Ask Why?

For almost 250 years, we’ve carried around this thing called the Electoral College. Most Americans know the name, but if you stopped people on the street and asked them why it exists, I bet most couldn’t tell you.

When the Constitution was written in 1787, America was a very different place. There was no internet, no television, no radio, no airplanes. News traveled on horseback. The founders were trying to solve a lot of problems at once. They were balancing the power of large and small states. They were creating a federal system where states mattered. And yes, they were also negotiating with slaveholding states, whose political influence was increased through the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Electoral College was born out of all of those compromises.

Compromises make sense when you’re building a brand-new nation. They don’t necessarily make sense forever.

Fast-forward to today. Every one of us can watch the same debate at the same time. We can research candidates in seconds. We can communicate instantly with people across the country. The reasons that existed in 1787 deserve to be studied and understood—but it’s also fair to ask whether they still justify the system we use today.

Think about it this way. If you’re hiring a CEO for a company, you don’t give some employees three votes and others one vote because they work in a smaller office. Every shareholder’s vote counts according to the rules. So why should the person who becomes President of the United States sometimes win without receiving the most votes from the American people?

That’s not an argument—it’s a question.

If the Electoral College still serves America well, let’s have that conversation. If it doesn’t, let’s have that conversation too. But let’s have it based on today’s realities, not just yesterday’s compromises.

To me, democracy works best when every citizen believes their vote matters equally. Whether you favor the Electoral College or a national popular vote, we should all agree on one thing: people should understand how the system works and why it exists.

Because an informed citizen is a powerful citizen.

And that’s really the point. Democracies aren’t protected by old systems alone. They’re protected by informed people who ask good questions, participate, and vote. The Electoral College isn’t the real story. The real story is whether we, the people, are still willing to shape our democracy instead of simply inheriting it.