EVERY VOTE COUNT

OR

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

There have been more than 700 attempts to get rid of the Electoral College and yet it survives. The only votes that count in the presidential elections are the 538 votes cast by members of the electoral college. So why should we bother to vote?

Principle #138

(From Article II.1.2)

The President and Vice President shall be chosen by the electors from each state. Each state will be entitled to the same number of electors as the sum total of its Representatives and Senators.

The decision on how our country would elect the President of the United States was not made carelessly. A long, meticulous debate preceded the final decision. The result of that debate was the carefully crafted system which we call the Electoral College. The founding fathers considered having the general public elect the President by a majority vote but there was a major difficulty with this idea.

Some states have a much smaller population than others, therefore the Presidential candidates would tend to play favoritism toward the more populated states.

It was their conviction that the scales should tip slightly in favor of the smaller states, because larger states have much greater advantages in nominating the candidates.

It had previously been decided that the fairest way to operate the legislative branch of Congress would be to allow each state to have two senators, thus being fair to each state, and a number of representatives in proportion to the population of each state, thus being fair to the population. It was then decided that if the same principle was applied to the electoral process, fairness would result. It should be emphasized that any argument made against the Electoral College can be made against the legislative branch of our government. Who would want the Senate abolished just because it does not represent the citizens as well as the House of Representatives? Why not do away with the Senate and allow all Americans to vote on all issues? When our senators vote, they vote for the citizens. When the Electoral College votes, it does the same thing, it votes for us.

Equality alone is not always in the voters best interest. Equality can produce an environment where the majority can abuse the minority such as it was in Hitler's chancellorship. The thing that protects the citizens in America from majority abuse is that the Electoral College spreads the voting power of our nation thickly throughout the country, state by state, and thus the vote of each individual is maximized.

If every individual’s vote counted exactly the same, the candidates would only need to cater to the large populated centers of our country. We do not want to make it easy for Presidential candidates to gather their votes. They need to get them in every locality, in every state whether it is large or small. With the Electoral College the candidates cannot ignore the rancher in Wyoming or the farmer in Idaho even though they are minorities. With the Electoral College, the candidates have to look at everybody, majority and minority, in every state, because with it even small numbers of votes can have a big influence on close elections.[1]

Sometimes we lose sight of the leaves because of all the trees. Sometimes it’s hard to see the value of a single vote when it is contrasted to the weight of millions of votes. Issues are often brought into focus when we reduce them to their smallest denominator.

What Made America Great?

What's so Great About America?

What Made America Great?
Chapter 3

The Persecution

The Dream for Freedom

Men Who Shaped America

Separation of Church and State

The Fall of America

The Cost of Freedom

A Warning to America

The Collapse of America

Hope for America

Appendix What Made America Great?