Although some liberals and progressives have proposed abolishing the Electoral College and electing presidents via the popular vote — which is how other democratic republics do it — various Democratic strategists have argued that in the long run, Democrats will have an Electoral College advantage because of changing demographics. Republicans, meanwhile, are still fuming over the fact that President Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes in 2020 despite all of former President Donald Trump’s underhanded tricks. And according to an article by The Atlantic’s Russell Berman, some Republicans are pushing different ideas for making the Electoral College more difficult for Democrats.
“A few months after losing the White House,” Berman explains, “Republicans across the country have had a revelation: the Electoral College could use some improvements. The problem is that they have contradictory proposals for how to fix it — and contradictory arguments for why those proposals would help Americans pick their president. In Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire, GOP lawmakers want to award Electoral College votes by congressional district, just like Nebraska and Maine currently do. But in Nebraska, Republicans want to do the opposite, and return to the same winner-takes-all method used by, well, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, and almost every other state.”
In Wisconsin, Berman notes, State Rep. Gary Tauchen, a Republican, has proposed splitting Wisconsin’s electoral votes by congressional district. Similarly, New Hampshire State Sen. Bill Gannon wants that type of split in his state. Continue reading.
Many Americans are surprised to learn that in U.S. presidential elections, the members of the Electoral College do not necessarily have to pick the candidate the voters in their state favored.
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