On one of her recent videos AOC is seen filming wide-open spaces and mocking how we elect our Presidents. Here’s how it works…

When we vote for President every four years, our federal Constitution provides for an indirect vote known as the Electoral College. We vote for electors in our state of residence, who then meet and vote for a candidate for President.

The number of electors in each state is equal to the number of representatives and senators that each state is allowed. Each state has two senators but has a certain number of representatives based on population. So, there is parity between large and small states in the Senate, but the larger states have more electors as they have more population.

We are united states, so state interests, economic and otherwise, are the focus of each senator and representative. The President of these United States must keep each state’s interests in mind relative to policy for the whole country. The electors vote for the candidate who wins a majority, but the number of electoral votes allowed provides some equality for the smaller states. The result of this system is that every candidate running for President must campaign in the smaller as well as the larger states. This includes states with wide-open spaces!

It is for this reason, primarily, that the Electoral College was established when our Constitution was written in 1787. Virginia and Massachusetts were the big states then.

The Russell Senate Office Building (built 1903-1908)

We are a representative republic, not a democracy. The Founders provided for the direct election of representatives who serve two years; for the indirect election of senators, who were selected by state legislatures, who serve six years; and the indirect election of Presidents who serve four-year terms.

The Founders did not trust direct voting as they considered it subject to corrupting influences. The corrupting influences they were worried about could be mitigated every two years for House of Representative members who could do only so much damage to the republic.

Today, there is a movement afoot to bypass the Electoral College and vote directly for President. The thinking is that there should be one person, one vote, and a nationalized voting system. This is exactly what the Founders did not want! They did not want a President to focus on issues relative to a few populous states or only urban centers.

Our Founding Fathers would not be surprised at the focus group, mass brainwashing of voters or group-think tendencies in human beings. Having each state run its own election system also prevents mass voting fraud; were a national system to be hacked and abused.

Should the people of the United States wish to change how Presidents are elected, there is a mechanism to amend the Constitution in Article V. This was used in 1913 to change how senators are elected. It could be used again to abolish the Electoral College, but Miss Constitution thinks the Electoral College is more important today than ever before. She hopes we keep it!

Thank you AOC for making the case.