The Electoral College Serves America Well
MINOT, N.D. — There are many undemocratic aspects of the American system of government.
It was designed that way.
These are not bugs, as a coder might say. They’re features.
The Senate, for instance, is not a democratic institution. Senators weren’t even popularly elected until the 17th Amendment came along. It usually takes something more than a simple majority to pass legislation in the Senate, though that bulwark against governance by simple majorities is being eroded with each new diminishment of the filibuster.
Also, Senate seats are not apportioned by population. North Dakota’s roughly 762,000 citizens are represented by two Senators, as are California’s nearly 40 million citizens.
Votes in the Electoral College have a similarly uneven distribution. In the context of population, North Dakota’s three Electoral College votes are nearly three times as influential as California’s 55.
These institutions aren’t balanced. They were never intended to be.
