--- title: 3 Arguments for Keeping Electoral College Are All Wrong description: The winner-take-all system explains why one candidate can get more votes nationwide while a different candidate wins in Electoral College. canonical: https://time.com/4571626/electoral-college-wrong-arguments/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-15T18:00:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:45.569Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These 3 Common Arguments For Preserving the Electoral College Are All Wrong og:description: The winner-take-all system explains why one candidate can get more votes nationwide while a different candidate wins in Electoral College. og:url: https://time.com/4571626/electoral-college-wrong-arguments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt184c4ffce9bb0ddf/6988ae8b97cdffcdab6ae9ae/electoral-college-arguments-wrong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4671 og:image:height: 2627 og:image:alt: US-ELECTION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These 3 Common Arguments For Preserving the Electoral College Are All Wrong twitter:description: The winner-take-all system explains why one candidate can get more votes nationwide while a different candidate wins in Electoral College. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt184c4ffce9bb0ddf/6988ae8b97cdffcdab6ae9ae/electoral-college-arguments-wrong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These 3 Common Arguments For Preserving the Electoral College Are Wrong > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Watch Donald Trump's Full Presidential Acceptance Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Donald Trump's Full Presidential Acceptance Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wcGbUXRn.m3u8) (15:30)  _Published 2016-11-09. In one of the most shocking U.S. elections in modern political history, Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton._ by [Robert Speel, Erie campus, Pennsylvania State University / The Conversation](https://time.com/author/robert-speel/) ## Robert Speel, Erie campus, Pennsylvania State University / The Conversation Nov 15, 2016 6:00 PM UTC  Signs are seen on a lawn near a US polling place in Arlington, Virginia, November 8, 2016. Signs are seen on a lawn near a US polling place in Arlington, Virginia, November 8, 2016. PAUL J. RICHARDS—AFP/Getty Images by [Robert Speel, Erie campus, Pennsylvania State University / The Conversation](https://time.com/author/robert-speel/) ## Robert Speel, Erie campus, Pennsylvania State University / The Conversation Nov 15, 2016 6:00 PM UTC In November 2000, newly elected New York Senator Hillary Clinton promised that when she took office in 2001, she would introduce a [constitutional amendment](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/11/nyregion/in-upstate-victory-tour-mrs-clinton-says-electoral-college-should-go.html) to abolish the Electoral College, the 18th-century, state-by-state, winner-take-all system for selecting the president. [She never pursued her promise](https://www.congress.gov/member/hillary-clinton/C001041) – a decision that must haunt her today. In this year’s election, [she won at least 600,000 more votes than Donald Trump](http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/popular%5Fvote%5Ftotals%5Ffor%5Fpresid%5F1.html), but lost by a significant margin in the Electoral College. In addition to 2016, there have been four other times in American history – 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000 – when the candidate who won the Electoral College lost the national popular vote. Each time, a Democratic presidential candidate lost the election due to this system. For that reason, views on the fairness of the Electoral College are often partisan. Not surprisingly, many Clinton supporters have called for its [reform](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/13/sanders-backs-trump-protests-questions-electoral-college/93767186/) or [abolition](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/eric-holder-bill-maher-electoral-college%5Fus%5F5826c8fee4b02d21bbc8eb31). But [most recent polls](http://www.gallup.com/poll/159881/americans-call-term-limits-end-electoral-college.aspx) indicate that supporters of both parties feel that this 18th-century system of choosing a president should be modified or abolished. Nonetheless, others continue to make the case for preserving the Electoral College in its current form, usually using one of three arguments. In my course about American elections, we discuss these arguments – and how each has serious flaws. ### The evolution of the Electoral College During the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the delegates “[distrusted the passions of the people](http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th%5Fcentury/fed10.asp)” and particularly distrusted the ability of average voters to choose a president in a national election. The result was the [Electoral College](http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii), a system that gave each state a number of electors