The Electoral College Ensures That No One Is Elected as U.S.President Without a Broad Cross-section of Support
- Under the Electoral College system, it is not possible to become President without broad support from different regions of the country.
- Without the Electoral College, a candidate could be elected with deep support in a single region (or with strong support in the large metropolitan areas alone).
- By creating an incentive for candidates to build coalitions, the Electoral College reduces sectionalism and helps bind us together as a nation. This is critically important in a country as large and diverse as ours.
The Electoral College Encourages Finality and National Stability
- In U.S. presidential elections, the nation wide popular vote is often quite close. But, so long as the outcome in the Electoral College is clear, a close outcome won’t become a contested outcome.
- A national popular vote would create an incentive for losing candidates to litigate the outcome nationwide, as recounts in any jurisdiction could potentially change the result.
- The Electoral College encourages stability by discouraging recounts, except in the rare circumstance where the vote tally in a particular state could change the Electoral College outcome.
Any Change to U.S. Elections Should Be Made by Constitutional Amendment
- The U.S. Constitution prescribes the manner in which we elect our President. Our current electoral system can, therefore, only be altered by constitutional amendment.
- Nevertheless, a group called National PopularVote is attempting to do an end run around this requirement by convincing state lawmakers to give their state’s electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.
- Adoption of this interstate compact by enough states would destroy the constitutionally prescribed federal nature of U.S. presidential elections and render the amendment process meaningless.
Learn more about our Electoral College system HERE and listen to an interview with Electoral College expert Tara Ross HERE.
