[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14537]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                INTRODUCTION TO ELECTORAL COLLEGE REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 14, 2017

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, the resolution I am introducing today 
expresses the sense of Congress that it and the states should consider 
a constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral College and to 
establish a process for electing the President and Vice President by a 
national popular vote. The resolution also encourages the states to 
further their efforts to form an interstate compact to award their 
Electoral College votes to the national popular vote winner.
  This Sunday, September 17 is Constitution Day, marks the 230th 
anniversary of the Philadelphia Convention's approval of the 
Constitution. We should rightly celebrate the day that the Framers 
endorsed the basic framework of our democratic system of government 
enshrined in our Nation's governing charter. Yet, we should also use 
this day as an opportunity to reflect on the fact that the Constitution 
still retains the Electoral College, a fundamentally anti-democratic 
process for electing our Nation's highest federal officeholders.
  On five occasions in our history, the Electoral College has permitted 
the national popular vote winner to lose the presidential election, 
including the most recent election, where Hillary Clinton won nearly 3 
million more votes than Electoral College winner Donald Trump. This 
occurs because a presidential candidate needs only 270 electoral votes 
and 48 states award their electoral votes on a ``winner-take-all'' 
basis. As a result, the Electoral College creates perverse incentives 
for candidates that further distort the presidential campaign process 
in undemocratic ways.
  For example, the Electoral College encourages candidates to focus 
their campaign efforts on only a handful of so-called swing states. 
During the last presidential campaign, for example, both major party 
candidates largely bypassed three of the four states with the largest 
populations and skipped campaigning in 12 of the 13 smallest states as 
well.
  Additionally, the Electoral College is an anachronistic institution 
intended, in part, to protect the institution of slavery. According to 
Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar, who participated in a forum 
on Electoral College reform sponsored by House Judiciary Committee 
Democrats last year, the Electoral College was established, in part, to 
preserve the political influence of slaveholding states. Although 
enslaved populations were not allowed to vote, slave states insisted 
that three-fifths of enslaved persons be counted when determining a 
state's representation in the House, which in turn affected the number 
of Electoral College votes allotted to the state.
  Given its history and undemocratic nature, it is clear that the 
Electoral College system must be replaced with a process that 
determines the election of the president and vice president by a 
national popular vote. As such, Congress and the States should consider 
a constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral College.
  And, Congress should also encourage the States to reform the 
Electoral College through the formation of an interstate compact. 
Eleven states representing 165 electoral votes have already entered 
into an interstate compact to cast their electoral votes for the 
national popular vote winner. When enough states--representing 270 
electoral votes--join the compact, the presidential election will 
essentially be determined by national popular vote, obviating the need 
for a constitutional amendment.
  In a democracy, no person's vote should be worth more than any other 
person's vote. Congress should affirm its commitment to this essential 
principle and definitively declare that the American people, not state-
based Electors, should have the power to directly select the President 
and Vice President of the United States.

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