OPINION:
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia, making up 209 Electoral College votes, have passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. When the total number of states that pass the law accounts for 270 electoral votes, the presidency would be decided via direct democracy, also called a popular vote or national winner-take-all. A national popular vote would eliminate the purpose of the Electoral College without eliminating it, which makes the national popular vote the Trojan horse for election override.
The purpose of the Electoral College is to balance the political power of large and small states when electing the president.
The definition of “democracy” is a hotly debated topic, as are the cries from the left and right that the United States is becoming a banana republic. There is no question that the United States is not a direct democracy; hence, the Democrats’ motivation to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to become one. One way to ensure we do not become a banana republic is to maintain the Electoral College.
According to Pew Research, the more politically engaged a Republican is, the more likely he or she favors keeping the Electoral College. On the other hand, differences are less pronounced among Democrats at various levels of political engagement. Most likely, Democrats favor eliminating the Electoral College because the past two times the Electoral College and popular votes did not align: The Democratic candidate won the popular vote but not the electoral vote. This mismatch makes Democrats and Republicans work harder in certain swing states than in other states — a feature, not a bug, of the Electoral College.
Why does keeping the Electoral College help prevent us from becoming a banana republic?
There are two primary types of democratic systems: presidential and parliamentarian. In general, parliamentarian democracies are more stable than presidential democracies. Of the presidential democracies in the world, political scientist Juan Linz, known for his expertise in democracies and authoritarianism, explained that the United States is “the only presidential democracy with a long history of constitutional continuity.”
According to Pew Research, the Electoral College “is unique among all democracies.” Most democracies select their president with a winner-take-all approach that Linz described as the drawback of most presidential systems. Perhaps the founders’ deliberate design of the Electoral College contributes to our long history of constitutional continuity.
Let’s focus on Linz’s key words: presidential democracies and constitutional continuity.
The United States is a democratic republic, sometimes called a constitutional republic or federal republic, that entails both democratic and (more) republican elements to protect “minority rights against the potential tyranny of the majority.” The states ratified the Constitution through federalism, where states (not individuals) are represented nationally.
In Federalist 68, Alexander Hamilton described how the Electoral College was designed to oppose “cabal, intrigue, and corruption” that often follows a direct democracy. The Electoral College was designed as a compromise for state electors to choose the president instead of a direct popular vote or by Congress (a parliamentarian method). A direct popular vote would create a tyranny of the majority where the most populous states’ interests are consistently represented at the expense of those of smaller states.
The Constitution allows states to choose how their electors are selected, which is why the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has been successful in blue states. Since the 19th century, most state electors have cast their votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state.
This compact, however, calls for state electors to vote for the candidate who wins the national popular vote. So if the Republican candidate wins the popular vote in Arkansas (a red state that has passed the proposal in its House of Representatives) but the Democratic candidate wins the national popular vote, Arkansas electors would have to vote for the Democrat. Arkansas’ electoral votes being cast for the state’s loser would exemplify the founders’ fear of tyranny of the majority because Arkansas votes would be discarded to promote those in more urban and liberal states. When the Electoral College votes according to its state’s populace, the Electoral College secures the legitimacy of federalism.
Of course, electing the president through popular vote would be less complicated and represent the will of the people, which is likely why most presidential systems use the winner-take-all approach. But the president’s direct election would undermine our federal republic’s stability. We would be remiss to nix the primary difference between the United States and less-stable presidential systems.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact website has a litany of answers to “debunk” the purposes of the Electoral College. The analyses, however, are either incomplete, use circular reasoning or apply only to current geographic populations and voting patterns.
In other words, it’s harder for Democrats to win under the current system. No wonder the Democrats want to eliminate the Electoral College. It would basically guarantee that their party remains in power in perpetuity.
• Daylea DuVall Camp is a fellow with the Freedom Rising Fellowship Program at the American Journey Experience and a policy adviser for the Heartland Institute.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.