Should Electoral College Finally Graduate?

Many people accept the Electoral College system of presidential election as divine wisdom, revealed by the genius of our founding fathers. In fact, according to a new article in the weekly web magazine News Informant, it was the result of much compromise and a misunderstanding about how these elections would actually take place. The result was a system that failed almost immediately. An early constitutional amendment changed little, and the U.S. has been saddled with this undemocratic system ever since, despite vast changes to voter eligibility and democratic philosophy in the intervening two and one-quarter centuries.

Chicago, IL (PRWeb) September 10, 2004 -- According to the News Informant article, titled Is It Time For The Electoral College To Graduate?" when the founding fathers met in at the constitutional convention in 1787, many members favoring a monarchy. As a compromise they established a strong executive that would be indirectly elected by a group of elected elites, known as the Electoral College. They wanted to avoid political parties, as they had seen in Great Britain. They had hoped that the Electoral College would lead to election of elites who would make individual decisions about candidates," say News Informant editor Bernard Perlstein. Instead, almost from the beginning, electors represented political parties and uniformly supported the candidates from their own party," he added. This aspect of electors still remains.

This led to a fiasco in the election of 1800. In the system specified by the U.S Constitution, electors were given two votes each, and the second place candidate would be vice president. When all of the electors from Thomas Jeffersons majority Republican Party voted for both Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the Electoral College was deadlocked and the election was thrown in the House of Representatives, where then -- as today -- each state has exactly one vote. The constitution was quickly amended to require separate votes from the Electoral College for president and vice president, but no other changes have been made since.

Yet many other changes to the U.S. electoral system have been made in the past two-plus centuries. The Electoral College system was never intended to be democratic," Perlstein remarked. Our electoral system has become more democratic since the Constitution was first enacted, but not the Electoral College system," he added.

In the past two centuries or more, first people without property were gained suffrage, then two constitutional amendments enabled blacks and women, respectively to vote. And the franchise was even extended to those between 18 and 21 years of age. In the early 20th century, an amendment specifying our current system of direct election of U.S. Senators was ratified.

Only the presidential election is still a system of indirect election," Perlstein commented. With the U.S. pushing the idea of democracy worldwide, isnt it time to enact a democratic system of selecting our own chief executive?

The News Informant original article in its entirety, and its sources, can be found on the web at: http://www.newsinformant.com/articles/2004_09_06/000780.php. A free registration is required to view the article.

To request a free copy of the article, or to obtain reprint rights or other use of the article, please contact Media@newsinformant.com.

About News Informant Inc.

News Informant Inc. publishes News Informant, a weekly U.S.-based web news magazine focusing on news analysis of important domestic and global issues that are not sufficiently covered by the U.S. media. The magazine uses primarily respected worldwide online source material to render original information and perspectives. The periodical follows the slogan, Its Not Just the News -- Its Whats Behind the News."

Note that News Informant is a registered trademark of News Informant Inc.

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http://www.newsinformant.com

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