By Mike Matejka

With the recent Presidential election, Americans have rediscovered that quirky little Constitutional item called the Electoral College.  Although Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over 2 million, Donald Trump won the electoral college vote, and thus the Presidency.

The popular argument for the electoral college is that it protects the smaller states, by giving them not just an equal voice, but in some ways, a disproportionate voice.  At the time the Constitution was written, there was debate whether or not the Congress, the states or the popular vote should determine the Presidential race.   Two compromises came out of this debate – one, established a system of electors separate from Congress, who would vote for their state’s choice for President; secondly, the infamous 3/5 rules, which included non-voting slaves in a state’s population total, thus giving an electoral edge to the states where slavery was legal.

This has led to an often tumultuous history; because of the 3/5 rule, Virginia captured four of the five first Presidents in this country.  Now Pennsylvania, a non-slave state, had more voters than Virginia.  But by including non-voting slaves in their population count, Virginia had more Electoral College electors than Pennsylvania.

In 1800 there was a show-down in Congress between the supporters of Adams and Jefferson, after Jefferson won the popular vote, with Aaron Burr as Jefferson’s vice-president.  There was no vice-presidential slot on the ballot then, so the anti-Jefferson Federalists played games, assuming both Jefferson and Burr were running for President, leading to 35 deadlocked votes, until Alexander Hamilton came down in support of Jefferson.  And of course, those followers of Broadway musicals know that Burr later killed Hamilton.

In 1876, Samuel Tilden of New York, a Democrat, won the popular vote, with Republican Rutherford Hayes second.  But in four Southern states, both parties claimed they won.  In a compromise that would badly scar our racial history, Southern Democrats agreed to vote for Republican Hayes, provided federal troops were withdrawn from the South.  This left former slaves unprotected and their rights were quickly trampled, a travesty not repaired until the 1960s Civil Rights Act.

So what should it be, an electoral college or popular sovereignty?  In 2000, Gore won the popular vote, but lost to George Bush.  Now we have another election where the second-place finisher in the popular vote becomes the President.   Many are calling for the Electoral College’s abolition, which would require serious constitutional debate.  I’m not sure what the result would look like, but I always remember that the venerated Founding Fathers were not very fond of what they considered the unwashed rabble, thus we have an electoral college and a two-seat per State Senate that does not reflect where the majority of Americans live.   We are a democracy, but a democracy with some mighty odd twists and turns.

Mike Matejka is the Governmental Affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council, covering 11,000 union Laborers in northern Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. He lives in Normal. He served on the Bloomington City Council for 18 years, is a past president of the McLean County Historical Society and Vice-President of the Illinois Labor History Society.

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