The Electoral College, while flawed, is an intrinsic part of our country, created by our founding fathers to make elections as fair as possible. However, there are necessary alterations to ensure every American is represented equally. Under our current system, each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on their number of congresspeople. After the popular vote is concluded, the states send their electors to cast votes based on who got the majority of votes within their state. Essentially, Americans are voting for which slate of electors to send to Washington D.C., rather than who they actually want as president. The system with which we elect our president will never be perfect, but the best way to remedy it is altering the way electoral votes are apportioned so it is no longer based on congressional representation.
As of now, each state has a minimum of three electoral votes because they have two senators and then at least one representative. However, this makes the votes of people living in less populous states “worth more” than those in more populated states. According to USAFacts, one electoral vote accounts for 195,000 people in Wyoming and over 700,000 people in Texas, Florida, or California. This is because each state automatically has two senators, no matter their population. If the number of electors was separate from congresspeople and only based on population, Americans would be more fairly represented.
The original point of our current system was to protect small states and ensure their issues were still addressed by the president. However, presidential candidates now just prioritize swing states over safe states that will never flip. Either way, some states are going to be less represented. By allocating the number of electoral votes to each state based on population rather than members of Congress, at least everyone’s vote will weigh the same.
