WASHINGTON, DC – Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, issued the following statement on the importance of preserving the Electoral College in the face of increasingly politicized demands for the sweeping transformation of presidential elections through a national popular vote.
“Anyone interested in fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion should also be defending the Electoral College. After all, it forces presidents and the political parties they lead to build diverse coalitions of voters in different states in order to win elections. Yet, progressives pillory the Electoral College as undemocratic and demand a national popular vote for president. Far from making our democracy more robust, that plan would devolve national campaigns into essentially local races that always target the same urban megalopolises and appeal to their narrow sets of interests.
“Ironically, many of the politicians and activists who today laud the Electoral College for legitimizing Joe Biden’s presidential victory, will tomorrow resume their attacks on the institution. Americans are smart enough to see through the partisan cynicism. The Electoral College has strengthened our democracy for two hundred years. Americans should all agree that it is as crucial today as ever before.”
