LA Times Editorial: California should support popular vote effort

Los Angeles Times Editorial

California should join the popular vote parade

The Constitution's two-tiered system for electing presidents is outdated. Eight states have joined a movement to direct their members of the electoral college to vote for the candidate who wins the most votes nationally. California should join the list.

In drafting the U.S. Constitution, the framers created a two-tiered system for electing presidents. Above: George Klein casts his vote at the L.A. County Lifeguards headquarters in Venice as his dog Tucker watches. (Photo by Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

July 16, 2011

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

 

Though it is rare, the occasional American presidential election goes to the loser of the popular vote, an outcome that undermines basic notions of fairness and democracy and is an artifact of the nation's ancient electoral system. Advocates of a popular vote system have persuaded both houses of the California Legislature to adopt a measure that would lend California's support to that idea. Gov. Jerry Brown should sign it.

In drafting the U.S. Constitution, the framers created a two-tiered system for electing presidents. States were allowed to set rules for selecting electors, and those electors then cast ballots for president. That reflected the framers' generally wary view of direct democracy — senators were originally chosen by state legislatures; women and slaves, of course, were denied the vote entirely — but in the years since, Americans have broadened the franchise and become more comfortable with direct popular participation. Still, vestiges of that original elitism remain, most notably in the perseverance of the electoral college.