Do You Understand the Electoral College? | 5 Minute Video

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert Tara Ross does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.

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Script:

I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.

Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.

To explain why requires a very brief civics review.

The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.

Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?

The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.

The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.

They implode.

Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.

This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.

And, it's why we have the Electoral College.

Here's how the Electoral College works.

The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.

On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.

Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.

Why is this so important?

Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.

Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.

But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?

But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?

Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.

California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.

[FredMunkachy]

I'm afraid they are not teaching this in school any more!

[DougCrowe]

I was confused about this and on the surface, it seemed quite unfair. After watching this, It seems our founding fathers knew our country was diverse and did something a bit awkward, but purposeful to preserve the republic. This is DEFINITELY worth the 5 min.

[serenaw]

It literally took this video for me to understand the electoral college cause they don’t teach this in school

[terrencerogan]

Ask Socrates what he thought about a pure democracy!

[atomiccracker]

I learned this when I was a kid in the early 70's...I dont think its taught in school anymore and I heard a teacher a while back, explain the EC wrong, so its possible that they arent educated either

[BdR]

This skips over the winner-takes-all method, which is the most important aspect.
First of all it blocks any 3rd party from ever breaking through, so you're practically stuck with a two-party system.
More importantly, if in California the outcome is 65% democratic votes and 35% republican votes, then effectively ALL 55 electoral votes go democratic. For all intents and purposes this nullifies 35% of the votes, how can you call that 3:58 "every voter in every state is important"?

[mikewearyart]

This is missing a few key points. Main one being that the electoral college doesn't have to vote consistent with its state's popular vote.

[vmark]

This is what every school district SHOULD teach their students. So when some liberal opens their mouth and say, "we should get rid of the electoral college" they should watch this video. This method works both ways not just when the republicans win.

[kayavi]

It's to protect us from ourselves! Thank God for the founding fathers

[-FIREKAT-]

Ok, so i'm super thankful we have this, I understand it better now and it can save rural america as we have seen.

[jamescollins]

This was very informative. I always felt that the EC was better than a direct vote; now I have a better understanding as to why. Thank you.

[Cholita.]

I watched this for the 2016 elections and I’m here again for this years election. I’m sure I’ll be back again in 4 years. I’m a naturalized US citizen and this is always confusing but makes sense

[j.danaclark]

Yup! The Liberals here in Canada figured out long ago that they only really have to worry about Quebec and Ontario to get a majority government. And right now the Liberal party is pushing through "electoral reform" and from all appearances they are pushing through a system that will favor them for a majority out come even more often because they now hold a majority government. they also refuse to hold a referendum despite roughly 75% of Canadians wanting one.

[dwaynecarroll]

Notice the post date. Way before the 2016 election.

[domadordepollosmm]

"Pure democracies do not work"

Prager.

[cherylsimmons]

I appreciate you breaking it down. I finally have a better understanding. The thing is, this need to be taught in school, right along with history. Thank you.

[janglechimp]

This is the BEST Electoral Video Explanation out there. We do NEED this system. Majority Rule is a bad thing.

[abcd]

"Isn't the election only about the so-called swing states? No, because the swing states are constantly changing." That's a complete non-sequitur. Just because the swing states are 'constantly changing' still means that any given election is about the swing states of that particular election.

[fathertime]

Civics used to be taught in the USA. It disappeared about the same time common sense disappeared.

[maureentuohy]

I’m a little frustrated. I’m a “Deplorable” who lives in a blue state! 🙁