The Electoral College

While the Electoral College remains one of the most distinctive features of the American electoral system, the term “electoral college” does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. Article II of the Constitution describes the process by which States can appoint an “elector.” The 12th Amendment describes how “Electors” shall meet in their respective States to vote for the President and Vice-President.

The Electoral College resulted from a compromise between proposals to have a popular vote or to allow Congress to elect the President. Given concern with the qualifications of voters to make a good decision, the Electoral College system allowed states to control who would actually cast votes for the Presidency. Based on Congressional representation, the Electoral College balances the interests of all states regardless of their population. In 2020, there are 538 electors. To win the electoral vote and, therefore, the Presidency, a candidate must garner at least 270 electoral votes.

Forty-eight of the 50 states apportion votes in a “winner takes all” approach. This means whichever candidate wins the majority of votes in that state earns all of that state’s electoral votes. Only Maine and Nebraska have proportional representation to determine allocation of electoral votes.

If no candidate earns 270 electoral votes, the Constitution mandates the House of Representatives will determine the presidency. With 435 members of Congress, a candidate would need to secure 218 votes to win the election.

Third-party candidates are most impacted by the current system. Whether regional candidates such as Strom Thurmond or George Wallace, or national candidates like Teddy Roosevelt or Ross Perot, those candidates have achieved negligible results

with the Electoral College. Thurmond and Wallace did receive some Southern electoral votes, but not enough to make an impact on a national basis. Though Roosevelt finished second in the 1912 election, he had only 88 of the 266 needed to win the presidency. Ross Perot, in 1992, earned 19 percent of the popular vote but none of the electoral votes since he did not have significant support in any one state. In the 2016 election, Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party who appeared on all 50 state ballots failed to receive any electoral votes.

Given its Constitutional status, any changes to the electoral system and the electoral college would require the passage of a Constitutional amendment. This process would require passage in Congress by a 2/3 vote in both houses. Then ¾ of the states would have to ratify the amendment as well. According to the National Archives over 700 proposals to amend or eliminate the Electoral College have been introduced in Congress. This is the most for any potential Constitutional amendment.

The organization National Popular Vote is an attempt to allow states to agree to a popular vote if the organization can secure the approval of enough states to have over 270 votes. Currently, 14 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to gain 196 electoral votes.

In February 2019, State Senator David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, introduced Senate Bill 115: Interstate Compact on the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote to the Kansas Senate. The Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Ethics, Elections, and Local Government. In May of 2020 the bill died in committee.

In January of 2017, Harvard economists and Nobel Laureates Eric Maskin and Amartya Sen advocated for a Majority Rule System adapted from an electoral idea developed by the 18th century political philosopher Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet. Condorcet proposed ranking candidates from best to worst. Such a system would provide more electoral influence from third-party candidates and mostly eliminate the phenomenon of “vote-splitting” where a third-party candidate takes votes from one of the major party candidates resulting in the victory of the other. For example, Ralph Nader’s candidacy in 2000 split votes among Nader and Sen. Al Gore, resulting in the razor-thin victory for George W. Bush.

Despite these various proposals, the upcoming Presidential election will take place under the current Electoral College system, leaving alternative systems or Electoral College reforms for future elections.