The Electoral College: Why Do We Do It This Way?

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🗓️ 3 November 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

The electoral college is a system unlike any other in American democracy. Why does it exist? Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah explored that question on a recent episode of NPR's history podcast, Throughline. Find them on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

NPR senior political editor and correspondent Ron Elving explains why more Republicans now support the electoral college — and whether that's likely to change.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You remember 2016.
0:02.0	The map slowly filling in.
0:04.0	Donald Trump creeping toward the magic number.
0:07.0	Look at how close he is. Right now he has 257th electoral votes he needs.
0:12.0	13 more, 270 to be elected president of the United States.
0:16.0	Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona, and eventually.
0:20.0	Right now a historic moment.
0:22.0	We can now project the winner of the presidential race, CNN projects.
0:26.0	Donald Trump wins the president.
0:28.0	Larry Clinton would end up with nearly 3 million more votes.
0:32.0	But the president is chosen by the electoral college.
0:36.0	So 80,000 votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin delivered the presidency to Trump.
0:42.0	Senator from California. Thank you very much.
0:44.0	Shortly after the election in 2016, Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, introduced a bill to throw out the electoral college.
0:52.0	We should do away with it and go to a system where the winner wins.
0:58.0	How unique.
0:59.0	Like hundreds of other attempts before, they went nowhere.
1:03.0	The winner wins. And the loser loses.
1:07.0	Later tonight, or tomorrow, or sometime in the next few weeks,
1:11.0	Joe Biden or Donald Trump will appear to have enough electoral votes to win the presidency.
1:17.0	The candidate who wins the most votes can still lose the election.
1:22.0	There isn't any elected office in the nation.
	...

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