It now appears that the electoral college may be effectively undermined without the need for invoking the cumbersome constitutional amendment process. The process is underway, and the late term decision this year by the US Supreme Court helped.
After all, what would happen if each state bound its electors to vote for whichever candidate won the largest number of popular votes? SCOTUS' decision suggests (although this cannot be described as the res judicata) that the states can do pretty much whatever they want in this respect. If every state does this, then every subsequent electoral college outcome will be the same: a unanimous ratification of the popular vote.
I'm not sure how long the institution will survive as a purely ceremonial matter once this outcome becomes obvious, but it hardly matters. There are surely people who will consider it an honor to be one of those casting these pre-ordained ballots, the constitutional letter will be observed, and the actual popular vote will be determinate. It will be a bit like the British monarchy: they keep it there for the tourists and the ceremonies, while letting the popularly elected Parliament do all the deciding.
Ah, but how does one get all the states on board?
Actually, it will not be necessary to get them all on board, simply enough to create an alliance with enough states to add up to 270 electoral votes. It will be nice to make it unanimous, but once that critical mass is passed the rest should be easy.
Getting to that critical mass? Tricky, but still a bit easier than the amendment process.
The process that, as you say, is underway is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It has 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to take effect.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact