Why an Electoral College?

• Position: US system for electing a President - Brief Article

Electing a President seems like a no-brainer: The people vote, and the candidate with the most votes wins. But as the Founding Fathers hammered out the Constitution in 1787, Virginia's James Madison had a problem with that idea.

Sure, it sounded good, but the more numerous Northern voters would have power over Madison's fellow Southerners. So he proposed the Electoral College, which would consist of electors, or representatives, from each state. "The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections," he wrote. Others supported the idea of...