9.26 Myth That Our Nation's Freedom, Security, and Prosperity Are Protected by the Winner-Take-All Rule

Tara Ross, an opponent of the National Popular Vote plan, argues:

“This important aspect of our Constitution [the Electoral College] continues to protect our freedom, just as it did when it was created in 1787.”[543] [Emphasis added]

A brochure published by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation of Olympia, Washington states:

“[The Electoral College is] essential to our security and prosperity and, in the end, to keeping America free.”[544] [Emphasis added]

Neither Ross nor the Evergreen Freedom Foundation offers any argument that establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between our nation’s prosperity and state winner-take-all statutes (i.e., awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes in the state).

Similarly, there is no argument as to how the nation’s security is enhanced by the winner-take-all rule.

Is there any evidence that our nation’s freedom was endangered by the fact that only three states used the winner-take-all rule in our nation’s first presidential election in 1789?

Was prosperity reduced when Nebraska in 1992, and Maine in 1969, adopted the congressional district system of awarding electoral votes? It should be noted that all the states used the winner-take-all rule during the Great Depression.

Footnotes