OPINION:
We should restore the Electoral College system to the way the Founders framed it. The Founders distrusted direct democracy because they could find no democracy in history that had been successful. All had ended in “tyranny of the majority.”
The Founders wanted the people to be as closely involved in the selection process as possible. Originally, each congressional district within a state would get one electoral vote based on the popular vote in that district. The state legislature would determine how the two extra electoral votes would be cast.
By 1824, the states had corrupted that system with the winner-take-all system we now have. That is, all electoral votes for a state go for the candidate wins the popular vote statewide.
The problem is, that ignores and disenfranchises all those voters in districts where the district popular vote goes to the losing candidate.
For example, in 2016 in Virginia, congressional districts 1, 5, 6 and 9 voted for Donald Trump. Those votes, under the Founders’ vision, would have gone to Mr. Trump. However, because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote statewide, all 13 of Virginia’s electoral votes went to her.
The popular vote in the four districts cited above did not count. The question then becomes, “Why vote at all if my vote is not properly counted?”
States should endeavor to restore the Electoral College to the Founders’ vision, not eliminate it.
DAVID WILLIAMS
Fairfax, Virginia
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