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3 - The Electoral College and Political Equality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

George C. Edwards III
George C. Edwards III
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
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Summary

The electoral college violates political equality. It is not a neutral counting device. The use of the unit-vote system, the allocation of electoral votes among the states, differences in voter turnout among the states, and the vagaries of the size of the U.S. House of Representatives allow the electoral college to favor some citizens over others, depending solely upon the state in which voters cast their votes for president. As a result, popular votes do not directly translate into electoral votes, and the candidate receiving the most popular votes may lose the election, as has happened twice in the twenty-first century. Thus, the electoral college is not just an archaic mechanism for counting the votes. It is an institution that aggregates popular votes in an inherently unjust manner. In addition, electors may violate their oaths to support their party’s candidates, and many U.S. citizens are disenfranchised.

Keywords

equalityelectoral collegeunit-voteelectoral voteselectors1876 presidential election1888 presidential election1960 presidential election2000 presidential election2016 presidential election
Type
Chapter
Information
Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America , pp. 45 - 78
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Suggested Readings

Calhoun, Charles W., Minority Victory: Gilded Age Politics and the Front Porch Campaign of 1888 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008).Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A., A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963).Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A., On Democracy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000).Google Scholar
Dershowitz, Alan M., Supreme Injustice: How the High Court Hijacked Election 2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).Google Scholar
Holt, Michael F., By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008).Google Scholar
Rawls, John, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelden, Charles L., Bush v. Gore: Exposing the Growing Crisis in American Democracy, 3rd expanded ed. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2020).Google Scholar

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