The Presidential election is just a few weeks away and the Electoral College will play its part in who becomes our president. It has been a while since I learned about this part of the Constitution. We learned in the 11th and 12th grades that the Founding Fathers discussed this question more than any other part of the Constitution. Every state wanted their vote to count.
In all other federal questions and the ballot, a simple majority wins, not so with the vote for President. Some of the framers of the Constitution were worried that the most populous states would elect the president and the less populated states would never have a say in who would be the Commander-in-chief.
The term Electoral College is not found in the Constitution. The persons who would elect the president and the vice president were called "electors." The electors would vote for the president, and vice president, and Congress counts the votes.
During the framing of the Articles of Confederation, the framers argued over which states should have the most say in the votes. the three largest states—Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts—demanded voting according to population 1
This discussion did not change during deliberations for the US Constitution. States like Delaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were worried that their votes would not count when voting for the president.
The Founding Fathers were not willing to allow uneducated and young people the right to vote. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the citizens have a right to vote. Voting in the late 18th century was restricted to males and generally based on land ownership, and did not extend to slaves who were a fifth of the population, said Andrew J. O'Shaughnessy, a University of Virginia historian and vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. The Southern states, concerned that they would not have a say in the election of the president, agreed to have the slaves counted with the acceptance of the three-fifths compromise. This finally settled the question of how to count the population of slaves.
The question of popular vote versus electoral vote holds today. In recent history, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College. If the President is elected by popular vote, the most populous states would overwhelm the states with less population, and the elections would always go in favor of the higher populated states. California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida would select the president every time. Why would a candidate ever go to a state that never had a chance of electing him? The needs of the less populated states would not be addressed.
What are the qualifications to be an elector?
The U.S. Constitution contains very few provisions relating to the qualifications of electors. Article II, section 1, clause 2 provides that no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. As a historical matter, the 14th Amendment provides that State officials who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or given aid and comfort to its enemies are disqualified from serving as electors. This prohibition relates to the post-Civil War era. 2
There has been some talk of eliminating the Electoral College or more precisely the "electors" from the Constitution. This would require a two-thirds vote of Congress, signed by the president. Then, a three-fifths vote of the states to remove the elector's method from the Constitution. This is not very likely since we as a country are so divided.
Selecting electors is a two-part process. The political parties in each state select the electors. The people, when they vote choose the group of electors for their state when they vote for president and vice president. Even though the metropolitan areas have a concentrated number of voters who may not vote for your candidate, a concerted effort by the rural areas may negate the voting power of the cities and prevail in the final tally. This is why it is so important for every eligible voter to vote for their preferred candidate for president.
Resources
1. Staff Writers, Population and Constitution-Making, 1774–1792, Center for the Study of the American Constitution, Department of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison, August 21, 2022, https://csac.history.wisc.edu/2022/08/01/population-and-constitution-making-1774-1792/
2. Staff Writers for National Archives, About Electors, The Electoral College, National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/electors#selection
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