Running head: ​The Abolishment of the Electoral College

The Abolishment of the Electoral College

Isabella Martillaro

March 26, 2019

Arizona State University

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Abstract

This paper is an investigative essay on the controversial topic of the abolishment of the

electoral college, including an annotated bibliography of the sources I used to gather my

information on the topic. The purpose of this paper is not necessarily to argue for or against the

amendment of the Electoral College but rather giving a look into both sides of the argument. I

intended to illustrate the benefits as well as the disadvantages the electoral college has on

modern-day presidential elections. I chose this topic because prior to my research I did not

understand why this issue was so widely debated. I wanted to gain a better understanding of this

topic in order to formulate my own opinion as well as educate others.

Keywords​: Electoral College, abolishment, controversial.

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Annotated Bibliography

Scholarly

APA Citation​: John D. Feerick, e Electoral College - Why It Ought To Be Abolished, 37

Fordham L. Rev. 1 (1968). ​h p://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ r/vol37/iss1/1

Summary: ​In this article by John D. Feerick, he gives a very opinionated approach to the

discussion of the abolishment of the electoral college. He starts by explaining how the American

election process is run, as well as the process of the electoral college. He also gives a brief

history into other elections were in the candidate who won the popular vote, lost the electoral

vote. He also describes how the process of having electors is an unfair system that should not be

included in the election process. Feerick states that there should be no barrier between the people

and the president, since the president is ​large a role in the affairs of our nation, that the president

should be elected by a method which assures fair and equal votes for all, meaning population rather than a

point system.

Evaluation: ​John D. Feerick is a law professor at Fordham University School of Law School in

New York City. He​ served a substantial amount of time as the school's dean from 1982 to 2002.

In 2004, ​Feerick​ was named to the Sidney C. Norris Chair of Law in Public Service. Frederick is

a credible source due to his history of education in political science as well as being the head

director of the Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution at Fordham Law School.

Although his article is opinionative, it helped me in finding substantial reasoning behind the

argument against the electoral college. ​Feerick​ ​provides valid and credible information in

backing up his argument as to why the electoral college needs to be abolished.

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Significant quotes:

● “Because the President plays so large a role in the affairs of our nation, it is all the more

essential that he be elected by a method which assures fair and equal votes for all and not

by a method which could operate to frustrate the workings of democracy, undermine the

office of President, and render suspect from the outset his administration” (p. 43).

● The philosophy behind the electoral college belongs to a bygone age.'"The college was

designed for an age when America was an agrarian society, when isolation, poverty and

illiteracy were common, when transportation and communication were in their infancy,

when the right to vote was severely restricted, when political parties did not exist, when

the principle of popular vote was not firmly established and when our leaders doubted the

capability of the people to choose the President” (p. 42)

APA Citation​: ​Heckelman, J. (2003). Now More Than Ever, Your Vote Doesn't Matter: A

Reconsideration. ​The Independent Review,​ ​7​(4), 599-601. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/24562564

Summary: ​This article written by Jac C. Heckelman gives a mathematical outlook into why the

electoral college is no equitable and why it makes the average American vote not count as much

as it would if the election process was determined by the popular vote. He uses examples and

statistics from the U.S. presidential election of 2000 to support his claim as well as giving a

simplified analysis of how the Electoral College is operated. He makes the claim that an

individual's vote only matters in very close elections. He supports this claim by legitimate

reasoning as well as mathematical formulations by James Kau and Paul Rubin.

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Evaluation: ​Jac C. Heckelman is an associate professor of economics and the McCulloch

Family Fellow at Wake Forest University. In 1994, He graduated from the University of

Maryland at College Park with a Ph.D. in economics. He is also the author of ​Readings in Public

Choice Economics, ​published in 2004. He is a credible source not only because of his substantial

amount of time spent as a college professor of economics and political science but also because

is his article he uses various other scholarly sources to support his claim. This article helped me

in writing my investigative essay by providing scientific evidence of the unfairness of the

electoral college rather than just opinionated reasoning.

Significant quotes:

● “In other words, the purely symmetric case of an exact tie (​m ​0) has the greatest possible

number of potential vot- ing combinations of any specific plurality differential and

consequently is more likely to occur than any other ​specific ​plurality differential.

Therefore, recounts do lower the efficacy of voting, but not for the reasons Bohanon and

Van Cott suggest” (pg. 601).

● “The controversy over recounts does lead to one additional insight. A vote matters only if

it affects the outcome, whether it does so by breaking a tie or, as Bohanon and Van Cott

argue, by triggering a recount. Thus, a vote matters only in very close elections” (pg.

601).

APA Citation​: ​Fitzharris, J. H. (2019, January 24). The United States Election System: How an

Outdated Electoral Structure has led to Political Polarization in the United States. Retrieved from

https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/w66348982
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Summary:​ ​ ​The United States Election System: How an Outdated Electoral Structure has led to

Political Polarization in the United States,​ ​Jacob H. Fitzharris illustrates the increased amount

of Political polarization in the United States in the last 25 years. He suggests that the main factor

for polarization level increases is because of the current election system in The United States

meaning the electoral college and the primary system. Fitzharris supports his claim that the

electoral college is outdated and has created political polarization by using various political

statistics and analytics such as graphs and surveys provided by reputable sources such as the ​Pew

Research Center for the People and the Press.

