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Dems Will Try to Abolish Electoral College This Week with Proposed Constitutional Amendment

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Senate Democrats are expected to propose a constitutional amendment this week that would abolish the Electoral College.

The proposal was first reported by The Daily Beast, which said that Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz will unveil the proposal Tuesday, and that Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Dianne Feinstein of California are key supporters.

Gillibrand is not the only 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to support the measure. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also backs it, while Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California have claimed a need for the person who wins the popular vote to elected president, The Hill reported.

Dumping the Electoral College is an idea that has been debated off and on for years, but it took on new life after Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, despite Clinton winning the popular vote.

Although Clinton’s popular vote majority reflected lopsided wins in New York and California, abolishing the Electoral College has been embraced by Democrats who say it will allow more states to become part of the process. Republicans, by contrast, have said the system does not need to be changed.

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Trump has said that the Electoral College shapes the presidential race. Although he has voiced support for the popular vote in the past, he is now opposed to a change.

In an opinion piece published by Fox News, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took a broader view of the dispute.

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“The Founders feared the tyranny of the majority and created a Constitutional Republic for good reason so that any candidate would have to win broad support across the nation, not just in a handful of heavily-populated cities,” he wrote.

“Some dismiss this as putting ‘geography’ ahead of people but it’s actually protecting people. People in farming or ranching states shouldn’t be steamrolled by voters 1,000 miles away who have no understanding or concern about their lives and interests,” he wrote.

Huckabee noted that many states see the impact of popular vote contests when one or two metro areas dominate the voting.

“If you want to see what a national popular vote election would be like, ask a conservative farmer in California or Colorado how well he feels his state government represents him now. It’s no coincidence rural counties in both states have secessionist movements,” he wrote.

“Hillary was done in by a number of factors, not the least of which was her decision to ignore the problems of voters in Rust Belt states. Because of this, they voted for the candidate who actually came and addressed their concerns (Trump), which is exactly as the Founders intended.”

Referencing the 2016 contest in which Clinton’s popular vote majority came from two states, Huckabee wrote, “The Electoral College worked exactly the way it should have in 2016 by preventing two states from imposing their will on the clear preference of the rest of the country, and exactly the way the Founders intended.”

Passing a constitutional amendment is a daunting process.

First, it would require both houses of Congress to pass the amendment with a two-thirds majority.

Next, three-quarters of the states would need to approve the amendment.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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