The Electoral College, Part 3: What Has it Wrought?
Sherwin Markman • June 23, 2020
Right off the bat, the Electoral College system, so carefully devised by the founders, failed. Their dream that a president would be carefully selected by a cadre of wise, thoughtful men (the “electors”) chosen by the legislatures of the several states, immediately foundered on the inescapable need of political leaders to form themselves into political parties. In the case of the new America, it was the Federalists, headed by the likes of John Adams, and the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson.
It started with the perversely unique election of 1800, when Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran against Adams and Charles Pinckney. In that election, it was clearly understood by all that Jefferson was the presidential candidate and Burr the vice-presidential. When the electors met to decide, they voted 73 to 65 in favor of Jefferson and Burr, defeating Adams and Pinckney. It should be noted that they voted, not as the independent “wise men” envisioned by the drafters of the Constitution, but in lockstep as demanded by their respective political parties (whether that is constitutionally required is the subject of two Supreme Court cases likely to be decided this month).
However, in one of the great political betrayals in American history, Burr announced that he had been, after all, secretly running for president all along. That created a constitutional catastrophe because the Constitution then provided that the electors shall cast two votes without distinguishing between president and vice president, and that the presidential winner would be the man receiving the most electoral votes, as long as it was a majority. Therefore, because they had run as a team, the electoral votes for Jefferson and Burr tied at 73, with neither receiving the required majority. So it was that the decision was thrown into the House of Representatives with each state to cast its single vote. For 35 ballots, the House was deadlocked between these two candidates, with the Federalists backing Burr. Finally, on the 36th ballot, Alexander Hamilton, himself a Federalist leader, threw his support to Jefferson, breaking the tie and enabling Jefferson to win the prize.
That debacle led, in 1804, to the adoption of the 12th Amendment requiring the electors to vote separately for president and vice president, which is the rule today. But that fix did nothing to cure the two critical failures of the Electoral College: the risk of a perverted election when more than two viable candidates sought the presidency; and the greater risk of elections that result in the defeat of the candidate who captures a majority of the popular vote.
Both corruptions came roaring forward in the election of 1824. By that time, 18 of the then 24 states had moved to the popular election of electors (all of the remaining states would eventually follow). There were four presidential candidates: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. Jackson clearly won the popular vote — 11 percent more than Adams — as well as a lead in the electoral vote. But Jackson did not have a majority of electoral votes, and so the contest was sent to the House of Representatives, with each state casting one vote. There Clay threw his support to Adams, giving him a majority of the states, thus electing him president. Jackson, livid beyond words, called it “barefaced corruption.” But the result stood. Jackson, of course, gained his revenge four years later when he decisively defeated Adams’ bid for re-election.
In 1876, our Electoral College system caused a debacle that had a chillingly destructive impact on African Americans. In that election, Samuel Tilden received a majority of both the electoral and popular votes for president, and thus should have been easily elected. But it was not to be. His opponent, Rutherford Hayes, challenged the legitimacy of Tilden electors from three southern states — Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina — and then promised that, if elected, he would end Reconstruction by removing federal troops from the South. The legislatures from those states immediately acquiesced and changed their electors, thus electing Hayes and, more importantly, beginning the death knell of free African American voting in the South.
As we moved on to the 20th Century, the Electoral College system continued to do its destructive work. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, then the former Republican president, ran against the incumbent Republican president, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat. With these three well known candidates, the election could have been thrown into the House of Representatives, but, happenstantially, it was not because Wilson received an overwhelming 82 percent of the electoral votes despite achieving only 42 percent of the popular vote.
Throughout the recent century, the nation continued to skirt close to a House election when viable third-party candidates gained large numbers of electoral votes. So it was in the 1968 contest among Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace, and again in 1992 among Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ross Perot. Such luck is not necessarily ours forever, especially in an era where it is increasingly likely that one or both of our current political parties might divide and germinate, just as the Republicans came out of the Whigs in 1856.
And then, here in the 21st Century, we continue to see the specter of the election of presidential candidates who lose the popular vote: Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000, and, of course, Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that either of these abominations — elections by the House of Representatives or elections of candidates who lose the popular vote — will not continue to happen. What, if anything, can and should be done about it will be the subject of my final article.
Sherwin Markman, a graduate of the Yale Law School, lives in Rock Hall, Maryland. He served as an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, after which was a trial lawyer in Washington, D.C. He has published several books, including one dealing with the Electoral College. He has also taught and lectured about the American political system.
Common Sense for the Eastern Shore
Right now, Congress is working on a fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs in order to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
The House Agriculture Committee recently voted, along party lines, to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, helping more than 41 million people in the U.S. pay for food. With potential cuts this large, it helps to know who benefits from this program in Maryland, and who would lose this assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities compiled data on SNAP beneficiaries by congressional district, cited below, and produced the Maryland state datasheet , shown below. In Maryland, in 2023-24, 1 in 9 people lived in a household with SNAP benefits. In Maryland’s First Congressional District, in 2023-24: Almost 34,000 households used SNAP benefits. Of those households, 43% had at least one senior (over age 60). 29% of SNAP recipients were people of color. 15% were Black, non-Hispanic, higher than 11.8% nationally. 6% were Hispanic (19.4% nationally). There were 24,700 total veterans (ages 18-64). Of those, 2,200 lived in households that used SNAP benefits (9%). The CBPP SNAP datasheet for Maryland is below. See data from all the states and download factsheets here.
