Electoral college suppresses third parties

Citizens can vote early, absentee, or on Election Day. These ballots cast do not directly elect a presidential candidate. Instead, the ballot is. And when a presidential election hands the palm to a candidate who comes in second in the popular vote but first in the Electoral College tally, something deep. Democrats are right to be concerned that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is thinking about an independent run for the White House.

 · The Electoral College creates voter incentives to vote for one of the major party candidates or else risk “wasting” votes for third party candidates that don’t have a chance at winning a plurality of votes in enough states to win the Electoral College. This again creates a broad base of support for whoever wins.  · He won 19 percent of the vote in , which is the largest national popular vote share for a third-party candidate since , but he didn’t win a . The US electoral college is unfair to third parties, but so is the entire electoral system. It should be no surprise to anyone who has studied the electoral system here in the US that the only state with any viable third party presence is tiny, rural Vermont. Outside that, only a handful of states and cities have a third party presence.

He won 19 percent of the vote in , which is the largest national popular vote share for a third-party candidate since , but he didn’t win a single electoral vote. In his best state. Third, defenders of the Electoral College also claim that it supports the underlying value of federalism. Having the states play an autonomous role in presidential elections, it is said, reinforces the division of governing authority between the nation and the states. Jill Stein, the Green party candidate who was on the ballot in 45 states and DC, only received 1% of the popular vote. Americans did not vote for third-party candidates because of the truism that a third-party candidate cannot win a national election. The reason for this is the Electoral College and it is time, and they are right.

These days, one frequently hears criticisms from Democrats of the elections of Donald Trump and George W. Bush because they did not receive a majority of the popular vote. I can understand the frustrations of a political party losing under these circumstances. But it is not clear that the Electoral College is a big problem for our democracy. There are arguments for and against the Electoral College.