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It is easy to forget that when we vote “for president,” we really vote for electors pledged to support the candidate we favor. Civics education is not what it used to be, and perhaps the Electoral College is a victim of its success. It has most often shaped American politics in ways beneficial but hard to see. When the Electoral College gets noticed, it’s because of a particularly hard-fought and narrowly decided election.

So what are these beneficial effects of the Electoral College? For the next five days, Save Our States will feature one benefit each day.

The first is containing disputes. The Electoral College uses state boundaries like the watertight bulkheads on an ocean liner. Disputes, whether over mistakes or fraud and whether well founded or not, are contained within individual states. An easy example is that, with the Electoral College, there is never a need for a nationwide recount. 

This was important in America’s messiest presidential election—1876. That was the first time a candidate won an electoral vote majority while another candidate received more popular votes nationwide. (Some say it was 1824, but the House elected John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, and legislatures in six states had directly appointed electors.) The 1870s saw the rise of organized, systemic voter suppression in the South. Tiny margins and obvious fraud led to fierce disputes over vote totals (for president, but also in many other elections) in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Each of those states sent to Congress two sets of electoral vote totals—one favoring Republican Rutherford Hayes and the other favoring Democrat Samuel Tilden.

Just two days before inauguration day, Congress finished counting the votes—which included determining which votes to count—and declared Hays the winner. There is simply no way to tell, looking back, which side should have won. There was probably no way to tell at the time. At the very least, the Electoral College contained these disputes within individual states so that Congress could endeavor to sort it all out. It is entirely possible that the Electoral College prevented voter fraud from stealing the White House.

Containing disputes is a benefit that flows from another—keeping power in the states. That is the topic for tomorrow’s post. On Wednesday, we’ll cover how the Electoral College, most of the time, makes election outcomes more decisive. And we will finish the week discussing how the Electoral College forces the political parties to be giant, national coalitions, and why it makes election results more trustworthy.

Part of this article is adapted from the Encounter Broadside book, Why We Must Defend the Electoral College, by Trent England.

Learn more about the Electoral College at ElectoralCollege101.com.