George Will has published this column, opposing Pennsylvania SB 1282, the bill to let each U.S. House district choose its own presidential elector. The column also opposes the National Popular Vote Plan bill.
Will implies, but does not directly say, that the founding fathers wouldn’t like the Pennsylvania bill. Historical evidence contradicts that conclusion. In the very first presidential election, 1789, both Virginia and Massachusetts, homes of the first President and first Vice-President, held popular votes for presidential electors in which each U.S. House district chose its own presidential elector. Delaware, which only had one U.S. House member, split itself into three electoral college districts and let each district choose its own elector. In Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Carolina, the legislature chose the electors. Three states didn’t choose any presidential electors because they hadn’t ratified the Constitution in time. The only states that chose presidential electors by popular vote at-large were Maryland, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
Will is also unconvincing when he opposes the National Popular Vote Plan bill. He says the National Popular Vote Plan provides that the president would be elected by a majority vote. This is not true. Currently, the winner of the presidential election frequently only has a plurality, and that would continue to be true under the National Popular Vote Plan. Presidents elected without a majority vote in the past fifty years include Richard Nixon in 1968, Bill Clinton in both 1992 and 1996, and George W. Bush in 2000.
As I predicted earlier, the addition of California to the states signing on to the compact would cause the great Republican message machine to kick into gear.
So Jimbo, take comfort – help is on the way!
George says,”Winner-take-all allocation of states’ electoral votes enhances presidential legitimacy by magnifying narrow popular vote margins.” – which is INCORRECT. It just upsets people when they look at the color map of county results.
Stick to your loser Cubs baseball team, loser George Will.
As George Will often likes to say “One is entitled to one’s own opinions, but not one’s own set of facts.”
Unless, of course, you’re George Will.
Virginia used 12 electoral districts, which were distinct from the 10 congressional districts. Generally, States that did not elect electors at large used districts other than congressional districts. The system used by Maine and Nebraska is very much a modern innovation.
New York didn’t choose electors because they were incompetent. If New York had not ratified the Constitution, it is unlikely that the 1st Congress would have met in New York City. After New Hampshire became the 9th State to ratify the Constitution (the requirement set out for it to go into effect), the Continental Congress waited until Virginia and New York ratified before actually setting into motion the election calendar (they knew for the Constitution to work, the Big 4 had to participate). Had they not
waited, election day might now be in October.
Will is also wrong about John Kennedy winning the popular vote in 1960.
It is interesting that your link was to a Canadian newspaper. In Canada, the prime minister is chosen by a system that is quite similar to that proposed in Pennsylvania for choosing the president.
Jim,
Thanks for pointing that out. Upon a second look, the Constitution does not mandate that the two electors allotted for U.S. Senators be elected at large. It leaves that decision up to the states. This now solves the crowded ballot problem. Instead of each party placing three presidential electors on the ballot for each Congressional district, separate Elector districts like Virginia had mean we’re back to one candidate per party. But it creates a new problem of gerrymandering those new districts. Wonderful!
ABOLISH the EVIL minority rule gerrymander Electoral College — and ALL other minority rule gerrymander systems.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
WHAT is the EVIL fixation for some folks about the Prez/VP Electoral College — one of the EVIL compromises from Hell at the 1787 top secret Federal Convention by the EVIL party hacks — even as amended by the EVIL 12th Amdt ???
Stone Age gerrymander math —
1/2 votes x 1/2 gerrymander areas (States/districts) = 1/4 CONTROL = Oligarchy.
How STUPID are New Age media math MORONS — having been mostly in rotted- to- the- core publik skooooools ???