This is why we still have the Electoral College

The Electoral College is the system by which Americans elect their president every four years. When American voters go to the polls for a presidential election, they are actually voting for a slate of electors who have pledged to support a specific candidate. These electors cast their own votes, and the winner is elected to the presidency.

Two hundred years ago, the Framers incorporated the Electoral College into the United States Constitution, and to this day it remains one of the most controversial aspects of that document. But despite numerous attempts to reform or even abolish it, the Electoral College remains the mechanism by which Americans choose their president every four years. So why is it still around?

Alex Keyssar, Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, explores this subject in his latest book, "Why Do We Still Have The Electoral College?" The answer is not as straight forward as one might think, and in this video Professor Keyssar discusses the myriad reasons that we still follow with what he calls, "a process that does not conform to democratic principles the nation has publicly championed."

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About Harvard Kennedy School:

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Our mission is to improve public policy and public leadership across the United States and around the world so that people can lead safer, freer, and more prosperous lives. Harvard Kennedy School teaches current and future leaders the skills they need to effectively advance the public purpose in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Our renowned faculty and trailblazing research centers pioneer bold new ideas. And as the most international school at Harvard, we convene global leaders in the Forum, host visiting experts in the classroom, and attract a diverse community of faculty, students, and staff.

[mutopz]

The problem is not the allocation of votes based on the size of states population. That in itself is very common throughout the world. The issue is why does winning by a margin of 1% for say Texas, means winning all of the 38 electoral college votes. So the 49% of voters in Texas gets no representation and the 51% gets full representation.

[emsleywyatt]

We still have the EC because abolishing it would require consent of states that benefit from the disproportionate power that in confers.

[bgotura]

Is the "winner gets all" not the most critical problem? What would be the problem of allocating electors proportionally to the votes at a particular state?

[danielasiedu]

So if I'm a Republican living in California which is considered a safe Democrat state, why should I bother voting when I know my vote won't count?

[lpnelson]

If a majority of Americans disagreed with my policies, I would like the Electoral College as well. I think we all know whose policies are unpopular today.

[chefbarona]

Just another example of the US standing almost completely alone. The Electoral College, Govt healthcare, multiple yearlong campaigns & almost NO gun control are just a few things that make US the Stand out in the world(Definitely NOT for the better)!

[PeterSheridan-zq]

😊 as the foreigner my understanding was that the electoral college was meant to prevent the election of a That worked out well....

[keithtonkin]

You're right. No other country has copied the electoral college system. None would want to. When my country (New Zealand) decided to change their system as a result of the 1981 election when the winner had less votes than the opposition, a German model of proportional representation was adopted and in practice from 1996.

[sgr]

The president isn't the problem it's congress without terms

[petepierre]

The biggest issue is that the electoral votes does not relate to the population.
Why is an electoral vote in Alaska worth 240, 000 votes & 675, 000 in Arizona?

[nigelmansfield]

I look forward to the day when you the United States become a true democracy. Here, in Australia, each vote has equal value no matter which state we live in. Voting is compulsory for all citizens. We also have a form of proportional representation that attempts to ensure that the composition of a parliament reflects the will of the voters. The USA is stuck with a moribund 18th century system.

[keysautorepair]

Just ask Nancy Polosi she would know she has been in office for hundreds of years.

[johntracey]

It gives certain states and voters disproportionate power, just as an equal Senate does. That allows politicians from those states to extract benefits from the federal government.

[gregrogers]

Slavery & post-Reconstruction:

The longest, most destructive political hangover we all, many generations, have suffered.

[marquisstrongchild]

The reason we still have the electoral college is cos John Kerry lost Ohio in 2004. If he'd won Ohio, he would have been the 1st Democrat to lose the popular vote, but win the white house. At that point Republicans would have wanted to do away with it. And legislation would've happened that would've abolished it.

[mrzoinky]

What a joke of a system - the South will never want to relinquish the system

[robertpolityka]

What the video failed to neglect in the creation of the Electoral College is the need to keep the 13 states as a unified nation against the potential threat of being divided into "spheres of influence" by the major powers...The UK 🇬🇧 France 🇫🇷 and Spain 🇪🇸. Most of the people who lived in the states saw themselves as citizens of their states (if their state was an individual country), instead of being a US citizen.

[jeannovacco]

The United States was a union between independent autonomous States. Senators were not elected by popular vote in each state, but by state legislatures. It wasn't a personal popularity contest funded by election campaign donors.
This country was purposely not designed to be a pure democracy, because of the potential for the tyranny of the majority. The Electoral College gives power to the states in proportion to the number of people in each state.

If this idea is pushed through the next step will be to have people in the House of Representatives elected by popular vote Across the Nation
No accountability. No representation on local or Regional issues.

Just the way this question headlight is written is biased. ( Why are we "still" allowed to eat meat and not just eat bugs like the wants for us.)

The push for the elimination of the electoral college carries with it a whiff of a permanent Democratic power grab. Elections would be ENTITELY controlled by advtertisers on the monopoly of cable TV networks ( the donors praying for those advertisements).

When I look at this video, I consider the source.

The suspicious nature of this movement is exceeded only by that of ranked-choice voting, assistive which lends itself to be easily rigged and at least theoretically, even without shenanigans, could result in the election of a candidate who is no one's first choice.

[LVVMCMLV]

The system is flawed and favors states that don't pay their own way

[SISKCERTWaJaVlogs]

who feels like it favors republicans? just reeling