based on its number of members in Congress. On a date set by Congress, state legislatures would choose a set of electors who would later convene in their respective state capitals to cast votes for president. Because there were no political parties back then, it was assumed that electors would use their best judgment to choose a president. With the rise of the two-party system, the modern Electoral College continued to evolve. By the 1820s, [most states](http://www.irpe.org/sites/default/files/history-of-winner-take-all.pdf) began to pass laws allowing voters, not state legislatures, to choose electors on a winner-take-all basis. Today, in every state except Nebraska and Maine, whichever candidate wins the most votes in a state wins all the electors from that state, no matter what the margin of victory. Just look at the impact this system had on the 2016 race: Donald Trump won Pennsylvania and Florida by a combined margin of [about 200,000 votes](http://www.cnn.com/election/results) to earn 49 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, won Massachusetts by [almost a million votes](http://www.cnn.com/election/results) but earned only 11 electoral votes. The winner-take-all electoral system explains why one candidate can get more votes nationwide while a different candidate wins in the Electoral College. (Some [legal scholars](http://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/) have pointed out that the Electoral College was also created to protect southern slaveholder interests that are irrelevant today.) Despite these issues, many continue to defend the system. Here’s why they’re wrong. ### Myth #1: Electors filter the passions of the people [College students](http://www.dailynebraskan.com/opinion/editorials/hartzog-electoral-college-ensures-check-on-the-majority-strengthens-the/article%5F0b2cbdce-249d-11e2-967b-001a4bcf6878.html) first learning about the Electoral College will often defend the system by citing its original purpose: to provide a check on the public in case they make a poor choice for president. But electors no longer work as independent agents nor as agents of the state legislature. They’re [chosen](https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html) for their party loyalty by party conventions or party leaders. In presidential elections between 1992 and 2012, over 99 percent of electors kept their pledges to a candidate, and there were only two “[faithless electors](http://www.fairvote.org/faithless%5Felectors).” One Gore elector from Washington, D.C. cast a blank ballot in 2000 [to protest](http://www.fairvote.org/faithless%5Felectors) a lack of congressional representation for District of Columbia residents. And one Kerry elector in Minnesota in 2004 voted for vice presidential candidate John Edwards for both president and vice president – [an apparent mistake](http://www.fairvote.org/faithless%5Felectors), since none of Minnesota’s electors admitted to the action afterward. There have been scattered faithless electors in past elections, but they’ve never influenced the outcome of a presidential election. Since winner-take-all laws began in the 1820s, electors have rarely acted independently or against the wishes of the party that chose them. [A majority of states even have laws](http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx) requiring the partisan electors to keep their pledges when voting. Yes, some of this year’s Republican electors may not have been big supporters of Donald Trump’s candidacy. But despite [the best efforts of some Clinton voters to get them to switch sides](https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19), there’s [no evidence](http://www.snopes.com/2016/11/11/the-electoral-college-and-the-popular-vote/) that some electors may consider voting for someone like Paul Ryan to prevent a Trump majority and throw the election into the U.S. House of Representatives. ### Myth #2: Rural areas would get ignored Since 2000, a popular argument for the electoral college made on [conservative websites](http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/11/the-electoral-college-enlightened-democracy) and talk radio is that without the Electoral College, candidates would spend all their time campaigning in big cities and would ignore low-population areas. Other than this odd view of democracy, which advocates spending as much campaign time in areas where few people live as in areas where most Americans live, the argument is simply false. The Electoral College causes candidates to spend all their campaign time in cities in 10 or 12 states rather than in 30, 40 or 50 states. Presidential candidates don’t campaign in rural areas no matter what system is used, simply because there are not a lot of votes to be gained in those areas. [Data from the 2016 campaign](http://nj-travel-tracker.herokuapp.com/) indicate that 53 percent of campaign events for Trump, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine in the two months before the November election were in only four states: Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. During that time, 