The Electoral College: How One Senator from Indiana Almost Brought It Down
Much like Black Friday and spray cheese, the electoral college is a uniquely American invention. Surprisingly, though, unlike Americans' undying love of discount TVs and processed cheese product, the Electoral College isn't a popular one.
Critics and reformers have called it antiquated, racist, and anti-democratic. Efforts to change the system began in 1800 and more than 700 proposals to change or abolish the Electoral College have been introduced since that time. (1)
The Voting Rights Act of 1970
Cue Senator Birch Bayh from Indiana and the Voting Rights Act of 1970.
The turbulent 1968 presidential election nearly sent the country into a constitutional crisis over the Electoral College. Many feared the appointment of an unpopular candidate to the Presidency.
In response to the 1968 election, Bayh conducted a study on electoral reform, and he concluded that the whole electoral system needed to go. On February 3rd, 1970, the Judiciary Committee voted 13-4 to consider election reform by April 24. On April 23, the committee voted 11-6 for "...the direct popular election plan...."
What was in the Bill?
Senator Bayh put forth an amendment to the Constitution of the United States that once ratified, would go into effect within 7 years of submission.
The proposed amendment called for a national popular vote for presidential candidates and required the winning candidate to have at least 40% of the vote. If no candidate reached 40%, a run-off election would decide the outcome.
However, this did not concern Bayh. Abraham Lincoln is the only President to win less than 40% of the popular vote. Lincoln won a plurality, 39.8%, of the popular vote running against three other candidates, and carried 18 northern states winning 180 electoral votes. (2)
Additionally, a popular vote election would remove state residency requirements and reform the registration and absentee voting systems.
In September 1970, with bipartisan support and a 338 to 70 vote, the act moved to the floor of the Senate. The most promising effort for election reform was on the brink of success.
The Complication
However, not everyone was supportive of the legislation, and much like their predecessors, Southern Senators Sam Ervin and Strom Thurman met it with a filibuster.
Strom Thurman was no stranger to the filibuster process. He broke the record for the longest single-person filibuster in U.S. history blocking the Civil Rights Act of 1957 - he was a strong advocate for segregation and states' rights.
Up until this point, Bayh thought he had all the support he needed to sail through the Senate and into history. It wasn't until Thurman's stroke of political genius that everything went sideways.
In a turn of events, Thurman rallied support from an unlikely source, the NAACP and Jewish leaders in New York.
Where Republican leaders in the South wielded an advantage through the Electoral College, he understood minority groups in the North likewise benefitted from maintaining the system. Especially in areas like New York which held the most electoral votes in the country until 1972, something that had historically not set well with other Southerners.
Pointing out that minorities could risk losing a seat at the table with the abolishment of the Electoral College, Thurman was able to flip NAACP and Jewish support of the amendment, which put pressure on members of the Senate.
Bayh replayed the exchange with NAACP leaders in a 2009 interview stating, "Look, I busted my tail to see that each of you and your constituencies got one person, one vote. Now you're telling me that if you have 1.01, you want to keep it? Get your rear ends out of my office and don't come back."
Nothing could be done, and the amendment was defeated in the Senate. However, Bayh wasn't one to let it go and reintroduced the amendment in every session of Congress up until he lost re-election in 1980.
While ultimately unsuccessful, it was unquestionably the closest we have come to abolishing the Electoral College. The debate continues today as we approach the 2024 election.
In total, there have been 700 attempts to modify or outright abolish the system since its creation, with people passionately debating on both sides of the issue. Strom Thurmond passed away in 2003 and Bayh in 2019, but the battle over the Electoral College rages on.
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Appendix
What is the Electoral College?
Explanation from the LII Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
"In the United States, the President and Vice President are not elected directly by the people; rather, they are elected indirectly through the Electoral College process. This election procedure, governed by Amendment XII of the United States Constitution, provides that citizens cast votes for "electors" who, in turn, directly elect the president and vice president. Each state is allotted a number of electors equal to the number of House Representatives and Senators from that particular state; there are a total of 538 electors, who represent "the sum of the nation's 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia." In order to win the election, a presidential candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes—270 electoral votes. If there is a tie, then Amendment XII of the United States Constitution provides that the members of the House of Representatives vote to elect the President and Vice President."
References
1. Neale, Thomas H.; Nolan, Andrew (October 28, 2019). The National Popular Vote (NPV) Initiative: Direct Election of the President by Interstate Compact (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved September 30, 2024. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43823.pdf
2. Wikipedia. 1860 United States presidential election. Retrieved September 30, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_United_States_presidential_election
