Very few Americans defend the system we have for electing the President of the United States. Is it any surprise?

In 2016, for the second time in this young century, the candidate who received more votes from the American people did not become our President. The reason: the people do not elect the President. Rather, the people choose members of the Electoral College, who then elect the President.

The Electoral College is comprised of 538 individuals, nominated by political parties in each state, then elected by the American people, on a state by state basis. In almost every state, every member of the Electoral College in that state is pledged to vote for one specific candidate (the nominee of his or her party), which is the candidate who won the majority of the popular votes in that state. And every Elector is pledged to that candidate, whether the candidate won that state’s popular vote by a margin of 3 votes or 3 million votes. Every voter in that state who did not vote for that state’s winning candidate is effectively disenfranchised: his or her vote means nothing.

And that is why so many Americans are fed up with the Electoral College: for too many people, the vote they cast for President (or so they think they cast for President) is meaningless. 

Why do we have an Electoral College?

The Founders who wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787 were not fans of democracy. They didn’t like government by kings, but they didn’t necessarily think that meant regular citizens should have much influence in self-governing either. So when they discussed how the new government should select the single most powerful individual at the federal level – the President – they did not trust citizens with that choice. Rather, they thought that the “wisest” people in each state were best suited to choose a President for us. Therefore, they created the Electoral College as a way to prevent “too much democracy” in the new national government.

But it is not 1787. Our beliefs about democracy and the rights of citizens to be actively involved in our government have evolved significantly beyond the beliefs of the Founders. For instance, the very same Founders could only agree that an African American slave should be counted as three-fifths of a person (and certainly should not be considered a citizen!). Obviously, we rejected long ago the immoral, inhumane and undemocratic idea of the three-fifths compromise. For the same reason, the American people today reject the undemocratic idea of the Electoral College.

Poll after poll proves that the American people are fed up with the Electoral College. For nearly 50 years, national polls have reported that a majority of Americans favor electing the President by popular vote rather than retaining the ancient Electoral College. The voices for reform have resounded for years.

Now is the time to do something about it. Now is the time for the American people to take democracy into their own hands and abolish the undemocratic Electoral College.
But while American citizens across the board are ready for change, a few powerful special interests stand against us. For these powerful interests, the Electoral College creates a vehicle to influence and control the selection of the President. It is not enough that the American people want change. They are going to have to fight for it.

That is the purpose of Count the Majority. By joining us, you are adding your voice to the national movement to abolish the Electoral College. You are part of the solution.

We cannot change democracy without the active support of the very citizens who feel so disenfranchised. Our moment is now. Your moment is now.

We hope you will join us and move American democracy into the twenty-first century.

Sign me up!