The people of America are trying to send a message, but it's taking a while to figure out exactly what it is. As we enter another election season we as citizens have the right to question our voting processes. Should we change election day from Tuesday to Saturday? Should we open and close the polls at a simultaneous time nationwide? And more importantly, should we get rid of the Electoral College? .
This last question would require amending the Constitution. As we consider that, we should begin by examining the purpose of the Constitution's Framer's, which clearly showed that they wanted our country to be a collection of the states together sharing its interests.
The delegates in Philadelphia never really considered any form of electing the President that did not involve a process in which the states themselves had the final say, with the certain concerns of small states holding sway throughout. The Electoral College was established as the best way by which to ensure popular expression of choice, controlled by the influence of individual states. .
Presidential races in the future would instead be the pursuit of the vote in major urban centers of the country, characterized by frequent run-off elections as working smaller party's candidates manage to gain sufficient enough votes to prevent an absolute majority. .
This is often the unfortunate result in many countries around the world and one we've tried to avoid for two centuries. What has not changed is that we remain a union of states with a common purpose and a system with enough checks and balances that those who lose do not feel threatened or disenfranchised. Scrapping the electoral system would gravely undermine that principle. .
In fact, that's why attempts to change the process will fail. The approval of the legislatures of three-fourths of the states is needed to amend the Constitution. Just 14 states could sink the proposition. Twenty states have a population of fewer than three million and would see little interest in ratifying their loss of influence over the selection of the President.
