There is hope for the constitution!

In a rare unanimous Supreme Court decision the justices ruled presidential electors can be required to cast ballots for the candidate who wins their state’s popular vote. The decision eliminates any Electoral College uncertainty as the U.S. heads toward a contentious election in November.

The court, in an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan, said that states stand on firm constitutional and historical ground in requiring that presidential electors must stick with the state’s voter-chosen candidate.

In recent years a divided American electorate have often argued that the electoral college was an outdated system for electing a President prompting many left leaning voters to push for their electors to vote their conscience. This would make those electors “super voters” in the minds of other voters.

Our Founding Fathers realized that electing a national President on the popular vote would put small states at a disadvantage. Allowing large states to dictate the election of a President. In recent elections it is clear that without the control in place by the electoral college system, New York and California would decide who the President would be. 

The issue came to a head most recently in the election of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Trump won the vote in the electoral college while Clinton had a small majority in the national popular vote. 

This was greatly disturbing to Clinton supporters who called on electors appointed by their state to break rank and vote for Clinton over Trump. A few actually did just that.

With a court that is divided on most decisions 5-4. The justices came together to support the design as laid out in our Constitution by the Founding Fathers.