Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called for a constitutional amendment Tuesday to abolish the Electoral College and said it’s an outdated system that distorts the democratic process.
During her remarks at the state Electoral College proceedings in Albany, Hochul said she wants the country to shift to a direct popular vote for the presidency, according to The Hill. She said the current system undermines the principle of equal representation by allowing some votes to carry more weight than others.
“We, the people, forming a more perfect union, and I strongly believe that the people of New York state and the United States of America, should and must have their votes count equally and that the popular vote should prevail,” Hochul said.
Hochul added that this method of electing presidents leads to scenarios where a candidate can lose the popular vote yet win the presidency.
“It’s time to amend the Constitution and relegate the institution of the Electoral College to the history books,” Hochul said. “Unfairly, less populated states have outsized influence, and, in effect, the votes of their residents count more than the residents of a state like New York.”
The Electoral College was designed in part to prevent larger states from overwhelming smaller states in presidential elections. This design was intentional and reflects the Founding Fathers’ efforts to balance the influence of different states within the federal system.
The origins of the Electoral College are rooted in a compromise known as the Great Compromise, which aimed to balance the interests of large and small states by establishing a bicameral legislature: the Senate, which ensures equal representation for each state, and the House of Representatives, which varies by population, according to U.S. Constitution.net. This arrangement carries over to presidential elections, where each state receives electors equal to its total Congressional delegation, bolstering the political weight of smaller states.
While the Electoral College has been criticized for various reasons, including its potential to override the popular vote, it was created to provide a buffer against the direct election of the president by the populace.
Senate Democrats, reeling from widespread losses in the November elections, are pushing to replace the Electoral College with a national popular vote system. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont introduced the Constitutional amendment S.J. Res. 121 to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple,” Schatz said in a statement about the new bill.
Before the 2024 election, a Republican hadn’t secured the popular vote since President George W. Bush in 2004. President-elect Donald Trump would have clinched the 2024 presidency either way, outpacing Vice President Kamala Harris by roughly 2.3 million votes nationwide, according to The Associated Press.
Featured Image Credit: Metropolitan Transportation Authority
