The Electoral College has fallen under great scrutiny ever since the Republican nominee for the presidency, Donald Trump, has claimed the election is “rigged.” It is a system that has been in play since the ratification of the Constitution. But due to a lack of education on civics and government, many Americans do not understand its function. The Electoral College cannot be “hacked” and here’s why.
1. What is it?
For starters, it is a process and not a place. It is a compromise between a direct election of the presidency and an election done by Congress. It can be broken down into three basic steps: (1) the selection of electors (which is based on our votes on Election Day), (2) the winning electors then cast their votes for the presidency and (3) the tallying of these votes, which in turn determines the new president. There are a total of 538 electors, with each state having the same representation it does in Congress in addition to the three electors representing the District of Columbia. In order to win the presidency, the candidates must win at least 270 of the electors’ votes.
2. Who are the electors?
The Constitution doesn’t hold many provisions about the necessary qualifications of an elector. However, it does state, “No Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.” This provision was created because the Founding Fathers saw the possibility of corruption in the system and immediately made it unconstitutional for a certain candidate or party to rig the election.
Since that is all the Constitution really had to say on the matter, the task of selecting electors is delegated to the states political parties. While it varies from state to state, the major parties either nominate a slate of potential electors or they chose them by a vote of the party’s central committee. Electors are typically party loyalists, who have served a great deal in the past, which is why they are given the honor.
3. How does a state determine which electors vote for the presidency?
While it is our votes that decide who a state elects, that doesn’t give you the full picture of how they do so. States use either one of two methods: winner take all or allocation done proportionally. A vast majority of states (48 plus D.C. to be exact) use the winner-take-all method. This means that whichever candidate gets the majority of votes, no matter how slight the difference may be, wins that state. This essentially means all of their parties electors will be the one’s voting for the presidency.
Maine and Nebraska are the only two that allot electors proportionally. So, if candidate A wins the majority in one district, but candidate B wins the majority in three, A will still receive 1 elector despite the fact B won majority of the districts. However, generally speaking, the same candidates do usually win the entire state.
4. Are the electors bound voters?
There are no Constitutional provisions or federal laws requiring electors to vote for who their party’s candidate is. However, some states do have laws requiring them to vote based on the outcome of the popular result. The political parties also tend to require promise pledges from the electors. In certain cases, “faithless electors,” (those who don’t vote for their candidate) can be replaced by a substitute elector. But, no elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as they pledged.
Given the fact that electors are party loyalists, there are seldom any occurrences of them straying from their own nominee. In history, over 99 percent of electors have voted as they pledged, so the likelihood of this election being manipulated in opposition to Trump is very low.
5. What happens if no one reaches 270?
In this case, the three candidates with the largest amounts of electors voting for them will be voted on in the House of Representatives. Each of the representatives has one vote, leading to a total of 438.
6. Why was it created in the first place?
The Founding Fathers had two main reasons for implicating the Electoral College. The first is that they feared a tyrant could manipulate an entirely direct election and jeopardize the future of the nation. In Federalist Paper #68, Hamilton explains the necessity of this system as such: “This evil was not least to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate, who was to have so important an agency in the administration of the government as the President of the United States. But the precautions which have been so happily concerted in the system under consideration, promise an effectual security against this mischief.”
The Electoral College was also created to ensure that smaller states would have an equal power to that of the larger states. In a direct democracy, their voices wouldn’t be heard or even be held at a similar level of importance in comparison to the larger states.
7. Why is it still around?
The main reason we still have the Electoral College today is because of the difficultly of passing an amendment. Given that it is a provision in the Constitution, Congress could not simply pass a law abolishing it. The amendment process is very lengthy and made especially heinous given the polarity of today’s politics. It would have to be ratified by 3/4 states, and many small states would not do so because it protects them.
So, is the system rigged?
No. It really isn’t possible to do so. However, is it archaic and could it be improved upon? Certainly. Many argue that it would be a much fairer and more democratic system if each state allotted the votes proportionally rather than using the winner-take-all method. That would allow the conservatives in blue states to have their voices heard along with the liberals in red states. It would also be a much more feasible change to make because it would not require an amendment.
More than likely, Trump is using this system as a scapegoat to explain away his recent poor performances in polls and public opinion. As of October 25, two weeks before Election Day, Secretary Clinton was leading by 5 points in the national polls with nearly 7/10 Americans believing that she will be the next president. But, do not let the polls make you believe the outcome of the election is already decided. Make sure you take part in this historic election by registering to vote and going to the polls on November 8.