87 percent of campaign visits by the four candidates were in 12 battleground states, and none of the four candidates ever went to 27 states, which includes almost all of rural America. Even in the swing states where they do campaign, the candidates focus on urban areas where most voters live. In Pennsylvania, for example, 72 percent of [Pennsylvania campaign visits](http://nj-travel-tracker.herokuapp.com/) by Clinton and Trump in the final two months of their campaigns were to the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. In Michigan, all [eight campaign visits](http://nj-travel-tracker.herokuapp.com/) by Clinton and Trump in the final two months of their campaigns were to the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas, with neither candidate visiting the rural parts of the state. The Electoral College does not create a national campaign inclusive of rural areas. In fact, it does just the opposite. ### Myth #3: It creates a mandate to lead Some have advocated continuation of the Electoral College because its winner-take-all nature at the state level causes the media and the public to [see many close elections](http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/publiced/lawday/schools/lessons/pdfs/electoralcollege.authcheckdam.pdf) as landslides, thereby giving a stronger [mandate to govern](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/presidential-mandates-arent-real-but-congress-sometimes-acts-as-if-they-are/) for the winning candidate. In 1980, Ronald Reagan won 51 percent of the national popular vote but 91 percent of the [electoral vote](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1980), giving the impression of a landslide victory and allowing him to convince Congress to approve parts of his agenda. In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton twice won comfortable majorities in the Electoral College while winning less than half of the national popular vote. (In both years, third party candidate Ross Perot had run.) In 2016, Trump won by a large margin in the Electoral College, while winning fewer popular votes than Clinton nationwide. Nonetheless, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that Trump’s Electoral College victory gives him a [mandate](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/rudy-giuliani-trump-mandate-231290) to govern. Perhaps for incoming presidents, this artificial perception of landslide support is a good thing. It helps them enact their agenda. But it can also lead to backlash and resentment in the majority or near-majority of the population whose expressed preferences get ignored. Look no farther than [the anti-Trump protests that have erupted across the country](http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/13/us/protests-elections-trump/) since Nov. 8. ### A way out? [Some advocate](http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2010/02/28/a-different-way-to-run-the-electoral-college/) that all 50 states adopt Maine and Nebraska’s system of dividing up electoral votes by congressional district. Yet such a system in larger states would likely lead to increased political conflict and even more claims of rigging due to the extreme [gerrymandering](http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/capitolinq/PA-illustrates-Obama-call-gerrymandering.html) often used to create the districts. Abolishing the Electoral College completely would require a constitutional amendment, involving two-thirds approval from both houses of Congress and approval by 38 states – a process very unlikely to happen in today’s partisan environment. One way to create a national popular vote election for president without amending the Constitution is a plan called the [National Popular Vote Interstate Compact](http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/). Created by Stanford University computer science professor John Koza, the idea is to award each state’s electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state popular vote. The proposal has received support in 10 states and the District of Columbia. But these states are all strongly Democratic, and there seems to be no support for the change yet among the majority of states controlled by Republicans. Because Republicans won the two recent presidential elections where the electoral college winner differed from the national popular vote winner, many party supporters have defended the Electoral College as a way to preserve the role of rural (usually Republican) voters in presidential elections. Rural states do get a slight boost from the two electoral votes awarded to states due to their two Senate seats. But as stated earlier, the Electoral College does not lead to rural areas getting more attention. And there is no legitimate reason why a rural vote should count more than an urban vote in a 21st-century national election. [_Robert Speel_](https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-speel-300501)_, Associate Professor of Political Science, Erie campus,_ [_Pennsylvania State University_](http://theconversation.com/institutions/pennsylvania-state-university-1258) _This article was originally published on_ [_The Conversation_](http://theconversation.com)_. Read the_ [_original article_](https://theconversation.com/three-common-arguments-for-preserving-the-electoral-college-and-why-theyre-wrong-68546)_._ ## Transcript [ PEOPLE CLAPPING AND CHEERING ] USA! USA! USA! Thank you, thank you very much So much, everyone. [ APPLAUSE ] Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business, complicated. