Why did the Founders of the Constitution create the Electoral College? Why did they create a body of elites [electors] who actually decide who the President of the United States will be and who gets elected to the House of Representatives? Why haven’t we passed a constitutional amendment to rid ourselves of such an archaic institution?

The Founders understood intuitively in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia what we now know factually through research — that about 80% of humans are emotional creatures who do not vote according to logic and reason. To protect the people from themselves, the Founders created the Electoral College.

To do this, the electors would have to ignore the vote of the public and, instead, select a candidate who was best for the nation. Each state has given the political parties the power to decide the electors.

The Electoral College acts as a check on the power of the voters, but has been often used to favor one party over another through gerrymandering — creating biased voting district boundary lines for House seats.

The number of U.S. Representatives, plus two senators, determine the number of electors for each state. Washington state, for example, has 10 U.S. Representatives and two Senators, giving us 12 electoral votes out of 538.

Reality has shown us that the overwhelming majority of electors throughout our presidential election history have not had the courage to buck the popular will. In many states, it’s illegal for electors to vote contrary to the popular vote.

Amending the Constitution, according to Article V, and ending the Electoral College would require passage by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and three-fourths of the states to ratify. That is not likely to occur.

It continues to exist because the system gives attention to small, less populous states. If there were no Electoral College, candidates would focus on large populous cities, ignoring the rural areas. 270 electoral votes are needed to win a presidential election. This forces the candidates to campaign in all the states, large or small. Small states guard this attention jealously and would never give up their power to the popular vote if a constitutional amendment were proposed.

The Electoral College system encourages a “winner takes all” outcome, meaning that we will continue to have a two-party system. Third parties do not have much chance to win, but they can greatly affect the election’s result.

In this presidential election year, third parties are probably not much of an issue. Robert Kennedy Jr., a third-party candidate, decided to drop out and endorse Donald Trump. He may not be able to have his name withdrawn in some states, which could hurt Trump.

Over the past three and a half years, Republicans in several states have tried to suppress votes by falsely claiming extensive election fraud in the 2020 election.

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to punish those who are trying to get more people to register. The following was reported in USA Today, on Aug. 16, 2024:

• North Carolina, a swing state, “has a new voter ID law in place, that is the result of a court decision. … The government “moved up the deadline for returning the absentee ballot. An advocacy group found that about 1,100 people’s ballots were discarded because of this in the most recent primary.”

• “In Florida, what they do is their law is requiring more monitoring by election staffers. So in effect, because there’s only so much time in a day that you can get someone to actually staff and watch your drop box.”

• “In Ohio, [another swing state], they said that each county can only have one drop box. So that means that a county of a million people has as many drop boxes as a county with a much smaller population. And it might not be anywhere near where you live. We saw a lot of states implement these kinds of restrictions.”

• In Arizona, a swing state, “there’s a legal fight there over whether thousands might have to now show proof of citizenship before being allowed to vote in state elections.”

Trump’s 2020 claims of rigged and stolen elections brought about these Republican changes, not to further democracy, but to suppress and deny the right to vote.

It’s very likely that the Democratic candidate will again win the popular vote for president, as has been true since the 2008 election. It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is who wins the electoral vote count.

It’s uncertain who will win the majority in the House of Representatives. The Electoral College was designed to protect democracy, but could end up electing a dictator in 2024.

Voting matters.

Richard Elfers is a columnist, a former Enumclaw City Council member and a Green River College professor.