The Electoral College robs American voters of their voice at best

You can mark a ballot, press a touchscreen or pull a lever, but you’re not actually voting for president this year.

Whether by mail, drop box, cast early or on Election Day, you aren’t directly voting for Joe Biden or Donald Trump. If you squint at the ballot fine print, the dirty not-so-little secret is that you are choosing electors merely pledged to the presidential nominees. The Electoral College is a bizarre and outdated system that today effectively disenfranchises many Americans, while making only a fraction of U.S. states relevant in presidential elections.

It’s a combination designed for disillusionment at best and impending 2020 electoral disaster at worst.

Most of us carry minicomputers. But we vote in the smartphone era by a system devised in the late 1700s, when the USA was just 13 former colonies — and disturbingly, much of the population wasn’t eligible to cast a ballot.

The oddity of the Electoral college

Many Americans grew up with the Electoral College being a historical oddity that could exaggerate presidential election results but didn’t change the will of the national vote. I remembered the 1876 Hayes vs. Tilden election from some obscure school lesson, but I never thought it would happen in the modern era. And it didn’t for the entire 20th century.

But it has happened twice since 2000, including the last presidential election. Nearly 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. But a razor-thin margin in three swing states led to Trump being sworn in as president.

The Electoral College-driven fates of our nation can be decided by hundreds of votes in one state. The 2000 Bush vs. Gore election ended with a controversial determination by the Supreme Court on just a Florida recount. With Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, that prospect today sends chills up any Democratic-leaning spine.

Whether the results are clear or not this week, states won’t actually cast their Electoral College votes until Dec. 14. Normally, that’s a formality, but 2020 has been anything but normal.

In today’s era of inflammatory presidential rhetoric about election night vote counting, racial tensions, armed protesters, hyperpartisan divides, foreign cyber interference and the ravages of a deadly pandemic, what could go wrong by adding a cumbersome delay to America’s presidential vote?

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Some Electoral College factors ranging from frustratingly quaint to subverting the voice of the American people:

►Rogue electors may change the election results. So, the only votes that actually count today aren’t those of 100 million or so Americans who’ll have marked their ballot by Tuesday.

We’re technically at the whims of 538 electors, who can vote for whomever they want in many states. While a majority of states seek to penalize or prevent rogue or “unfaithful” electors from voting differently from their pledge, they don’t all actually enforce it by canceling their votes.

Different scenarios in this election

► Most electors remain anonymous, so voters don’t know who they are choosing. They’re generally party faithful, chosen for presumed loyalty through a hodgepodge of state rules. But electors have strayed over the years. In 2016, a record seven electors went rogue, instead of the usual single dissenter.

Clinton had three Washington state electors inexplicably vote for Colin Powell. With firsthand experience about Electoral College disappointment, Clinton recently revealed she plans to be a Biden elector in New York.

The possibility some rogue elector could influence a tight election by casting a vote for, say, Kanye West instead of Trump or Biden could put America over the collective edge in an already nerve-racking year.

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►“Nightmare scenarios” about state legislatures picking their own electors are being raised by analysts as plausible in a disputed election. This is fueled by President Trump’s regular warnings of a “rigged” election.

There are reports of a Republican strategy preparing for the possibility of legislatures actually bypassing disputed election results by naming their own slate of electors. A popular article in The Atlantic said this could look “uncomfortably like a coup.” But the Constitution gives state legislatures the power to select electors.

Congress certifies the state votes. The House chooses the president if there’s no clear Electoral College winner. These acts loom larger in turbulent times.

Democrats have also amassed an army of lawyers to argue for their side. In any of these electoral disputes, the clear loser is likely to be the American voter.

►We can’t change the Electoral College without a politically problematic constitutional amendment, but we can strengthen it by the next presidential election.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would appoint state electors based on the nationwide popular vote winner. The measure is on the Colorado ballot this year.

Already signed on are more than a dozen states and Washington, D.C. More states totaling the 270 electoral vote majority would have to sign on for the compact to take effect.

One day, perhaps there won’t be a popular vote and an electoral vote. Instead, they’ll be an American vote.

Ultimately, the Electoral College’s emphasis on red and blue states belongs in the national trash can, along with laws restricting the voting rights of women and minorities.

In the meantime, if you haven’t done your civic duty, vote for the elector slate of your choice. And hope they’ll vote for the presidential candidate of your choice.

Lee Michael Katz is author of "My Name Is Geraldine Ferraro." He is a former senior diplomatic correspondent for USA TODAY and international editor of UPI. His website is www.lmkatz.com

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elections: the Electoral College is flawed and can botch the election