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you very much. [ APPLAUSE ] I've just received. A call from Secretary Clinton. [ APPLAUSE ] She congratulated us it's about us on our victory. And I congratulated her And her family on a very, very hard fought campaign. I mean she fought very hard. [ APPLAUSE ] Hillary has worked very long and very hard, over a long period of time And we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely. [ APPLAUSE ] Now it's time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together. To all Republicans, and Democrats, and Independents across this nation I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. [ APPLAUSE ] It's time. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all Americans and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past of which there are a few people. I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help. So that we can work together and unify our great country [ applause ]. As I've said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement made up of million [ APPLAUSE ] Of hardworking men and women who loved their country, and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family. [ APPLAUSE ] It's a movement comprised of Americans from all racists, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people. And serve the people it will. [ APPLAUSE ] Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. I've spent my entire life in business. Looking at the un tapped potential in project, and in people all over the world, that is now what I wanna do for our country. [ APPLAUSE ] Tremendous potential I have got a [ UNKNOWN ] in our country so well, tremendous potential. It's gonna be a beautiful thing every single america will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential to forgot men and women of our country will be forgot no longer. [ APPLAUSE ] We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals, we're gonna rebuild our infrastructures. [ INAUDIBLE ] Which will become By the way, second to none. [ APPLAUSE ] And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it. [ APPLAUSE ] We will also, finally, take care of our great veterans. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] You've been so loyal, and I've got the nos so many, over this 18 months journey. The time I've spent within during this campaign has been among my greatest honours, [ UNKNOWN ] incredible people. We'll embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. I will harness the creative talents of our people and we will call upon the best and brightest to leverage the tremendous talent for the benefit of all. It's gonna happen. [ APPLAUSE ] We have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations, willing to get along with us. [ APPLAUSE ] We'll have great relations. We expect to have great, great relations. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach. America will no longer settle for anything less than the best . >> [ APPLAUSE ] We must reclaim. [ APPLAUSE ] Our country's destiny. And dream big and bold and daring. We have to do that. We are going to dream of things for our country. And beautiful things and successful things once again. I want to tell the world community. That while we will always put America's interest first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone. To all people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility. Partnership, not conflict. And now I'd like to take this moment to thank some of the people who really helped me with this, what they're calling tonight very very historic victory. First I wanna thank my parents who I know are looking down on me right now. [ APPLAUSE ] Great people. I've learned so much from them, they were wonderful in every regard. I had truly great parents. I also wanna thank my sisters Maryanne and Elizabeth, who here with us tonight. [ APPLAUSE ] And where are they? They're here someplace. They're very shy, actually. And my brother, Robert, my great friend. Where is Robert? Where is Robert? [ APPLAUSE ] My brother, Robert, and they should all be on this stage but that's okay. [ APPLAUSE ] They're great and also, my later brother, Fred. Great guy, fantastic guy. Dad. [ APPLAUSE ] Fantastic family. I was very lucky. Great brothers and sisters. Great unbelievable parents. To Melania and Don. And Ivanka [ APPLAUSE ] And Derek. [ APPLAUSE ] And Tiffany. [ APPLAUSE ] And Barron. [ APPLAUSE ] I love you and I thank you. And especially for putting up with all of those hours. This was tough We love you. Aah! It is where's tough. It's political staff is nasty and it's tough. So, I wanna thank