Evaluation: ​Jacob H. Fitzharris is a reputable source because he is a graduate of Political

Science and Psychology from The Oregon State University Honors College. I chose this article

because Fitzharris is very effective in supporting his claim that the electoral college is outdated

by providing scientific data of how it has increased political polarization as well as relating his

findings back to the 2016 election, which is the presidential election I focused my paper around

as well. This article aided me in writing my paper because his use of data gave physical proof of

the effects of the electoral college and was less bias than some of the other scholarly sources I

came across in my research.

Significant quotes:

● “A solution that could address each election system issue presented in this paper is the

following: rid the country of both the electoral college and districts and revert to the

caucus system for political parties; this solution would become the United States’ own

version of proportional representation. Each state would be one electoral zone and they

would vote on their elected officials through ranked-choice voting” (pg. 61)
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● “Group polarization happens when individual views become more extreme than they

were previously after a group discusses a topic, again causing individuals to inherit more

extreme views” (pg. 4).

Popular

APA Citation​: ​Wallison, P. J. (2016). Why We Need the Electoral College. Retrieved from

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/12/06/why_we_need_the_electoral_college_132

499.html

Summary: ​Why We Need the Electoral College​ ​is an article written by ​Peter J. Wallison for

RealClearPolitics. In this article, Wallison makes the claim that although the 2016 election has

raised the question of the necessity of the electoral college, it still is the fairest and feasible

election process from The United States of America. In his article, he states that ​if we abandoned

this process, and incorporated a new system in which a candidate could win the presidency with

popular votes we would be swamped with candidates. He supports his claim by explaining what

elections would be like without the Electoral College, and that partisan in politics exists for a

reason and should not be looked at as a negative aspect to the election process.

Evaluation: ​Peter J. Wallison is a lawyer and a member of the Financial Policy Studies at the

American Enterprise Institute. He is a credible source because he was White House Counsel

during the Tower Commission's inquiry into the Iran Contra Affair. He uses his background in

political science and law to support his claim that America needs the electoral college in order to

have fair and well ran elections. This article helped me in my research because it was difficult

finding articles in favor of the electoral college that were not redundant in making the same one
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argument. Wallison manages to take a different approach and has original arguments to support

his claim.

Significant quotes:

● “​But that could easily mean that the American people would have a choice between a

candidate of the pro-choice party and a candidate of the pro-gun party. If you thought the

choice was bad this year, it could be far worse.”

● “If we abandoned the Electoral College, and adopted a system in which a person could

win the presidency with only a plurality of the popular votes we would be swamped with

candidates. Every group with an ideological or major policy interest would field a

candidate, hoping that their candidate would win a plurality and become the president.”

APA Citation​: ​Guelzo, A. (2019). In Defense of the Electoral College. Retrieved from

https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/in-defense-of-the-electoral-college

Summary:​ ​In Defense of the Electoral College i​ s an article wherein Allen Guelzo discusses the

importance of the electoral college and why it is so easy to be against it if one does not truly

understand how the system works and the benefits of it. He is in favor of keeping the electoral

college in place and states that the Electoral College was designed to act as a brake on

over-mighty presidents and that it is implemented in order to ​protect the nation from the dangers

inherent in democracy. He supports his claim by giving in depth history of the electoral college,

why it was put in place as well as the benefits it still serves.

Evaluation: ​Allen Guelzo​ earned an MA and PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania

and joined the history department of Eastern University in 1991. He is a credible source because not
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only is he is a very well known historian be he also has a vast knowledge in political science as well

as American history. His article helped me in my research because in his article he recognizes the

flaws of the electoral college but also gives a reason as to why America benefits from this electoral

system. ​Guelzo provides a very unbiased outlook into the discussion of the Electoral College and

allows the reader to formulate their own opinion.

Significant quotes:

● “​ The Electoral College was designed by the framers deliberately, like the rest of the

Constitution, to counteract the worst human impulses and protect the nation from the

dangers inherent in democracy. The Electoral College is neither antiquated nor toxic; it is

an underappreciated institution that helps preserve our constitutional system, and it

deserves a full-throated defense.”

● “If anything, the Electoral College was designed to act as a brake on over-mighty

presidents, who might use a popular majority to claim that they were authorized to speak

for the people against Congress. And from that, we may well have a lot more to fear than

from the Electoral College.”

Primary

APA Citation​: ​Martillaro, R. M. (2019, March 30). Discussion of the Electoral College

[Telephone interview].

Summary: ​The following source is an interview I conducted with Richard Martillaro, where we

discuss the topic of the electoral college, as well as the current political climate America is

facing in 2019. This interview is with my father, so although he exceeds the requirements for

being a reputable source on the topic of politics, I had to remain unbiased throughout this process

in order to make my conclusion about the topic. Richard is unsupportive of the electoral college
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and believes it is no longer beneficial to the modern day election process. He supports his claim

by using ethical reasoning and discussing the negative effects the electoral college has had on

America is the past few decades.

