Articles

Those who want to abolish the Electoral College claim that every vote should count, and at the same time they are proposing that the votes of their own state could be negated entirely if they joined a coalition of 271 electoral votes and agree to cast their electoral votes for the popular vote winner despite their own state’s wishes. The Electoral College makes sure that, win or lose, every voters' decisions within their states are heard, and it also insures that their state reflects the will of the voters within the state. Also, nothing requires a state to allocate all of its electoral votes to one candidate. State laws have created the winner take all scenario. States can divide their electoral votes by district or by proportion if they choose to do so, and it still satisfies the requirements of the Electoral College. Without the Electoral College, any state could actually nullify the results of their own in-state election and represent the outcome of another state. One could ask, why have states at all? This was the argument of federalists vs. anti-federalists when the Constitution was ratified, where some fought to strengthen the federal government and others sought to protect the rights fo states. The Electoral College clearly limits federal authority by maintaining state control and input in the selection of the presidency, even if it overrides the national popular election because every voice and every state should have input in the selection, not just heavily populated states that have chosen winner-take-all in their electoral college.