Dakota Beacon

How many times have we heard the media point out that a candidate for president has won the electoral college but lost the popular vote? Answer: Five times a candidate has been elected president without winning the popular vote.

John Quincy Adams 1824

In 1824, there were four contenders for the presidency, all members of the Democrat-Republican party… Andrew Jackson (99 electoral votes), John Quincy Adams (84 electoral votes), William Crawford (41 electoral votes), and Henry Clay (37 electoral votes). The Federalist Party had dissolved. Later, the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democrat Party while the factions led by Adams and Clay would become the Republican Party.

Andrew Jackson was 32 electoral votes shy of a majority so the vote went to the House of Representatives. According to the 12^th Amendment, the House can only vote on the top three vote-getters. But Clay was Speaker of the House and wielded his power by throwing his support to Adams in return for later being named Adams’ Secretary of State in what was called the “corrupt bargain.” In the first election where popular vote was recorded for history, Adams received only about 32%.

Rutherford B. Hayes 1876

Republican Hayes won 165 electoral votes to Democrat Samuel Tilden’s 184… but 20 more electoral votes were in dispute. A congressionally created bipartisan Federal Electoral Commission of House representatives, senators, and Supreme Court justices gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, who won by 185 to 184. The Democrats agreed to let Hayes be President in return for Republicans agreeing to pull all federal troops out of the south, abandoning Reconstruction in 1877.

Benjamin Harrison 1888

Both parties paid citizens, called “floaters” to vote for their candidate. Southern Democrats did everything in their power to suppress the black vote, most of whom aligned with the Republicans, the “party of Lincoln.” Incumbent President Cleveland and the Democrats took the entire south while Republican Harrison won the north and west. Cleveland won the popular vote by more than 90,000 votes, but still lost the electoral college 233 to 168. For years later, Cleveland came back and beat Harrison, becoming the first and only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

George W. Bush 2000

Bush won the Electoral College 271 to 266, while Gore ended up getting 500,000 more votes in the popular vote.

Donald Trump 2016

Trump won the Electoral College convincingly with 304 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227 while losing the popular vote by 2.8 million.

How can a Republican Non-Voter Contribute to the Demise of the Electoral College?

It is reasonably certain that the Republican will win the Presidential race in North Dakota. The only Democrats to win North Dakota were Woodrow Wilson 1912 and 1916, Franklin D. Roosevelt 1932 and 1936, and Lyndon B. Johnson 1964. Consequently, many Republicans will opt to stay home.

If I do not care much about ballot measures or local candidates and issues, I need not waste my time voting this year… right?

If only about 5% of Red State Republicans take this lazy approach to voting, Democrats will win the popular vote nationwide. And every time a Republican wins the Electoral College while losing the popular vote, the Democrat media machine foments a fervor for elimination of the Electoral College.

Bottom Line

If you agree with our nation’s founders that the electoral college is the fairest way to elect a President, get your lazy butt to the polls and vote. Otherwise, future presidents will be chosen by California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois… and the rest of the states, including North Dakota, will not matter.

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