11-15-2016, 11:33 AM
Origins of the Electoral College
The Electoral College represents a compromise among the drafters of the US Constitution — some of whom wanted Congress to pick the president while others argued for direct election by the people — and a victory for those who worried that young nation’s industrial centers would dominate its less populous rural interior.
It’s no accident that the last two beneficiaries of an Electoral College win were favorites of what we today call red states. The number each state’s electors is pegged to the size of its congressional delegation. But because each state — regardless of how many voters live there — gets two electors for each of its senators, the Electoral College gives an extra edge to less populous rural states which have long been Republican strongholds.
![[Image: electorl.gif]](http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/electorl.gif)
The Democrats’ strength in the urban centers is concentrated in relatively few states, giving them a smaller Electoral College base. Since every state except Nebraska and Maine award electors on a winner-take-all basis, a candidate able to pile up victories in sparsely populated states can win the presidency without winning the popular vote by pulling out narrow victories in a few larger states. That’s what Trump did last Tuesday.
The Electoral College represents a compromise among the drafters of the US Constitution — some of whom wanted Congress to pick the president while others argued for direct election by the people — and a victory for those who worried that young nation’s industrial centers would dominate its less populous rural interior.
It’s no accident that the last two beneficiaries of an Electoral College win were favorites of what we today call red states. The number each state’s electors is pegged to the size of its congressional delegation. But because each state — regardless of how many voters live there — gets two electors for each of its senators, the Electoral College gives an extra edge to less populous rural states which have long been Republican strongholds.
The Democrats’ strength in the urban centers is concentrated in relatively few states, giving them a smaller Electoral College base. Since every state except Nebraska and Maine award electors on a winner-take-all basis, a candidate able to pile up victories in sparsely populated states can win the presidency without winning the popular vote by pulling out narrow victories in a few larger states. That’s what Trump did last Tuesday.