While I agree with Peter Kitchen’s overall point in his Aug. 17 letter, “Fix the Electoral College,” I disagree with his proposed remedy. Currently, Maine and Nebraska use the congressional district method for elector allocation. This method allows state legislatures to have control over the apportionment of electors by means of unfair redistricting.
In 2012, House Democrats earned over 1 million more votes than Republicans overall, yet Republicans retained a majority by 33 seats. This was due to both the Republicans’ vast control of state legislatures, and due to the tendency of Democratic voters to cluster themselves in some cities. An analysis by the Washington Post in February 2015 showed that Mitt Romney would have won the 2012 election if all states used the congressional district method, even while Barack Obama won the popular vote. Similar analyses for this past election show the same result.
Another proposal to fix the Electoral College is to increase the size of the House of Representatives, which has been capped since 1929. This would lessen the disproportionate effect of smaller states while keeping the original intent of the framers intact.
