election is held to determine our next president. How the voting works, however, is largely dependent on which state you live in. For example, all states have different voter registration laws, with North Dakota being the only state that doesn’t require it at all.

Unlike most modern day democracies, the United States uses the Electoral College system to determine its president, as opposed to a simple popular vote. Each state is assigned a certain number of representatives, which is reflective of the amount of seats they hold in Congress. Rather than vote for the president directly, citizens are actually voting for who they want their representatives to vote for.

So why is the process so convoluted? Why can’t the president simply be chosen based on who the most citizens voted for?

The Founding Fathers cemented this system into the Constitution on purpose. Firstly, they didn’t trust the American people, who were largely uneducated at the time. Thus the Electoral College was to consist of educated men, who would be able to elect the best candidate for the country. Secondly, news travelled slowly back then. The Founding Fathers knew that things could drastically change in the days leading up to Election Day, things that could sway the votes of citizens, and that news of these changes might not reach the ears of voters in time. If anything important changed by the time the Electoral College arrived at the capital to officially submit their votes, they would be able to make the decision they thought would be best for their citizens. Finally, the Founding Fathers couldn’t possibly have foreseen our modern political party system, where partisanship has drastically changed elections.

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Although this system is confusing and outdated, what’s the harm?

Since each state gets the number of electoral votes equal to its seats in Congress, smaller states have disproportionately more say in the presidency. After doing all the math, this means that in California, over 700,000 people share one electoral vote. Whereas in Wyoming, one electoral vote is split between less than 200,000 people; so a citizen of Wyoming has more say in the presidency than a citizen of California. This disproportionate representation has resulted in five presidents that did not win the nationwide popular vote: Presidents Adams, Hayes, Harrison, Bush, and Trump.

With all of this in mind, what can we do to get proper representation?

The first thing that comes to mind is to simply eliminate the Electoral College. However, this would require an amendment in the Constitution, a feat that is very difficult to achieve. To circumvent this logistical nightmare, many states have started to sign onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This compact is an agreement among the states to simply delegate their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote. But the issue with this solution is that it will only work if a majority of the Electoral College agrees to do it, and while many have signed on, the agreement is still missing 74 electoral votes.

So what else can be done?

A potential solution would be ranked voting. Otherwise known as ranked-choice voting, this system allows voters to rank their preference of candidates. If the candidate that received the most first place rankings doesn’t make it past the majority threshold needed to win, candidates at the bottom of the race will be eliminated. Then, those who voted for the candidates at the bottom will now have their votes given to their second choice.

Ranked voting can be combined with a proportional voting system, which would allocate electoral votes depending on the popular vote. In non-presidential elections, proportional voting can also still allow the minority party to still hold some seats in the government and have a voice. Combined, the two systems could help to eliminate the two party system and result in a more ideologically representative government without having to tackle the issue of amending the Constitution.

There are many other systems that can improve representation in the United States, but regardless of what steps the country will take in the future, it is clear that we must initiate this change. Although Election Day would have passed by the time you read this, local elections occur every year, with federal seats available every two years. As important as the presidency is, important changes (like the ones just mentioned) happen at the state and local level.

For more information on what I’ve discussed, I suggest watching Vox’s “Whose Vote Counts, Explained” documentary on Netflix, and CGP Grey’s “The Sneaky Plan to Subvert the Electoral College for the Next Election” video on Youtube. Vol. XXXIX, Issue I 7