POPULAR VOTE WOULD HURT OKLAHOMA!

by Steve Fair

The Electoral College established in Article II of the U.S Constitution is probably misunderstood by the majority of Americans. Most Americans are puzzled as to why the founding fathers established a system that does not elect the President and Vice President by popular vote.

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The way the Electoral College works is that each state is allocated the number of electors that correspond exactly with their number of members of Congress. Oklahoma has seven (7) electoral votes- we have five(5) members of the U.S. House and two(2) U.S. Senators. There are 538 total electors from the fifty states and Washington DC (3). In order to win the White House, a Presidential candidate must get 270 electoral votes. When you vote for the President, you are actually voting for a slate of electors, who are bound by Party rules and law to cast their vote for the person who wins the majority of the popular vote in their state.

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While the Electoral College may seem cumbersome and unnecessary, there are at least two important reasons why the founding fathers established it.

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First, the Electoral College promotes a ‘republic’ form of government as opposed to a ‘democratic’ form. The United State is a democratic Republic. We are not a pure democracy. The chief characteristic and distinguishing feature of a Democracy is: Rule by Omnipotent Majority. Pure democracy is nothing short of mob rule. Congressman Ron Paul, (R-Texas) says, “Sadly, we have forgotten that states created the federal government, not the other way around. The Electoral College system represents an attempt, however effective, to limit federal power and preserve states' rights”

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Second, when the founding fathers were establishing the federal government, smaller States like Rhode Island feared they would have no voice, and therefore no protection, against the more populous States like New York or Massachusetts. Similarly, the sparsely populated agricultural regions feared an inability to protect their interests against the fishing and shipping industries dominant in the more populous coastal States.

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The electoral college system tends to over represent voters in smaller States; and no matter how small a State is, it is guaranteed at least three (3) electors because, as explained by James Bayard (a U. S. Representative and U. S. Senator under Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison), the electoral college supplied a “means of self protection to a small State without resources.”

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For example, the current combined numbers of electors in the eight smallest States in the U.S. (Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, Montana, and Rhode Island) produce the same number of electors as the single State of Florida even though Florida has a population more than three times greater than those eight smaller States combined.

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Yet, on the other hand, if a candidate wins California and its 54 electoral votes, then that candidate is one-fifth of the way to the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency. Thus, while California accounts for only eleven (11) percent of the nation’s population it can provide twenty (20) percent of the electoral votes needed to obtain the presidency. The Electoral College system therefore preserves a sound balance between population centers and between diverse State and regional interests, incorporating elements both of popular and of State representation in its operation.

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Oklahoma State Senator Rob Johnson, (R-Kingfisher), and State Representative Don Armes, (R-Faxon) have introduced SB 841 which would establish the agreement among the states to elect the President and Vice President by popular vote and abolish the Electoral College. The bill has passed out of the state Senate Rules Committee and will be voted on the entire Senate within the next couple of weeks.

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This is not the first attack, nor will it be last, on the Electoral College. One of the biggest advocates of abolishing the Electoral College was Andrew Jackson in 1828. Normally the attacks come from the liberals, but now it seems more and more Republicans are jumping on board.

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Rick Green from Wallbuilders was in Duncan in January and forewarned us about the renewed attack on the Electoral College across the nation. “Do not be fooled into believing that Americans do not directly elect a President under the Electoral College system. The genius of the electoral system was how it takes into account the diversity of the population of the country and the rights of the states in the process,” Green said.

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The motivation behind the introduction of SB #841 isn’t clear, but if the authors believe moving to a national popular vote will get Oklahoma ‘more attention’ in the Presidential race, they are sadly mistaken. It will do exactly the opposite. Please contact your State Senator and ask them to vote NO on SB 841.