Even After Biden Win, Our Obsolete Electoral College Must Go

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This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. 

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1343834
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Allan is right, of course.

And this just about says it all:

The vast majority of Americans recognize that their country is no longer governed by the consent of the governed and favor abolition of the Electoral College. A September 2020 Gallup Poll found that 61 percent of respondents favored a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, including 89 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of Independents, but only 23 percent of Republicans.

The only question is whether respondents actually understood the question.

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Some of them probably think that the Electoral College is a subsidized educational institution that teaches people how to install three-way switches for a dining room chandelier.

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It’s back to school for me!

Classes by Zoom, I trust.

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There is no ‘even if’ here. IF we elected by popular vote this nightmare would be over with and we’d be going forward to fix our country…

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As of today, Biden holds a total combined lead in Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia of about 46,000 votes. Technically, that’s how much Trump lost the Electoral College by. That’s even fewer than the combined 77,000 votes Clinton lost Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by.

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And now the Republicans are on board.

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Somebody better alert the Governor of Nevada (D), who has vetoed legislation to have the state join the popular-vote compact, on the grounds that NV benefits from being a battleground state. As is so often the case, the problem isn’t the theoretical stuff. The problem is the quality of our electeds.

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I just can’t believe that a proposed Constitutional amendment would make it past Mitch “Mr. Obstruction” McConnell and his cohorts in the Senate. I’d frankly be surprised to see it voted out of the House at this point. No, we are not going to get rid of the EC, we can (and must) change the way votes are alloted to the candidates. “Winner take all” is no way to choose.

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Well if we win the two seats in Georgia Mitch won’t be a thing anymore.

We could concentrate on that instead of always capitulating to the idea that Mitch is always going to be in the same position doing the same shit.

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Not to mention this quadrennial tilting at the EC windmill

OTOH, Colorado voters approved joining the compact, which, I notice, received scant mention in the article, even though it is the only solution with a chance of actually happening.

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Wait have you taken the prereq?
Incandescent installation 101?

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Well it’s hard to sell getting rid of the EC without a really good sales pitch. Doing it state by state is smart - look at marijuana legalization - that’s happening, state by state. But it sells itself.

Somebody has to come up with selling points for persuading people this is a good idea.

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I did, but I still don’t know the answer to the perennial question …

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Sure, it must go but what sort of deal are we willing to offer? The EC (and two senators per state regardless of size) was born in a constitutional compromise between big states and little states back in 1787. What sort of deal are we will of offer to little states to give up the goods? The European Union faces the same issue on trying to overcome their unanimous votes where little Slovenia or Luxembourg can block major moves by the big countries like France and Germany.

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One selling point is that your vote doesn’t get tossed into the trash bin in winner-take-all states.

It’s a powerful argument on its face, until someone explains to a Republican voter the structural advantage they have with the current EC system that advantages low population states. And also how they’ve managed to win the Presidency by losing the popular vote but winning in the EC vote.

I doubt I’ll see a national vote amendment passed in my lifetime, but it could happen eventually, if we ever become a less polarized nation.

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Of course.

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I think eliminating the EC, as much as I would like it done, is probably a bridge too far, politically. But there is another, more elegant, solution:
The automatic awarding of an additional 100 Electors to the winner of the national popular vote. Not impossible to overcome, but damn difficult.

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