Evaluation: ​Richard Martillaro is an attorney at law and is a political science major that

graduated from Chico State University, California, and a minor in history he attended McGeorge

School of Law, University of the Pacific in Sacramento. He is a reputable source due to his

education in political science and history. Richard is very persuasive in his claim by his use of

rhetorical questions that raised my speculation of the benefits of the Electoral College. This

interview helped me in writing my investigative essay because he broke down the electoral

college in simple terms, and he explained the pros and cons of the system.

Significant quotes:

● “Perhaps in the olden days, there could have been a stronger argument made for it, when

we were a much more rural society that didn’t have mass means of communication that

we do now. The electoral college in the simplest terms is old, obsolete, and outdated -it

needs to go. The past election is not the only instance of this happening, many argue that

it favors the Republican party”

● “I do not predict it will ever be fully eliminated, nationally at least. However, I do see

more states signing onto a bill similar to the popular vote bill Colorado has recently

passed. Where electors​ must use their electoral votes on whichever candidate wins the

national popular vote.”

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Investigative Essay

In 2016, The United States of America witnessed one of the most controversial

presidential elections of all time. Not only were the two candidates, Donald Trump and Hilary

Clinton, some highly contentious candidates, but the results caused an extreme amount of

violence and protests throughout America. With trump winning the Electoral vote by 77 and

Clinton winning the popular vote by almost 3 million, Americans question whether the Electoral

College is the most equitable election process for the United States. Many people believe the

electoral college is outdated and too partisan, while others believe that it is ​an equitable system

ensuring stakes in the election are proportional to each state​. The main stakeholders in this issue

are presidential candidates as well as the American people. This paper is an opportunity for the

reader to observe a perspective free from partisan bias that factually represents all sides of the

controversial topic.

The Electoral College is the American process of presidential election, that consists of

538 electors. Each state receives a particular amount of electors based on population size. In

order to keep the number of electors dedicated to each state up to date with the population, a

census is conducted every ten years where the number of electors either increases or decreases

according to the change in population. The principal reason this process was set forth to ensure

that a candidate could not trump the other simply because the regions of which they gain their

support has a higher population than others.

The 2016 election isn’t the first time a candidate has won the election without winning

the popular vote. ​John Quincy Adams​, ​Rutherford B. Hayes​, Benjamin Harris and George W.

Bush are all presidents who did not win the popular vote in their campaign. Many argue that the
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Electoral College gives an unfair advantage to the Republican party due to the recent collapse of

the Democratic farmer-labor coalition and the significance of the rise of the new upscale

minority coalition, this has resulted in Republicans receiving a larger amount of electoral votes​.

Another argument against the electoral college is that it is outdated and was much more effective

when America was a much more rural society that did not have the mass means of

communication we do now. In an article written by ​John D. Feerick, he claims the reasons which

motivated the Framers to create the electoral college no longer exist. He makes the argument that

the college was designed for an age when America was an agrarian society, when political

parties were nonexistent, when isolation, poverty and illiteracy were common, when

transportation and communication were not as advanced as it is now, and the right to vote was

severely restricted. The argument of popular vote deciding the outcome of an election was highly

unsupported because our leaders doubted the capability of the people to choose the President

(Feerick, 1968, pg. 42). Feerick makes a valid argument when he states that there should be no

barrier between the people and the president in the highly advanced society we live in now, since

the president plays such a large role in the affairs of our nation, the president should be elected

by a method which assures fair and equal votes for all, meaning population rather than a point

system.

Although The United States has surely advanced since the year 1787, there are still valid

arguments as to why the Electoral College is still needed in 2019. T​he Electoral College was

designed to act as a brake on over-mighty presidents and it is implemented in order to ​protect the

nation from the dangers inherent in democracy. In ​Why We Need the Electoral College b​ y ​Peter

J. Wallison, he explains what the election process would look like without the Electoral College
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and how it adds such an important structure. Wallison states, “If we abandoned the Electoral

College, and adopted a system in which a person could win the presidency with only a plurality

of the popular votes we would be swamped with candidates. Every group with an ideological or

major policy interest would field a candidate, hoping that their candidate would win a plurality

and become the president” (​Wallison, 2016​). Without the electoral college, this could easily

mean that the American people would have a choice between candidates that share very similar

viewpoints on very controversial issues. For example, this could result in the option of a

candidate of the pro-choice party versus a candidate of the pro-gun party. Partisan in politics

exists for a reason, and the Electoral College may have disadvantages but it does play a huge role

in the separation of ideas and beliefs.

There are valid and strong arguments for either side of the topic of the abolishment of the

Electoral College. ​Whether you believe it is outdated or that it is ​a fair system that benefits the

majority population of the states, it is apparent that some sort of reform is bound to take place

very soon. ​Colorado, along with the 11 other states have implemented a bill in which the states

allocate their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the nationwide popular vote. Overall,

my research has concluded that ​the Electoral College has a significant amount of benefits as well

as the disadvantages on modern-day presidential elections and it will be interesting to see what

the future has in store for The United States presidential election process.
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