fuagf -- if it's going to get done, at least any time sooner rather than later, it will almost certainly have to be via that route -- tough to see a constitutional amendment to do it at this point
The electoral college has serious problems. So do any alternatives.
By Andrew Rudalevige November 15 at 7:00 AM
[to the end]
The National Popular Vote (NPV) initiative is more ambitious, taking advantage of states’ free rein in choosing the way they assign their electors. NPV is an interstate compact that would require states to have their electors vote for the winner of the national popular vote, no matter who wins their own state. (For much more detail on the NPV, see the exchange between John Koza and DeWitt and Schwartz in the issue of PS mentioned above.)
The NPV is likely constitutional. But it too raises questions. What if states decide to leave the compact? The possibility of a candidate selected by a tiny plurality remains. And what if a spree of faithless electors results?
In short, as with any serious institutional reform, replacing the electoral college brings both rewards and risks
Some believe the rewards obviously win the day. If one thinks that plurality rule is the only legitimate form of democratic choice, then the electoral college cannot be legitimate. Edwards argues that although the framers’ choices violated political equality in various places, “it does not follow that these compromises are inviolate,” and that Americans have rightly democratized other aspects of the Constitution over time.
Others note that this year’s situation occurs rarely, and that cross-state coalition-building benefits governance. DeWitt and Schwartz warn, too, against unintended consequences, writing, “the greatest merit of the electoral college system as it has come to be implemented is the cost of replacing it.”
That cost could decrease if the divergence between electoral college result and popular vote becomes more frequent. Alternately, the political parties might broaden their reach to a wider range of voters, realigning the two modes of choice.
Either way, in the shorter term, voters upset by the outcome of a given national election can turn to activism at other levels of government. As President Obama told graduating students this spring, “That’s how we change our politics — by electing people at every level who are representative of and accountable to us.”
A federal republic, after all, provides freedoms as well as frustrations.
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