Electoral College Assures Equal Representation

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, January 27, 2012
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Twice in recent years a bill has been introduced to eliminate the Electoral College and elect the President of the United States by national popular vote. While that may seem like a good idea, the Electoral College was part of the great compromise that made a constitutional republic out of a bunch of rival colonies. It brought together big states and little states through a national Congress based on equal representation of the states in the Senate, regardless of population, and unequal representation in the House of Representatives, based on unequal populations in the states.

If it weren’t for the Electoral College, presidential candidates wouldn’t bother to campaign in sparsely populated areas. They would spend all their time wooing voters in the most densely populated places that could propel them into the White House. They wouldn’t need votes from outlying areas or small towns or rural communities.

Actually, the Electoral College is the only function of national government that’s performed outside of Washington, D.C. This is how it works. No senator, representative or other federal official is permitted to be an elector in the Electoral College, but the president is elected by electors chosen in their states according to their own state election laws. After electors are chosen, they meet and cast their ballots in their own state capitals. Therefore, all states, regardless of size, participate equally in the process of electing our president.

But, the Electoral College has been targeted for extinction. H.B. 667 was introduced January 9th, but was put “in the hopper” the last day of the 2011 session to be handled this year. If/when the cumulative electoral votes reach a majority in states (and D.C.) that pass legislation identical to H.B. 667, a popular vote election for the U.S. President and Vice President could be forced, to totally change the election process for the two most powerful officials in the U.S.

If identical bills were to pass, each member state would conduct a state-wide popular election for President and Vice President of the United States and the most populous states would control the offices of president and vice president. That’s NOT the American way. H.B. 667 must be defeated! Please call the House Governmental Affairs Committee chairman at 404 656-5132* and ask him to hold that bill in his committee. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.