Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came out against the Electoral College calling the system racially imbalanced, and accused it of giving too much power to white votes. Ocasio-Cortez made the argument in her Instagram story Monday, posting screenshots from an article in the New York Magazine.
The Electoral College has become a more popular talking point for Democrats after Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, but was defeated in the electoral college by Donald Trump — Clinton became the second Democrat in the past five presidential elections to lose despite holding more votes than their opponent.
"Due to severe racial disparities in certain states, the Electoral College effectively weighs white voters over voters of color, as opposed to a 'one person, one vote' system, where all our votes are counted equally," Ocasio-Cortez said in her story.
She went on to denounce the argument that eliminating the Electoral College would give big states too much power while incorporating, and quickly putting down, arguments made by Michael Barone of the American Enterprise Institute. Ocasio-Cortez said the "fairness" argument used to defend the system is only used because it benefits white people.
"Could you image if we had this kind democracy-altering 'fairness' provision for literally any other group?" Ocasio-Cortez said. "If we weighed, for example, black and Indigenous voters more because of unfairness?"
Multiple Democratic 2020 candidates have also argued against the Electoral College system — including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeting an article by NBC News explaining how President Trump could lose the popular vote by five million votes and still win reelection.
Abolish the Electoral College. https://t.co/eVI5QdrWbu
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 19, 2019
“Abolish the Electoral College,” Sanders tweeted last month.
The defeat in the Electoral College most recently took down Hillary Clinton but a similar scenario occurred in 2000, when President George W. Bush won the Electoral College after the disputed contest in Florida, even as he lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore.
