The Electoral College is not perfect but it is the system we have, and it has served the Republic since its inception. 

The fears of the Founding Fathers were that a president selected by Congress alone would not be representative of the will of the people and antithetical to the principles of democracy while a popular vote could mean an unqualified candidate could be elected by uninformed or even illiterate voters. 

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says:

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted.

Each state has the same number of electors as it has representatives and senators. The president and vice president must be elected by a majority of the 538 electors — 270 electoral votes.

In essence, when voters go to the polls every four years, they are voting for their chosen candidate’s electors.

Most U.S. states use a winner-take-all system, giving all state electors to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in that state.

In the vast majority of cases, the candidate who wins the popular vote also wins the Electoral College vote but there have been notable exceptions — 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016.

Still, even in those cases, after the Electoral College count has been verified and certified, there has historically been a peaceful transfer of power and the Republic has survived. The insurrection of Jan. 6, 2020, the refusal of the mob and outgoing president to accept the ceremonial certification of the Electoral College count was unprecedented and a real and present danger to the Republic. 

Federal lawmakers are trying to make sure that does not happen again. 

Just as shocking as the siege on the Capitol, were the clandestine slates of fake electors — no where more dangerous than in the state of Georgia. 

If the proposal being bandied in the House and Senate passes, Congress would make it clear the vice president has no powers to reject state-certified electors and the role of the VP in certification is solely ministerial. Proposals would also make it more difficult for individual members of Congress to raise frivolous objections on the floor. The Electoral Count Reform Act would hold state governors accountable for the certified electors for each state and require Congress to accept federal court rulings in challenges to electoral counts. 

Democracy is not partisan

Georgia’s state lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats — should voice support for efforts to protect the will of the people by protecting the electoral process. 

Georgia’s senators and representatives — Republicans and Democrats — should vote in favor of placing guardrails around the process that has worked since the inception of the Republic. 

Jim Zachary is editor of The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s director of newsroom training and development, deputy national editor and president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.