the Electoral College is a rather odd institution in a democratic system, a small group of people who have the power to change the choice of voters in a presidential election. Other nations are totally confused by this system. We the people voted and cast the majority of our votes for a candidate for President. Six weeks later, a small group of people we never heard of get together and are empowered to vote for someone else and declare that person to be the winner of the presidential contest. What's up with that?!
Actually it is a relic of the earliest period of our history when there were no public educational systems in the new nation. Education in 1789 was a luxury good only available to the most affluent citizens. Thus the majority of Americans did not enjoy the benefits of a good education. This led James Madison to propose a theory of representation and participation he referred to as "filtration". The general public's views of public policy and who should implement them, should be "filtered" through groups of educated and propertied men who understood the system better and would likely make more responsible choices.For example United States Senators were chosen by their respective state governments, rather than popularly elected. (That didn't change until the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.) The other example is, of course, the Electoral College. It has resulted in five presidents who lost the election but became President as a result of the electoral vote (This is largely because only two states award electors according to the popular vote; the others work on a winner-take-all system.). This does, of course have consequences. George W. Bush lost the 2000 election by just under a million votes, but the electoral college vote went in his favor. Donald Trump lost the 2016 election by 3 million votes nationwide, but became President as a result of electoral votes. In other words, in the last 20 years we have had three Presidents of the United States, two of whom lost the election. Is it surprising that other nations are confused by this system?
Do you think the Electoral College remains a useful part of our electoral system? Should the Presidential election be based solely on the votes of American citizens? Could the institution be retained, but require all states to award electoral votes based on the popular vote within the state? What about the perspective of smaller, less populous states? Under the current system, they enjoy a greater input in the election than if it were based purely on popular votes. Electoral votes are based on congressional representation, including the Senators. For example, the states of North Dakota and South Dakota combined have fewer people than Collin County, but they have four US Senators, so that gives them a bit more clout in a presidential election.
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