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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, In a democratic election, the candidate who receives |
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the most votes should win; and |
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WHEREAS, That elementary principle has been undermined in the |
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United States, where in two out of the last five elections, the |
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Electoral College has awarded the presidency to the candidate who |
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was rejected by the majority of voters; in the most recent |
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presidential election, the winning candidate received nearly 3 |
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million fewer votes than the losing candidate, who won a wider |
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margin of the popular vote than 10 past presidents; and |
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WHEREAS, Candidates with the least votes also won the |
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presidential election three times in the 19th century, and such a |
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result is likely to happen again in the near future, thanks to an |
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antiquated mechanism that subverts the will of the people; a |
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vestige of the days when only white male landowners had a voice in |
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political life, the Electoral College was written into the |
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U.S. Constitution in the course of heated negotiations between more |
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heavily populated northern states and more rural southern states; |
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designed to protect the power of the elite and the influence of |
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slave states, the college is a complicated system under which |
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citizens mark their ballots for presidential candidates, but in |
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reality, their votes are cast for a slate of electors in their |
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respective states, who are actually entrusted with the task of |
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choosing the president; and |
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WHEREAS, Because the college allocates electors based on each |
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state's representation in Congress, it distorts the outcome of |
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presidential campaigns; residents of smaller states have a larger |
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voice in the results, and today, Wyoming voters exert almost four |
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times as much influence as do California voters; moreover, 48 |
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states and the District of Columbia award electoral votes on a |
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winner-take-all basis, so that it makes no difference whether a |
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candidate wins a state by a vast or minuscule margin; it is |
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technically possible for a candidate to gain the presidency with |
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only about 23 percent of the national popular vote; moreover, tens |
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of millions of voters are effectively disenfranchised in states |
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with a heavy partisan lean, and turnout can be depressed among |
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citizens who believe that their vote is wasted; and |
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WHEREAS, From its inception, the Electoral College has been a |
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source of contention, and over the past two centuries, legislators |
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have proposed more than 700 constitutional amendments to reform or |
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eliminate it; public support for the system has waxed and waned, but |
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for decades, the majority of Americans have expressed opposition to |
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it; and |
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WHEREAS, The Electoral College is a discredited 18th-century |
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relic that violates the principle of one person, one vote; the |
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nation's highest office should be awarded on the same basis as every |
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other elected position in our democracy; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass a |
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constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and |
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creating a system for the direct election of presidents by popular |
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vote; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |