An Obsolete Institution: A Case For the Abolishment of the US Electoral College

President-elect Donald Trump won the presidential election by a landslide, beating Hillary Clinton 306 to 232 in electoral votes. However, a major cause for concern is that Trump lost the popular vote by about 2.5 million votes. The fact that Trump won despite receiving less support than Clinton has reignited the debate about whether or not we should abolish the Electoral College. In my opinion, this election has demonstrated that the college is an archaic institution and future elections should be decided by the popular vote.

One of the main reasons the Electoral College should be abolished is that under this current system, some votes count more than others. For example, as explained by fairvote.org, on average, a state is given one electoral vote per 565,166 people. However, the state of Wyoming has three electoral votes and only 532,668 citizens. Thus, each of Wyoming’s three electoral votes corresponds to 177,556 people. This goes against the democratic foundation of our country, where each person’s vote has equal value and representation.

Another problem with the Electoral College is the “winner take all” design of the College. A candidate can win the state by a single vote yet win all of the electoral votes for that state. What results are millions of wasted votes, particularly in Democratic or Republican strongholds like California and Texas. People feel that their votes do not mean anything in determining the winner of the state, thus many do not even bother voting. Furthermore, with the “winner take all” system, a recent study indicates that a candidate can win just 22% of the popular vote and win the election, which is an insult to representative democracy.

Finally, a significant problem with the Electoral College is that people do not actually vote for their candidate, they merely suggest for whom the electors from their state should vote. Thus, the power rests in the hands of the electors, not the American people. The power that the electors possess actually gives them the ability to change the results of the election, a cause championed by 4.7 million “Not My President” supporters on Change.org, where a petition seeks to change the winner of the 2016 election from Trump to Clinton based on the 2.5 million difference in the popular vote. However, this is a problem because the people never voted the electors as their representatives. In fact, these electors are chosen by political parties in the state.

Overall, the recent election has shown the numerous flaws in the Electoral College system. The college should be abolished and replaced with a popular vote, thus there will never be any doubt or question on whether or not the elected candidate was chosen by the “will of the people”.