Why the Electoral College?
The mess in Florida has raised the question, Why the Electoral College? Good question. This page of links, historical arguments, editorials, and other insightful information will arm you with plenty of food for thought.
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president.” Theodore Roosevelt
A Dinosaur Worth Saving
Nov. 19, 2000: “As we all vent our anger in the wake of the ongoing electoral imbroglio, the Electoral College has emerged as a favorite target for our frustrations. For only the third time in American history, but for the first time in over a century, the prospective winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral vote. The voice of the people has been filtered through that political squawk box called the Electoral College and yielded an ‘undemocratic’ verdict.”Groundhog Day
Nov. 17, 2000: In 1960, the Electoral College’s final tally wasn’t known until January.Electoral College Has Endured
Nov. 14. 2000: When Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her first act as senator-elect from New York, called for the abolition of the Electoral College, there was a mini-storm of controversy. But the idea of abolishing the Electoral College appears neither far-out nor radical – it is approved by a majority of Americans, 61 percent to 35 percent, according to the latest CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll.The Electoral College: Even More Important Now
Nov. 13, 2000: Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton was correct when she said in Albany, New York, “I hope no one is ever in doubt again about whether their vote counts.” Indeed, citizens should make their votes count, but they also have a responsibility to become informed and vigilant in exercising that civic duty. She is quite wrong, though, when she states the premise that “we are a very different country than we were 200 years ago,” and therefore she believes “strongly that in a democracy we should respect the will of the people and to me that means it’s time to do away with the Electoral College and move to the popular election of our president.”The Coming Gore Air War
Nov. 9, 2000: Gore wins the popular vote. Bush wins the electoral vote. That’s what’s likely. And now Gore will spend the rest of that DNC soft money of his in the campaign of his life to subvert the Electoral College. You didn't think he was just going to take this lying down, did you? The Democrats are about to launch their biggest, dirtiest campaign in modern history. This is the one that you’ll tell your grandkids about.No, the System Worked
Nov. 9, 2000: “Let there be no mistaking what happened Tuesday: Our system of constitutional democracy worked well. It is a system of representation, and it has, with splendid precision, represented the strengths of the parties, and hence the division in the public mind. There exists between the parties a parity not known since the last quarter of the 19th century, when five consecutive elections produced plurality presidents. Tuesday the nation elected its third consecutive president with less than a popular vote majority. Whoever he is, he earned the job.” By George Will for the Washington Post.It’s Happened Before
Nov. 9, 2000: “If everyone’s votes are cast in a national pot, then in a close election any fraudulent vote anywhere, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters, is potentially valuable. There will be ‘motor voter’ registration at border crossings. The distribution of cigarette cartons at homeless shelters, reported in Wisconsin this time around, will become a Big Tobacco industry all of its own. The dead shall be raised. Dirty pool is a tradition as old as the Framers. Their safeguards should not be lightly cast aside.”Does Al Gore Dream of Electoral Sweeps?
Nov. 2, 2000: The game [the candidates] are playing is an old one, with rules set down long ago. Since the eighteenth century, there have been more than seven hundred attempts to rewrite or eliminate them. Still, the game hasn’t changed much since 1804. At MIT, however, there is a man who claims to have uncovered the scientific laws that he says make the electoral college scheme brilliant, subtle, and complex. His conclusions run counter to what most of us think about the electoral college, but if he’s right, they may have more of an impact in next Tuesday’s hotly contested presidential race than in any other.Math Against Tyranny
A 1996 Discover magazine article by Will Hively, archived at the EC website, explains why the electoral college system protects the country from tyranny gaining a foothold.EC, The U.S. Electoral College Web Zine
Lots of useful information understanding the electoral college system of electing the president of the United States. If George W. Bush wins the electoral college vote while not winning the popular vote, it will be the third time in history it has happened. EC maintains an explanation of the other two races: Tilden’s in 1876, and Cleveland’s in 1888.