Op-Ed: Perhaps It's Time for an Electoral College Within the States
There’s a lot of “flyover country” in my home state of Pennsylvania.
More accurately, it should be called “drive-through country” – the expanse traversed by Interstate 80 that carries travelers from the populated East (Philadelphia) to the populated West (Pittsburgh).
As people travel east or west in Pennsylvania, they enjoy the scenic countryside and bucolic little towns, but most don’t stop. They drive right on by, headed for the urban destinations of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
The composition of Pennsylvania is much like the United States – a large swath of flyover country that is passed by as people travel to and from the metropolitan East and West Coasts.
And like Pennsylvania, most travelers flying to or from the coasts glance down at America’s heartland but never set foot on the ground.
There’s a major disconnect between the urban populations on the coasts and the blue-collar contingent occupying the rest of the country.
And speaking for those of us who reside in the rural, small towns of Pennsylvania, and America, we really don’t mind being overlooked by the major population centers. They do their thing and we do ours.
Except when it comes to elections.
When those living in major cities “do their thing” during an election where the Electoral College isn’t applied, they overwhelm and silence the voice of those living in rural areas and even the suburbs.
On a national scale, the Electoral College prevents the highly populated states from dictating the terms for the rest of us when votes are cast. Majority rule holds no weight come presidential election time in America, and perhaps it’s time the same approach be implemented on the state level.
The 2020 presidential election strengthened the argument for an Electoral College within the states.
Here in Pennsylvania, the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were expected strongholds for Joe Biden, while the bulk of the rest of the state was a solid red for President Donald Trump.
As it stands right now — since the election is being contested and nothing is truly official — 13 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties voted for Biden, anchored by the metropolitan strongholds of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Combined, those two cities have a population of nearly 2 million, and in the end, Philadelphia and, to a lesser extent, Pittsburgh, spoke for all of Pennsylvania and flipped the Keystone State to Biden.
That means, without an Electoral College, those living in Pennsylvania flyover country were left without a voice, regardless of how many Trump signs dotted yards throughout the state.
And even though the Pennsylvania heartland has a higher population base than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh combined, the sheer number of voters from those metropolitan areas is overwhelming. Philadelphia, for example, accounted for 603,790 votes for Biden and only 132,740 for Trump – a difference of 471,000. That’s a lot of ground for voters in the rest of the state to make up. Factor in the smaller urban areas that swung for Biden – Scranton, Allentown, Erie and State College – and the rest of us didn’t have a chance.
The majority-rule form of voting impacted flyover areas in other states as well.
The majority of the Michigan landscape was red in the 2020 election, with the exception of those counties encompassing Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, and that was enough to turn the entire state blue.
In Illinois, the votes in Cook County alone – home to Chicago – were enough to obliterate the sweeping red wave that covered most of the state. Milwaukee flipped Wisconsin, and Atlanta did the same for Georgia, despite the majority of counties glowing red.
Again, this is all subjective as Trump continues to fight the election results, but it’s not the first time the urban areas within a state dictated the terms in vote totals.
The problem with having a popular vote dictate the presidential outcome for states is the values and issues that are important in the large cities differ from what matters to the voters in the majority of rural and suburban counties.
As a result, the concerns and opinions of the flyover areas within a state mean nothing during a presidential election.
And that goes against the very definition of a republic, which is the form of government that the Founding Fathers desired.
That means, in Pennsylvania, small-town Punxsutawney is every bit as important as Philadelphia. Pittston matters every bit as much as Pittsburgh.
But without an Electoral College, it’s too easy for the big cities to silence the small towns on election night.
There are many ways to implement an Electoral College at the state level. The simplest and most effective would be to base it on congressional districts that already reflect the values and concerns of a geographic region.
However, in addition to ensuring a voice for all residents in a state, an Electoral College would also quash a major problem that surfaced on Nov. 3 – voter fraud.
No one can rightfully deny the occurrence of fraud in the election. Trump’s attorneys have collected a voluminous amount of affidavits, witnesses, documents and data that all point to election wrongdoing. Ultimately, it will be up to a court to decide, but so far Biden’s unofficial victory doesn’t come close to passing the smell test.
With the Electoral College in states, the risk and impact of fraudulent attempts to swing an election would be nullified.
While it’s imperative for our country that Trump is able to flip the election or, at the very least, Republicans are able to hold the Senate with two victories in Georgia, a state-level Electoral College is the only way to ensure that the mess we’re in right now doesn’t happen again.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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