Electoral College II

 
Alma Mater

Alma Mater, we hail thee
With loyal devotion
And bring to thine altar
Our off 'ring of praise

We love our college, but do we love the Electoral College?

The Electoral College was created  because the Slave States wanted to include slaves among the population that determines federal voting strength, but still wanted to control the vote of their slaves. The compromise was that federal voting strength was based an enslaved person being counted as 3/5 of a person, and the establishment of the Electoral College. Given that history, and the fact that slavery was abolished, does the  Electoral College serve any purpose today?

The Electoral College is also a reminder that the winner of a Presidential election also represents those states from which the winning candidate for President received no votes.The President represents not only all of the people, but he must represent ALL of the States as well. A President needs to be backed not only by a plurality of voters, but by a plurality of States as well.

The Electoral College membership is set as equal to the number of Congressional (House and Senate) seats,  plus a few electoral votes for federal districts and territories. It is arguable that the number of seats in the House, the largest share of Electoral College votes is out of whack, but that is a different matter and can and should be solved by a different process. https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2024/04/zero-sum.html. 

The problem is the size of the Electoral College, not the College itself.  Arguably, the Electoral College still serves a purpose and let us  bring "our off'ring of praise", and not call for its abolishment.