Governor Beshear says he’s ‘in favor’ of Electoral College reform

(LEX 18) – During a Get Out The Vote rally Thursday in Lexington, Governor Andy Beshear expressed a desire to change the way the presidency is won in the United States.

“My goal, through the work that I do, is to get to that place in the United States – that’s where we all want to get – where seven states don’t decide the presidency and our future,” he told the crowd. “Where ultimately candidates come here and everywhere, where they work to secure every vote in the United States of America, where every vote counts the same no matter where it is cast.”

After voting in Frankfort Thursday morning, LEX 18 asked him to elaborate on his comments from the night before. Is he calling for electoral college reform?

“I would certainly support electoral college reform,” Beshear responded. “What we see now are seven states deciding the presidency. It may only be 60,000 votes across those seven states. And what it means in places like Kentucky — but also in places where there’s a tendency to vote differently — don’t see the candidates, don’t necessarily get that interaction.”

“Certainly, as we move forward – the more states involved, the more diversity of thought, the more voters interact with it, the better it is for democracy overall,” he added.

When asked to clarify how he would like the presidency to be decided, Beshear spoke about the importance of the popular vote.

“So many other countries are having a plebiscite,” Beshear said. “It would value every voice in every place the same. It would mean that fighting for that extra vote in Kentucky would be as important for a presidential candidate as it is in any swing states right now. It would equal all our votes in the United States.”

What is the Electoral College and how does the US use it to elect presidents?

Donald Trump became president in 2016 thanks to the Electoral College. George W. Bush did the same in 2000.

The Electoral College is America’s unique system for electing presidents. It is different from the popular vote and has a huge impact on the way candidates campaign and win. Republicans Trump and Bush lost the popular vote in their presidential elections, but won the Electoral College to claim the highest office in the land.

Some Democrats argue that the system favors Republicans, and that they would prefer the United States to elect its presidents by a simple majority vote. But the country’s framers enshrined the system in the Constitution, and it would take a constitutional amendment to change it.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is a 538-member body that elects a president. The framers of the Constitution created it to give more power to the states and as a compromise to prevent Congress from deciding the winner.

The voters of each state vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state. The runner-up gets nothing – except in Nebraska and Maine, where elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.

To win the presidency, a candidate must receive 270 electoral votes – a majority of the 538 possible votes.

How does this differ from the popular vote?

The Electoral College system gives more weight to a single vote in a small state than to the vote of someone in a large state, sometimes leading to outcomes that conflict with the popular vote.

It also affects the way candidates campaign. Because the outcome is almost certain in solidly Republican states and solidly Democratic states, candidates tend to focus most of their efforts on a handful of swing states that have split their votes in recent elections.

Who are the voters?

Electors are allocated based on the number of representatives a state has in the House of Representatives, plus its two senators. The District of Columbia gets three, despite being home to Congress without a vote in Congress.

It varies by state, but often the electors are chosen by state parties. Members of Congress cannot serve as electors.

How and when are the votes counted?

After state election officials certify their elections, voters in their individual states meet — never as one body — to certify the elections. This year that will happen on December 17.

If the two candidates have an equal number of votes, the election is sent to the House of Representatives, where each state’s congressional delegation receives one vote. That only happened twice, in 1801 and 1825.

Once a state’s voters have certified the vote, they send a certificate to Congress. Congress then formally counts and certifies the vote during a special session on January 6. The vice president presides over the elections while the envelopes are opened and checked for each state.

Can lawmakers object?

Lawmakers can object to a state’s results during congressional certification, as several Republicans did after the 2020 election. On January 6, 2021, the House and Senate both voted to reject GOP objections to Arizona and Pennsylvania’s results .

After Trump tried to overturn his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden and his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, Congress updated the 19th century Electoral Count Act to make it harder to object and to strengthen the ceremonial role of the vice president to explain more clearly. other changes. Trump had pressured Vice President Mike Pence to try to object to the results — something the vice president has no legal authority to do.

Once Congress certifies the vote, the new or returning president will be inaugurated on the steps of the Capitol on January 20.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.