Those who say “yes, abolish the Electoral College” will remind us that in 2 of the last 5 Presidential elections the winner was not the candidate with the most votes. Those who want to keep the Electoral College will say it was put in the Constitution by the founders and we should not question their wisdom.

I come down on the side of those who would abolish the Electoral College. I think it would be unconstitutional if it wasn’t in the Constitution. All votes should count the same in my opinion. The candidate with the most votes wins.

But there are at least 2 sides to every issue. I think we should start with a serious discussion of this issue. There are bills in both the House and Senate and I think the idea is clearly worth discussing and having hearings about possible consequences.

However the House bills seem to be stalled, at least as far as I can tell. H.J.Res.7 was introduced in the House by Rep Steve Cohen (D-TN) and referred to the appropriate committee and sub-committee on January 3 2019. It has been sitting in sub-committee ever since (https://www.congress.gov )

The Senate versions are: S.J. Res.17 introduced by Senator Brian Shatz and S.J. Res.16 introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley. The bills have been introduced fairly recently so I won’t complain about the slowness of the process in the Senate, yet.

Anyway, something worth talking about. Here is an interesting piece from FiveThirtyEight (aka 538):
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/abolishing-the-electoral-college-used-to-be-bipartisan-position-not-anymore/

And an interview with Sen Shatz, sponsor of one of the bills:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwq1bPAlIH0

Should we abolish the Electoral College? Think about it.