Origin of the Electoral College

Liberals don't like our Constitution. They say it's outdated and irrelevant, that the problems of today were not the same as the problems then. At the same time, they are using the freedom of speech guaranteed in the Constitution as the platform for making these comments. Seems hypocritical to me. The latest gambit is to eliminate the electoral college.

What they probably don't realize, or maybe they do, is the electoral college came out of a compromise that allowed the Constitution to be adopted in the first place. The same Constitution that gives them the freedom of speech to criticize the Constitution. The same Constitution that allowed the development of one of the greatest countries on the planet. We have always had our problems and will continue to have them, but that is no reason to throw the Constitution out with the trash.

During the original Constitutional Convention, everyone realized we needed a stronger central government than was provided for in the Articles of Confederation. The problem was how were the states and people to be represented. Large population states thought it best the representation be based on population (known as the Virginia Plan). Small population states thought it best if each state were represented equally (known as the New Jersey Plan). Neither side was willing to give in and support the other side putting the whole idea of a new constitution in jeopardy. It just wasn't going to happen.

The Constitutional Convention took a break over the July Fourth weekend. During the break, statesmen Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut came up with a compromise (known as the Connecticut Compromise). Instead of having one legislative body, why not have two? One part of the legislative body was based on population (House of Representatives) and the other part was based on each state being equally represented (the Senate). The legislative power would be shared and each could kill the desires of the other. In other words, new legislation had to pass in both legislative bodies. The natural outgrowth of this was an electoral college based on the number of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives for each state.

This compromise was accepted by both sides. The original number of Members of the House of Representative was established in the Constitution, but the first national census was completed shortly after George Washington took office as the President. The first national census demonstrates the problem the Constitutional Convention had. The census covered fifteen states with the four most populous states (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina) having 53.6% of the nations people. The four least populous states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Kentucky and Georgia) had only 7.8% of the population. The state with the largest population (Virginia) had 12.65 times more people than the state with the lowest population (Delaware).

It's no wonder the smaller states wouldn't agree to join the federation when four states could drive what happens in all fifteen states. Now flash forward to today. We have fifty states, we now have a population of over 327 million people (2018 estimates) versus 3.6 million. Our most populous state (California) has more the 68 times as many people as our least populous state (Wyoming). The problems in place while the Constitution was being developed are still here today, only worse.

Nine out of fifty states now make a majority of the population (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina). Even with the electoral college eleven states still make up a majority of the electoral votes. In contrast, grouping the smaller population states takes 41 states to elect a president. The electoral college helps but not a great deal. The same arguments that well over 200 years ago threatened the adoption of the Constitution are threatening to destroy the union today. Smaller states won't accept being governed by the more populous states. Sooner or later they will be making their way out, one way or another.

It probably is time we adjust the electoral college. Let's change it to give smaller states more voting power, not less. It would be easier to get the necessary state approvals for a constitutional amendment to base the electoral college just on the number of Senators making each state equal. In the event of a tie, the House of Representatives could decide who is president. When liberals put forth ideas to ensure their way of governance, conservatives should start coming back with alternative proposals just as harsh but in the other direction.

Sources and further reading:
HOW CONNECTICUT COMPROMISED THE POPULAR VOTE
How the Great Compromise and the Electoral College Affects Politics Today
2018 National and State Population Estimates
Distribution of Electoral Votes