Majority vs. Electoral: Is Political System Speaking for Majority of Voters?
Is the political system adhering to the mindset of the vast majority of voters?
By Rev. Dr. Harold E. Bailey
Founder and President of Probation Challenge and the PCC Network
Once upon a time U.S. citizens were complacent that the majority population vote would count! Well, some citizens are living in the past and the majority no longer rule! In the event you are not aware, the majority vote doesn’t count! Truth is there are select delegates rendering decisions for the majority.
What’s the difference in today’s vote opposed to the past? Strangely, many don’t know what the difference constitutes, or why there ever was a change! Tax payers decided to leave what was considered trivial matters to politicians… and that may not have been the wisest thing to do!
Rev. Harold E. Bailey, president of Probation Challenge, suggested recently, that youth and elders should know the current process of our government in the selection of a United States President verses an electoral process. We must remember that African American, Hispanics are not acquainted with the process of school, or the voting process!
Bailey said, “The world has drastically changed and because of the lacking in the United States educational process, much has escaped the eyes and ears of the African American and Hispanics communities. It’s time to become re-educated and fast! In my dialog with youth, I’ve observed that our street minded youth are not fully aware as to our historical yesterdays opposed to this present dispensation. I’m hastening to point out that this is not a mistake for those who devised such a devise! However its past- times to reconsider the will of the masses of people and not merely a few select persons to rule as in the Slavery era”.
Bailey spoke of a former student who graduated from Probation Challenge and now ministering. He said “This young man recently contact me and ask that I come out of retirement and stand in the mist of gang-bangers to teach them the spiritual principles that brought him successfully through the ranks. My response was that I after prayer and much consideration would return his call for help. If these same youth who are asking for help… knew by the stretch of their imagination that the powers-that-be were wearing them out from the political sector… they would multiply in numbers at the polls.
If in-fact taxpaying citizens and gang-bangers would gather in large numbers at the polls it would constituted as a large popular vote-count, but in certain states would their votes count?” Bailey said the action was politically cunning and full of craftiness.
In a presidential election, the popular vote simply means a combined collection of all voters from all states in America. It is quite possible that a candidate wins the popular vote (gets more votes over all) and yet loses the presidential election. This is because although Americans vote directly for their chosen candidate in the presidential election every 4 years, the president is elected by the institution called the Electoral College. Do we want this in selecting a president?
A good example: In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney won 48% of the popular vote but only 38% of the electoral vote.
The Electoral College
There are 538 total electors in the Electoral College, who are chosen by each state of the United States and by the District of Columbia (but not by other territories like Puerto Rico). The number of electors for a state is based upon the voting membership of that state in Congress i.e. the number of representatives in the House plus the number of senators. There are a total of 435 Representatives and 100 Senators in Congress; so along with 3 electors from the District of Columbia that brings the total number of electors to 538. A presidential candidate needs 270 (just over 50%) electoral votes to win. Do we want this in selecting a president?
How Electoral Votes are Awarded
In all states except Nebraska and Maine, electors are awarded on a winner-take-all basis. This means all electors/delegates in a state are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in that state. So in a closely contested election like 2000 (Bush v. Gore), when George Bush won Florida with a roughly 50-50% split of the popular vote in that state, he won all 27 electoral votes for Florida. Maine and Nebraska use a slightly different method for allocating electoral votes. In the “Congressional District Method”, one elector within each congressional district is selected by popular vote in that district. The remaining two electors (representing the 2 U.S. Senate seats) are selected by the statewide popular vote. This method has been used in Nebraska since 1996 and in Maine since 1972. Do we want this in selecting a president?
Disadvantages of the Electoral College
Critics of the system that uses the electoral vote to choose a president argue that the system is unfair. They say that the system is undemocratic because the number of electoral votes is not directly proportional to the population of the state. This gives smaller states a disproportionate influence in presidential elections. For example, Hawaii has a population of only 1.36 million but has 4 electoral votes while Oregon has a population 3 times that size (3.8 million) but only 7 electoral votes. If the power of a single vote were calculated in terms of number of number of people per electoral vote, states like New York (519,000 people per electoral vote) and California (508,000 people per electoral vote) would lose. The winners would be states like Wyoming (143,000 people per electoral vote) and North Dakota (174,000 people per electoral vote).
Another criticism is that the electoral vote system does not penalize a state for low voter turnout or for disenfranchising its citizens (such as convicted felons, or, historically, slaves and women) The state gets the same number of votes regardless of whether voter turnout is 40% or 60%. In a popular vote, states with higher turnout will directly increase their influence in the outcome of the presidential race.
Yet another criticism is that it discourages voters in states where one party holds a substantial majority i.e. Republicans in typically blue states like California or Democrats in red states like Texas. Since electoral votes are awarded on a winner-take-all basis, even a significant minority of contrarian votes will not make any impact on the outcome of the election. On the other hand, if a popular vote were to be used then every single vote has an impact.
Advantages of the Electoral Vote over a Popular Vote
Supporters of using the electoral vote argue that it protects the rights of smaller states and is a cornerstone of American federalism. States can design their own mechanism — without federal involvement — for choosing their electors.
Another advantage is that the impact of any state-level problems, such as fraud, is localized. No political party can commit large-scale fraud in any one state to dramatically influence an election.
It should be noted that the Electoral College merely follows from state influence in Congress, which enacts laws and acts as an inherent checks-and-balances mechanism for the president’s administration. That is to say representation for various states in Congress is also not directly proportional to their population.
Different Winners of Electoral and Popular Vote
The biggest criticism of the electoral vote system is that it is possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote and lose the electoral vote. That is, more Americans voted for the candidate but he or she still lost. While this is rare, it has happened 4 times:
• George Bush (electoral vote winner) vs. Al Gore in 2000: Al Gore won the popular vote by 543,816 votes
• Benjamin Harrison (electoral vote winner) vs. Grover Cleveland in 1888
• Rutherford B. Hayes (winner) vs. Samuel J. Tilden in 1876: Tiden won the popular vote by 264,292 votes
• John Quincy Adams won the electoral vote in 1824 but lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson by 44,804 votes in 1824
Popular Support for the Electoral College
A Gallup poll in January 2013 found that a vast majority of Americans would prefer to do away with the Electoral College for presidential elections.
Now, I ask the voting public… after reading all the confusing data and watching the confusion on television with various presidential candidates … who are you most likely to vote for?
And, if your candidate has the large majority of votes… who really wins?
For more information, contact: Rev. Harold E. Bailey, Founder and President of Probation Challenge and the PCC Network
WWW.mrheb@aol.com – 773.978.3706.
