Monday, June 10, 2019

Purple Hearts: US Electoral College Reform


At the heart of the current fight between the Trump administration and the Democratic party is the dispute about the legitimacy of electing a President that lost the popular vote.

Instead of trying to win through impeachment (as the GOP in opposition tried also with Clinton) or reforming the Constitution -which the Framers wisely designed to preserve smaller states right and requires an almost impossible two thirds majority- there is a simpler and fairer way: turning the election of states delegates for the Electoral College from "winner-takes-all" to some proportional system (I suggest checking the Swiss D'Hontd system also known in US as the Jefferson method) 

If each state were able to allocate electors for both parties in a proportional way there will be immediate benefits for both those who want a more "democratic" election and for those wot want a more "state-rights" representative one:

  1. Both states rights and majority rule would be better protected
  2. The reality of "purple" states (almost all) would be better reflected
  3. Candidates should campaign and visit all 50 states more often and more likely
  4. Voters in small and large states would feel treated more fairly.
  5. There would be less interest in using impeachment to uphold "legitimacy" claims, and less sore losers.

Who would have been elected if implemented in past elections? Just take a look and make up your mind. You might want also to check the Jefferson method.



Notice that in all close elections (2000, 2016) third parties would have made also a difference by becoming "king-makers" and forming coalitions.

That would also give those outside the two-party system more relevance and dilute extreme partisanship.

Rule of thumb: you know the system is fair when no partisan soul is happy with it.

No comments:

Post a Comment