Blog
Defending the Electoral College and the Constitution since 2009
The idea of “majority rule” can be a complicated thing. Those who disfavor the Electoral College say that the majority should always rule. And yet one can compare the presidential vote in each of our fifty states to a separate contest. Since 1900 only two Presidents have been elected without winning the majority of those state contests: John Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. (Biden and Trump tied, each winning twenty-five states.)
The sports world can teach us something here. For example, do teams reach the Super Bowl by scoring the most points, or winning the most games? And in March Madness, do the Final Four get there on total points or total games won? Games it is!
We see this same principle in baseball’s World Series. The winner of the Series — the rules tell us — is the team that wins four out of seven games. Seems fair, right? Did you know about the four World Series results below? In each, the losing team scored more runs than the winner, yet the winners won the most games and thus the series.
| 2022 | Anaheim Angels: Won 4 games with 41 runs | San Francisco Giants: Won 3 games with 44 runs |
| 1997 | Florida Marlins: Won 4 games with 37 runs | Cleveland Indians: Won 3 games with 44 runs |
| 1991 | Minnesota Twins: Won 4 games with 24 runs | Atlanta Braves: Won 3 games with 29 runs |
| 1960 | Pittsburgh Pirates: Won 4 games with 27 runs | New York Yankees: Won 3 games with 55 runs |
We live in a “nation of states.” Delegates from the states wrote our Constitution in 1787, and separate state conventions then ratified it. Among the thirteen original states, the nine smaller states feared that the four most populous would always elect our President. People in the other states would be ignored. By giving every state two U.S. Senators, and thus two electoral votes equally, our small states sought to even the playing field. And this system — our Electoral College system — has served us very well for 234 years. It gives incentives for presidential candidates to visit states beyond just those nine that today are home to 50% of the American people. It makes sure that the rural and smaller states like Iowa, Nevada, and West Virginia — the states that feed the cities — have their voices heard, too. And in this manner, we have kept our Union together. Americans can learn a lot from sports, and from the deep wisdom of our Founders within our Constitution — the oldest in the world.