It seems obscene; the presidency of the United States decided by a small group of states and a small segment of the population because of the Electoral College system. For those of us living in Connecticut, the presidential race appears to be occurring in another country that we can follow on the TV news or read about in the papers.
Aside from visits for fund-raising, Obama and Romney are nowhere to be seen in our neck of the woods. The airways of New York and Connecticut are bereft of ads touting the candidates and they’re not campaigning on the ground. The same can be said for California, Texas, the Deep South and most of the rest of the nation.
Since a majority of America’s total popular vote is not needed to elect the president, candidates do not have to campaign over the length and breadth of the nation to win the office. If one party’s nominee is heavily favored to prevail in a state because of its voting history and the early polls, that state is virtually ignored by the contenders who concentrate their efforts on what are called the “swing states,” meaning those that are up for grabs. The current “swing states” are Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, and New Hampshire, with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania possibly in play. In an election as close as this one is predicted to be, the candidates, their surrogates, and their advertising dollars are constantly working these swing states to wring out every possible electoral vote, indifferent to most of America.
This is not the way our democracy should be functioning, with the votes of the majority of the population deemed inconsequential in important elections. This inequity was highlighted in the 2000 election with the victory of George Bush over Al Gore despite the latter having obtained more of the popular vote. Though the Founding Fathers were uneasy about giving too much power directly to the people, they could not have anticipated how presidential elections would eventually be conducted when they decided on the Electoral College as the method for choosing the president.
The men who produced the Constitution in 1787 were establishing a new form of government and had no way of knowing how every aspect would work and how America would evolve over time. But they were not foolish enough to believe the instrument they had created was perfect and immutable, and that changes would not be required in the future. Because of their foresight, they included a way to amend the Constitution to improve upon the document they had composed. However, to enhance the stability of the nation and its laws, the framers of the Constitution purposely made the passage of amendments politically burdensome.
Though it seems unfair that the will of the people can be thwarted in presidential elections, it has proven difficult to amend the Constitution to modify or eliminate the Electoral College as the arbiter of who is to become president. Conservative politicians and citizens of the smaller states, who have disproportionate power in this system, have been resistant to any change. And the populace of some of the swing states also seems satisfied with the current method, as it gives them heightened recognition and boosts their economies during the periods prior to the presidential contests.
However, there is a way to transform the process without a constitutional amendment, allowing citizens to elect a president of the whole United States by popular vote, instead of merely a president of the swing states. It’s called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). As of June 2012, eight states and the District of Columbia with a combined 132 electoral votes had joined this initiative. They had agreed that their electoral votes would be cast for the candidate who won the national popular vote, no matter who was victorious in their state.
If enough states pass this Compact to provide the 270 electoral votes required to elect a president, the popular vote would then determine who won the office. At that point, presidential campaigns would have to be waged nationally instead of focusing on the swing states. However, for the time being, the states that have signed the Compact will continue the present method of allotting their electoral votes until the 270 electoral vote total is reached. Then the agreement goes into effect.
Polls have consistently shown a strong majority of Americans in favor of the president being elected by popular vote, yet not enough legislatures have passed NPVIC to make it valid. Until that happens, we will continue to have a President of the Swing States of America sitting in the White House, instead of a President of the entire United States.
Resurrecting Democracy
A VietNam vet and a Columbia history major who became a medical doctor, Bob Levine has watched the evolution of American politics over the past 40 years with increasing alarm. He knows he’s not alone. Partisan grid-lock, massive cash contributions and even more massive expenditures on lobbyists have undermined real democracy, and there is more than just a whiff of corruption emanating from Washington. If the nation is to overcome lockstep partisanship, restore growth to the economy and bring its debt under control, Levine argues that it will require a strong centrist third party to bring about the necessary reforms. Levine’s previous book, Shock Therapy For the American Health Care System took a realist approach to health care from a physician’s informed point of view; Resurrecting Democracy takes a similar pragmatic approach, putting aside ideology and taking a hard look at facts on the ground. In his latest book, Levine shines a light that cuts through the miasma of party propaganda and reactionary thinking, and reveals a new path for American politics. This post is cross posted from his blog.
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020