The last two presidential elections have raised serious questions on the value or necessity of the Electoral College as a constitutional institution. The disparity between …
The last two presidential elections have raised serious questions on the value or necessity of the Electoral College as a constitutional institution. The disparity between the popular vote and the Electoral College vote in the 2016 election highlighted the disconnect between democratic and federalist principles. The 2020 election has again raised the issue although from a different perspective. Opponents of the Electoral College have traditionally argued that it is a vestige of a past that needs to be eliminated in favor of a direct majoritarian popular vote. In a recent interview, for example, former President Obama commented on our imperfect democracy and of the need of reviewing the need for the Electoral College. This was said within the context of the possible admission of Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states of the union. Contrary to popular opinion, the Electoral College has a role to play within our constitutional design, and its elimination could significantly alter the balance of political power among the states, undermining the federalist model of representative government. ADVERTISEMENT Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, provides that “[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.” Commenting on the process of the Electoral College in The Federalist Papers: No,68, Alexander Hamilton argued that the Electoral College afforded “a moral certainty that the office of the president will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” This is not the first time Hamilton has been proven wrong.
