Delegates to the 1787 Constitution Convention assumed that presidential electors would run for office and be selected by their associated state voters based on their individual merits to elect a deserving POTUS candidate. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: . . .” According to Article I, Section 2 Representatives of the House shall be apportioned among the several states according to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service, and excluding Indians not taxed and three fifths of all other persons according to the results of the national census. Constitution Amendment XIV, Section 2 states “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. The intent of the Electoral College process is to elect a POTUS/Vice-POTUS with wide spread support of the nation.
The large population states complain they have less representation per person than the least populated states with three electoral votes (2 Senators & 1 Representative). However, the 2020 census will include all persons whether citizens or non-citizens and legal and illegal immigrants. Therefore there will be a significant shift in electoral votes in many states due to mass migration.
Those who forget that we have a republic instead of a democracy want to elect the POTUS/Vice-POTUS via popular vote. To avoid amending the Constitution — which requires ratification by the legislatures of three fourths of the states — popular vote proponents have created the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact which would only require participation by states representing 270 electoral votes.
In my opinion a better approach in compliance with the Constitution is that implemented by the states of Maine and Nebraska. In those states the popular vote statewide winner receives two electoral votes and the popular vote winner of each congressional district receives one electoral vote. Proportional electoral vote allocation is comparable to popular vote but reduces the need for recounts in close races. In Maine ranked choice voting will be implemented to determine which candidates win. Ranked choice voting enables majority vote election of a candidate without runoff elections.
