'Minority defeats the majority': Pulitzer Prize-winning historian slams Electoral College

30 October 2024

A prominent historian is now calling for a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, saying it has ended up enabling precisely what the framers tried to avoid when they established it.

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Joseph J. Ellis — who won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2001 — lamented how the Electoral College has gone from a tool aimed at diminishing the power of demagogues to one that enables them. According to Ellis, the framers initially created it as a means of checking the power of public opinion, believing that it would be bad for the country to elect presidents simply by popular vote as a demagogue could hold undue sway over the public and ascend to power through manipulation.

When the framers were deciding how to structure executive power, all agreed that they didn't want a monarch. But they agreed that there needed to be a buffer between the head of state and the general public. James Madison came up with the idea of "filtration," in which state lawmakers were viewed as more understanding of the mechanics of power and could counter public sentiment if needed. This concept was later endorsed in Alexander Hamilton's Federalist 68.

However, Ellis opined that the framers' hopes of the Electoral College serving as a counterweight to demagoguery have been dashed when looking at contemporary politics. He noted that thanks to the Electoral College, "it is entirely possible that we will elect a president whom a majority of American voters reject."

"The ironies of the electoral college abound. The founders did not foresee the emergence of political parties and their winner-take-all slates of electors, which make a mockery of all presumptions of virtuous choosing by a select few," Ellis wrote. "What’s left is indeed a filtration of the popular vote, but one that has morphed into a device whereby the minority defeats the majority."

As Ellis wrote, the Electoral College has resulted in multiple instances of a president being elected against the will of a majority of the populace since the turn of the century. In both instances, the Republican candidate won and proceeded to appoint multiple Supreme Court justices to serve lifelong terms. Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump collectively appointed five of nine justices, and their decisions have had an astonishing impact on society as a result.

Conversely, had the popular vote prevailed in both instances, the Court would have a liberal majority, and consequential decisions like Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (which overturned Roe v. Wade), Shelby County v. Holder (which gutted Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act and allowed for widespread voter suppression laws in Southern states) and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (which paved the way for unlimited political spending in federal elections) may have never been handed down.

Ellis concluded his op-ed by calling for a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College. He admitted that adopting a new amendment would be "politically difficult," as ratification would require a two-thirds vote by both chambers of Congress and three-fourths support from state legislatures. The most recent 27th Amendment took more than 200 years to ratify.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian wrote that America was "stuck with our electoral albatross" due to the difficulty of amending the Constitution. Though there may be one solution he neglected to mention: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Multiple states have already joined the NPVIC, which states that a respective state's Electoral College votes will automatically go to the winner of the national popular vote.

So far, the NPVIC has 18 states accounting for 209 electoral votes, which are predominantly Democratic-controlled states like California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon. Maine and Minnesota were the most recent additions to the NPVIC. Should Michigan‚ which currently has a Democratic trifecta, join the NPVIC, that would move the total to 224. If a handful of Democratic state lawmakers and governors get elected between next week and November of 2025 (when the Virginia governorship is up for grabs), it's possible that Arizona, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia could also join, which would put the count at 271. This would, by default, mean that presidents are elected by popular vote.

Click here to read Ellis' op-ed in full (subscription required).

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