Electoral College not likely repealed

By Garrett Bergquist

Published Oct. 28, 2008

To Tom Korologos, the debate over reforming the Electoral College is a waste of time.

Korologos, a former deputy assistant for congressional liaison to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and the former ambassador to Belgium, said the way the Constitution is set up makes it next to impossible to do away with the Electoral College.

Speaking at the Reynolds Journalism Institute on Monday afternoon, Korologos said the Founding Fathers considered several alternatives before settling on the Electoral College. Other ideas discussed at the Constitutional Convention included letting either Congress or the state legislatures select the president or a direct popular vote, he said.

When the Founding Fathers settled on the Electoral College, the original structure meant the runner-up in presidential elections would become vice president. Korologos said under this system, Al Gore would have become vice president after losing the 2000 election to George Bush. This was meant to counter the effects of political parties.

"Political parties at the time were seen as mischievous and evil," Korologos said.

After Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in the elections of 1800 and 1804, resulting in the House of Representatives deciding both elections in Jefferson's favor, the U.S. quickly adopted the 12th Amendment, which set up the present system in which the president and vice president are elected together on a slate. Korologos said in doing so, they allowed parties to take hold.

Korologos said getting rid of the Electoral College would be extremely hard because it would require a constitutional amendment, which would need a two-thirds approval in both houses followed by approval by three-fourths of the state legislatures. He said since 42 of the 100 senators come from the 21 smallest states, they would oppose getting rid of the Electoral College because it would give too much power to the most populous states. This means such an amendment proposal would not pass the Senate.

"This country was not built on majority rule," he said. "It was built on the protection of the minority."

Korologos said the best alternative to the existing winner-take-all Electoral College system would be allowing the states to award electoral votes proportionally to each candidate based on the popular vote, something Nebraska and Maine already do. Korologos said requiring this across the nation would also require a constitutional amendment, but this program would be more likely to pass.

On the process of nation building in Iraq, Korologos said fledgling democracies will form themselves as they see fit. Korologos served as a senior counselor to Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He said progress will not come easily in a democratic Iraq because the Iraqi people spent so many years under Saddam Hussein. He said Bremer once had to abandon a visiting U.S. congressional delegation to help the interim Council of Ministers adjourn properly. Korologos said the ideal Iraqi leader would be a charismatic figure the people could rally around, like Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan.

Students said they enjoyed the discussion.

Senior Ryan Madden, a political science major, said he was glad to hear from a Washington insider.

"It's refreshing not to get information from an outside news source," he said.

Junior Aharon Sykes, a social work major, agreed and said the session was interesting.

"It was very informative," he said. "I liked hearing what he had to say about the ideal Iraqi leader."