Educators Amendment for the Direct Election of the President
PREAMBLE:
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION'S EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE IS BASED ON THE ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE MORALITY OF OUR REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT.
STUDENTS APPRECIATE ITS FAIRNESS.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
DISCARDS
ALL PERSONS' VOTES FOR ANY NATIONAL CANDIDATE WHO DOES NOT WIN THEIR STATE.
IT VIOLATES ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE.
IT GRANTS ONE PARTY CONTROL
OF THAT STATE'S POLITICAL FORTUNES. ONLY TOTALITARIAN STATES HAVE ONE PARTY RULE.
STUDENTS KNOW THESE ARE NOT DEMOCRACIES.
THEREFORE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE CAUSES STUDENTS TO LOSE FAITH IN U.S. DEMOCRACY.
EDUCATORS INCULCATE THE NEXT GENERATION RESPONSIBLE FOR U.S. DEMOCRACY. EDUCATORS CALL FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, TO EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATION TO PROTECT U.S. DEMOCRACY.
The Amendment
SECTION 1: ALL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF, SHALL HAVE THEIR VOTES COUNTED WITH IDENTICAL UNITARY VALUE, WITHOUT DILUTION, FOR THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SECTION 2: THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE IS PERMANENTLY ABOLISHED. VOTERS IN ALL STATES SHALL VOTE FOR ONE PRESIDENT AND ONE VICE PRESIDENT. ALL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT SHALL BE SECURELY TRANSMITTED TO THE NATIONAL SEAT OF THE UNITED STATES. EACH AND EVERY VOTE SHALL BE IMPARTIALLY COUNTED AT THE NATIONAL SEAT. THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES WHO HAVE A PLURALITY OF ALL VOTES SHALL BE DETERMINED TO BE THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT.
SECTION 3: NO FEDERAL OR STATE GOVERNMENT SHALL MAKE OR ENFORCE ANY LAW OR PROCEDURE WHICH PREVENTS ANY PERSON FROM MAKING A SECURE VOTE , OR IMPEDES SECURE TRANSMISSION OF VOTES TO THE NATIONAL SEAT, OR IN ANY WAY PROHIBITS THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE TOTAL NATIONAL VOTE.
(That means whoever has the most votes wins.)
The Situation:
When U.S. citizens vote for a President and/or Vice President, and their chosen candidates do not obtain a plurality of votes in their state, their votes are discarded by their state.
Given the President's importance for the entire nation, this should not continue.
The U.S. Constitution's Article Two grants all enforcement power to the President.
The Constitution says the President must treat every state the same. They must "enforce national laws equally with regards to all persons."
If the President should apply laws to everyone the same, everyone should have the same vote to elect them.
Money may be speech, but a vote is the most important political word a citizen can say.
The Electoral College discards millions of voices.
History
The Electoral College was established in 1788 as an expedient, because prior to telegraph, telephone, railroad, vehicle, airplane, and computer internet, votes were transmitted over wilderness paths, with little security, vulnerable to accidental and deliberate loss and alteration.
Sending sacks of votes from Maine or Carolina to Philadelphia or Washington wasn't conceivable. Some of those attending the Constitutional Convention had been waylaid themselves on the way to Philadelphia. But Madison and others didn't want the alternative, a parliamentary setup. That's where Congress selects the President. They decided Electors could be from congressional districts, but as ordinary folk, they'd be apolitical.
They failed to predict the power of political parties.
Votes were collected within districts and Electors representing them met in state capitals, then together went to the nation's capital. Parties quickly realized they could dominate a state with a "winner take all" rule.
In every state, a law was passed that all Electors had to vote for the state's winner, regardless of a locality's intent. The dominant party in a state maximized their influence. If their chosen candidates did not win at the national level, the whole state was in opposition, despite voters in the state who weren't.
Because of the 3/5 compromise, slave states got more Congressional representation per actual voter. The Electoral College baked in this advantage, since the number of Electors was based on Congressional and Senate representatives. As slavery became increasingly condemned, slave state Electors were a solid block of opposition to reform. Any southern voters who opposed slavery were silenced, which promoted secession.
By 1840 Electors were an anachronism in many places, because of railroads and telegraph, manufactured paper and inks. After the Civil War there was no excuse for Electors. They preserve party power at the expense of the state's disenfranchised voters.
It's been possible to have elections by popular vote for 150 years.
21st century technologies transmit vote results in seconds and minutes, not weeks and months. Monitoring is continuous, redundant, and necessary.
Electors have no cause to exist.
Millennials grew up in the most partisan era since the Civil War. They question democracy, because the general public is not extreme. If blue states have 40% Republicans, and red states have 40% Democrats, most young people know members of both parties. Extreme partisanship turns them off, hence the growth of independents. Most independents ally with principles of one of the two parties. But they dislike partisanship, so they decline affiliation.
Voter turnout is dampened by the Electoral College in several ways:
1) Democrats in blue states and Republicans in red states assume their single vote only adds to a margin of victory.
2) Democrats in red states and Republicans in blue states expect their votes to be discarded.
3) The Electoral College fosters partisanship. Political parties like that, perhaps, but most Americans do not.
Young Americans' democracy deficit: a loss of faith.
In Asia, South America, and Africa, World Values Surveys find young adults growing more confident in democracy. In Europe the picture is mixed.
Only in the U.S. is the drop-off in support for democracy so significant among young people. Especially well-educated young people!
They doubt their voice matters.
School Boards: Pass the Educators' Amendment
School boards can promote solutions for the next generation. Nonpartisan action is needed to restore their faith in democracy.
Please pass the amendment.