Apparently, some people think that the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” is a foregone conclusion, and that the struggle over the budget and Trump’s agenda is over and done. Not true. On Sunday night, the bill — given the alternate name “Big Bad Bullsh*t Bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus — was voted out of the House Budget Committee. The GOP plan is to pass this legislation in the House before Memorial Day. But that’s not the end of it. As Jessica Craven explained in her Chop Wood Carry Water column: “Remember, we have at least six weeks left in this process. The bill has to: Pass the House, Then head to the Senate where it will likely be rewritten almost completely, Then be passed there, Then be brought back to the House for reconciliation, And then, if the House changes that version at all, Go back to the Senate for another vote.” She adds, “Every step of that process is a place for us to kill it.” The bill is over a thousand pages long, and the American people will not get a chance to read it until it has passed the House. But, thanks to 5Calls , we know it includes:
Let's talk about our Eastern Shore Delegation, the representatives who are supposed to fight for our nine Shore counties in Annapolis, and what they actually got up to this session.
For the first time in recent memory, Virginia Democrats have candidates running in all 100 House of Delegates districts — a milestone party leaders and grassroots organizers say reflects rising momentum as President Donald Trump’s second term continues to galvanize opposition.
The 447th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 8. This End of Session Report highlights the work Shore Progress has done to fight for working families and bring real results home to the Shore. Over the 90-day session, lawmakers debated 1,901 bills and passed 878 into law. Shore Progress and members supported legislation that delivers for the Eastern Shore, protecting our environment, expanding access to housing and healthcare, strengthening workers’ rights, and more. Shore Progress Supported Legislation By The Numbers: Over 60 pieces of our backed legislation were passed. Another 15 passed in one Chamber but not the other. Legislation details are below, past the budget section. The 2026 Maryland State Budget How We Got Here: Maryland’s budget problems didn’t start overnight. They began under Governor Larry Hogan. Governor Hogan expanded the state budget yearly but blocked the legislature from moving money around or making common-sense changes. Instead of fixing the structural issues, Hogan used federal covid relief funds to hide the cracks and drained our state’s savings from $5.5 billion to $2.3 billion to boost his image before leaving office. How Trump/Musk Made It Worse: Maryland is facing a new fiscal crisis driven by the Trump–Musk administration, whose trade wars, tariff policies, and deep federal cuts have hit us harder than most, costing the state over 30,000 jobs, shuttering offices, and erasing promised investments. A University of Maryland study estimates Trump’s tariffs alone could cost us $2 billion, and those federal cuts have already added $300 million to our budget deficit. Covid aid gave us a short-term boost and even created a fake surplus under Hogan, but that money is gone, while housing, healthcare, and college prices keep rising. The Trump–Musk White House is only making things worse by slashing funding, gutting services, and eliminating research that Marylanders rely on. How The State Budget Fixes These Issues: This year, Maryland faced a $3 billion budget gap, and the General Assembly fixed it with a smart mix of cuts and fair new revenue, while protecting working families, schools, and health care. The 2025 Budget cuts $1.9 billion ($400 million less than last year) without gutting services people rely on. The General Assembly raised $1.2 billion in fair new revenue, mostly from the wealthiest Marylanders. The Budget ended with a $350 million surplus, plus $2.4 billion saved in the Rainy Day Fund (more than 9% of general fund revenue), which came in $7 million above what the Spending Affordability Committee called for. The budget protects funding for our schools, health care, transit, and public workers. The budget delivers real wins: $800 million more annually for transit and infrastructure, plus $500 million for long-term transportation needs. It invests $9.7 billion in public schools and boosts local education aid by $572.5 million, a 7% increase. If current revenue trends hold, no new taxes will be needed next session. Even better, 94% of Marylanders will see a tax cut or no change, while only the wealthiest 5% will finally pay their fair share. The tax system is smarter now. We’re: Taxing IT and data services like Texas and D.C. do; Raising taxes on cannabis and sports betting, not groceries or medicine; and Letting counties adjust income taxes. The budget also restores critical funding: $122 million for teacher planning $15 million for cancer research $11 million for crime victims $7 million for local business zones, and Continued support for public TV, the arts, and BCCC The budget invests in People with disabilities, with $181 million in services Growing private-sector jobs with $139 million in funding, including $27.5 million for quantum tech, $16 million for the Sunny Day Fund, and $10 million for infrastructure loans. Health care is protected for 1.5 million Marylanders, with $15.6 billion for Medicaid and higher provider pay. Public safety is getting a boost too, with $60 million for victim services, $5.5 million for juvenile services, and $5 million for parole and probation staffing. This budget also tackles climate change with $100 million for clean energy and solar projects, and $200 million in potential ratepayer relief. Public workers get a well-deserved raise, with $200 million in salary increases, including a 1% COLA and ~2.5% raises for union workers. The ultra-wealthy will finally chip in to pay for it: People earning over $750,000 will pay more, Millionaires will pay 6.5%, and Capital gains over $350,000 get a 2% surcharge. Deductions are capped for high earners, but working families can still deduct student loans, medical debt, and donations. This budget is bold, fair, and built to last. That’s why Shore Progress proudly supports it. Click on the arrows below for details in each section.