my family very much, really fantastic. Thank you all. And Lara unbelievable job. Vanessa thank you, thank you very much. What a great group. You've all given me such an incredible support and I will tell you that we have a large group of people. You know, they kept saying we have a small staff, not so small, look at all the people that we have. Look at all of these people. [ APPLAUSE ] And Kelly Ann and Chris and Rudy, and Steve, and David, we have got tremendously talented people up here, and I want to tell you it's been very very special. I want to give a very special thanks to our former Mayor Rudy [ UNKNOWN ] [ APPLAUSE ] Unbelievable. Unbelievable he travelled with us and he went through meetings [ UNKNOWN ] never changed. Where is [ UNKNOWN ]? Where is he? [ UNKNOWN ]. Governor Chris [ UNKNOWN ] [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you Chris. The first man, the first senator, the first major major politician, let me tell you he is highly respected in Washington because he is as smart as you get, Senator Jeff Sessions. Where's Jeff? [ APPLAUSE ] Great man. Another great man. Very tough competitor. He was not easy. He was not easy. [ APPLAUSE ] Who is that? Is that the Mayor that's here though? That Rudy? Rudy got up here. [ APPLAUSE ] Another great man who has been really a friend to me. But I'll tell you, I got to know him as a competitor. Because he was one of the folks that was negotiating to go against those Democrats, Dr Ben Carson, where is Ben? [ APPLAUSE ] Where is Ben? [ APPLAUSE ] And by the way, Mike Huckabee is here, someplace, and he is [ APPLAUSE ] This is fantastic. Mike and his family, Sarah. Thank you very much. General Mike Flynn. [ APPLAUSE ] Where is Mike? And General Kellogg. We have over 200 generals and admirals that have endorsed our campaign. And the special people and is really an owner, we have 22 congressional medal of owner recipients. We have just tremendous people, a very special person who believes me and you know i have read reports that im not getting along with him . I never had bad second with that He is an unbelievable star, he is, that's right, how did you possibly guess? So let me tell you about rights. [ APPLAUSE ] And I've said this, I said rights and I know it, I know it, look at all these people over there. I know it, rights is a superstar, but I said They can't call you a superstar Rynce unless we win. Cause you can't be called a superstar like secretariat. If secretariat came in second, secretariat wouldn't have that beautiful bronze bust at the track at Belmont. I will tell you Rynce, Is really a star, and he is the hardest working guy. [ APPLAUSE ] And in a certain way I did this right. Come up here, where is Ryan? [ APPLAUSE ] Get over here, Ryan. Boy, boy, boy. [ APPLAUSE ] It's about time you did this right. [ APPLAUSE ] My guy. Say a few words, come here say something. Ladies and Gentlemen the next President of the United States, Donald Trump. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you, it's been an honor, God bless, thank God. Amazing guy. [ APPLAUSE ] Our partnership with the RNC was so important to the success in what we've done. So, I also have to say I've gotten to know some incredible people, the Secret Service people. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] They're tough and they're smart and they're sharp and I don't want to mess around with them, I can tell you. And when I wanna go and wave to a big group of people and they rip me down and put me back down in the seat, but they are fantastic people so I want to thank the Secret Service. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] And law enforcement to New York City, they're here tonight. [ APPLAUSE ] These are spectacular people, sometimes under appreciated, unfortunately, but we appreciate them, we know what they go through . >> [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] So, it's been what they call a historic event, but to be really historic we have to do a great job, and I promise you that we will not let you down. We will do a great job. [ APPLAUSE ] We will do a great job. I look very much [ APPLAUSE ] Forward to being your president and hopefully at the end of 2 years, or 3 years, or 4 years, or maybe even 8 years. [ APPLAUSE ] You will say some of you work so hard first, but you will say that you will say that, that was something that you. Where it really we're very proud to do and I can thank you very much. And I can only say that while the campaign is over our work on this movement is now really just beginning. [ APPLAUSE ] We're going to get to work immediately for the American people. [ APPLAUSE ] And we're going to be doing a job that hopefully, you'll be so proud of your President. You'll be so proud. Again, it's my honor. It's an amazing evening. It's been an amazing two year period. And I love this country. Thank you. Thank you very much. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you to Mike Pence. Thank you everybody. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Your great. 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