A Brief History of the Origins of the Electoral College

On October 2nd, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed state bill AB 2948, the National Popular Vote bill, which would have mandated that California allocate all of its electoral votes to the Presidential candidate who won the national popular election, regardless of which candidate won the popular vote in California. AB 2948 is one of many similar bills pending or to be introduced in state legislatures throughout the country. In Illinois, HB5777 now has 37 Co-Sponsors and has been referred to the Rules Committee. The bills are part of an Interstate Compact, a legally binding contract between states, and the goal behind all of them is the eventual elimination of the Electoral College as the way we elect a President.

In a recent editorial, the Chicago Tribune, which otherwise favors elimination of the Electoral College, praised the Governor's actions, and calls the proposed Compact a "bad gimmick" and a "short cut". "The right way to do it" they say, "is by constitutional amendment, not by extra-constitutional schemes". The Tribune is, of course, free to disagree with the idea behind the Compact, and at first glance their argument seems compelling. But practical reality makes getting such an amendment a nearly insurmountable obstacle. And, like many others when discussing the history of our nation's founding and how we wound up with the system we presently have, they're wrong when they assert that "the presumption behind the Electoral College was that each state would choose electors in a way reflecting the popular will there".¹