In the week after the presidential election (and in every preceding day over the course of the last few years), I have seen rampant misinformation spreading over social media in the aftermath of elections.
One particular topic sticks out as a source of misinformation.
The Electoral College.
Let’s set the record straight on a few things when it comes to the electoral college, the popular vote and the presidency.
Incorrect statement: "Al Gore lost the popular vote in 2000."
Nope. He won it.
The ticket of Bush/Cheney received 50,456,062 votes.
The ticket of Gore/Lieberman received 50, 996,582 votes.
Incorrect statement: "Mitt Romney won the popular vote in 2012."
That did not happen.
The ticket of Obama/Biden received 65,915,795 votes.
The ticket of Romney/Ryan received 60,933,504 votes.
Back to the present, Hillary Clinton's popular vote advantage marks the fourth such time a president (Donald Trump) has become the president-elect without winning the popular vote.
Andrew Jackson did so in 1824, defeating John Quincy Adams.
Rutherford B. Hayes did so in 1876, defeating Samuel Tilden.
Benjamin Harrison did so in 1888, defeating Grover Cleveland.
Another lesser-known fact, the Electoral College was created as part of a compromise. The founding fathers did not wish to put their full faith and confidence in the citizenry, and they also didn’t wish for too much political power to go to highly populated areas, so they ensured that there would be another step in place that allowed pre-selected electors to vote as the next step after the popular vote.
Now for something a little less factual.
In the days after the election, I have seen a lot of liberals complaining about the Electoral College. A big stink is being made about the fact that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but not the presidency. I think it’s only fair that many people don’t find the Electoral College system to be democratic.
But, for all of these people to come out of the woodwork now and call for an end to the Electoral College system seems desperate.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California) has even introduced legislation to amend the Constitution so as to end the Electoral College system.
Anyone who thinks this is plausible with a Republican-controlled House, Senate and presidency has surely not kept an eye on D.C. over the years and especially considering the last constitutional amendment (the 27th) was adopted in 1992 to solidify (virtually freeze) congressional pay until new terms started for said representatives.
Forgetting plausibility for a moment, I do find it ridiculous that a candidate can win the popular vote and not the presidency. I recall sitting in my dorm freshman year of college, wanting Barack Obama to win, and still being vocally perturbed at the idea of Obama possibly winning the electoral count but not taking the popular vote and still getting the presidency.
But as noted before, Obama did in fact win both.
I love many of the ideals the Constitution has inculcated in our culture. I have a pocket constitution sitting on my desk in front of me. But the men weren't infallible. Having said that, there are ideals that the framers tried to get across with their words so long ago.
One last thing that many of the framers of the Constitution believed? That political parties were a terrible idea.
Remember this often-quoted quip from George Washington?
“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards.”
Hindsight is a remarkable thing, isn’t it?