A lot of new faces pop-up at Democratic affairs these days. Twice in the past couple of weeks “new people” have asked “when will we have a direct popular vote for President?”
Basically, two Tuesdays after never.
Remember, the Founding Fathers – older white guys, most serious one-percenters – created a House of Representatives with seats allocated by population and a Senate where each state got two seats. So, today Rhode Island gets two representatives and California gets 53 while Rhode Island has two Senators as does California. .
The Electoral College enshrined that compromise, giving every state two votes for the Senators and a vote for each representative.
What does that mean today?
Wyoming has fewer residents than Jackson County, Missouri. Yet, while the State of Missouri has better than ten times the population of Wyoming (585,000 versus 6,084,000), Missouri has just over three times as many Electoral votes: we get 10, they get 3. In other words, each voter in Wyoming has three times the impact of each Missouri voter in the Electoral College.
Today seven of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, have that bare minimum three electoral votes (two Senators and one Representative). Another five have just four electoral votes and another three states have five votes.
Okay, to change the U. S. Constitution two-thirds of the many state legislatures must vote to endorse the amendment. What are the odds of the 15 low-population states giving up their oversized clout? If just two other states stand with the low-vote 15, well, the Equal Rights Amendment never crossed the finish line and that one seemed like a no-brainer, too.
Add to that the reality the elephant folks don’t like to remember, namely, that in only one of the last three presidential elections won by Republicans (2004) did the winning GOP candidate earn a majority of the popular vote. (George W. Bush in 2000 and, of course, Donald Trump in 2016 earned fewer votes than Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.) To win the Presidency in the 21st Century, the Republicans need that edge the Electoral College provides.
A simple suggestion: during the 2018 campaign for Missouri Representatives and Senators ask every candidate to pledge on the record if they will or will not support direct election of the President. That absolute approach has worked for Grover Norquist and Americans For Tax Reform (no new taxes ever, for any reason). The U. S. Constitution may not change but the issue deserves consideration. If addressing the question makes Republicans squirm, well, that’s almost a “win – win.”
Submitted by Glenn Koenen
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Three Electoral Votes: Alaska, District of Columbia, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming
Four Electoral Votes: Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
Five Electoral Votes: Nebraska, New Mexico, West Virginia