![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/bigstock-Electoral-College-Concept-186591019-300x300-1.jpg\")
3D illustration of “Electoral College” script on a ballot box with US flag as a background.<\/p><\/div>\n
One of Georgia\u2019s 16 presidential electors cast her Electoral College vote for Joe Biden but says, if she had it her way, the United States would do away with the\u00a0constitutional election process altogether\u2014a radical and dangerous\u00a0position.\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cI support abolishing the Electoral College,\u201d former Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0during a recent interview. \u201cI think all too often the popular vote has been overturned by the Electoral College and that doesn\u2019t seem right to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n It may not seem right to Ms. Woolard, but the Electoral College purposefully forces would-be presidents to\u00a0build nationwide coalitions, courting diverse voters across the country. It\u00a0should remain in place. Otherwise, politicians would ignore the needs of people in\u00a0\u2018flyover country\u2019\u00a0and focus\u00a0even more\u00a0on\u00a0big cities and\u00a0the coasts.\u00a0<\/u><\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton\u00a0was another elector who, like Ms. Woolard,\u00a0called for eliminating\u00a0the Electoral College\u00a0even as she cast one of New York\u2019s electoral votes\u00a0for Democrat President-elect Joe Biden.\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n \u201cI believe we should abolish the Electoral College and select our president by the winner of the popular vote, same as every other office,\u201d she said in a\u00a0tweet<\/a>. \u201cBut while it still exists, I was proud to cast my vote in New York for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.\u201d\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Clinton is missing the fact that the presidency is not like other offices. Most major democratic nations use a two-step process (usually a parliamentary system) to elect their top executive. Our Electoral College, like those other systems, balances\u00a0the interests of everyone across\u00a0a\u00a0diverse country while limiting\u00a0the power of big-city\u00a0elites.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Our system also limits the power of Washington, D.C.\u00a0As Thomas S. Kidd,\u00a0history\u00a0professor at Baylor University,\u00a0says<\/a>, \u201c2020 has shown that the states still possess powerful checks on national executive power. That\u2019s a good thing, and we should be exceedingly cautious about cutting the states out of the process of electing the president (i.e. the Electoral College).\u201d\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Complaints about the Electoral College\u00a0often\u00a0stem from Clinton\u2019s\u00a0loss\u00a0in 2016. At various times, Clinton has\u00a0blamed<\/a>\u00a0former FBI Director James Comey, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), President Barack Obama,\u00a0Russia\u00a0and, of course, the Electoral College\u00a0for her loss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Really it was\u00a0Clinton\u2019s\u00a0own\u00a0decisions\u00a0th In 1888, Grover Cleveland\u00a0won<\/a>\u00a0the popular vote but was blown out in the Electoral College because his support was concentrated in the South; he won huge margins there but lost almost everywhere else. Similarly, Clinton ran up huge margins in coastal states while failing to connect with middle America.\u00a0\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Clinton dismissed struggling voters as\u00a0\u201cdeplorables\u201d\u00a0and lost their votes as a consequence. Marc Thiessen of The Washington Post\u00a0argues<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cClinton still can\u2019t seem to tell the difference between a white nationalist and working-class voters who are upset because their family incomes are stagnant or falling, they feel shut out of the labor force, and their communities are mired in substance abuse and despair. These\u00a0\u2018forgotten Americans\u2019\u00a0had legitimate grievances that Democrats ignored.\u201d\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n The Clinton campaign also squandered\u00a0its\u00a0monetary advantage<\/a>\u00a0by failing to invest enough in\u00a0states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.\u00a0According<\/a>\u00a0to one liberal activist, the candidate\u2019s team was,\u00a0\u201cvery surgical and corporate. Their thing was,\u00a0\u2018We don\u2019t have to leave [literature] at the doors, everyone knows who Hillary Clinton is.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n Joe Biden corrected Clinton\u2019s errors,\u00a0cultivating a working man persona and\u00a0investing heavily<\/a>\u00a0in turning out the vote in\u00a0key\u00a0states.\u00a0He received the Democratic nomination\u00a0in part\u00a0because primary voters\u00a0believed<\/a>\u00a0he would\u00a0appeal to those \u201cforgotten Americans\u201d who Clinton had ignored and demeaned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n In both 2016 and 2020, the Electoral College worked as intended. Serious presidential candidates were forced to build diverse coalitions rather than relying on one region or demographic group. For close to 250 years, the Electoral College has fostered a healthy and vibrant electoral system, and we shouldn\u2019t throw that away because Hillary Clinton mismanaged her campaign.<\/p>\n