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Who does the Electoral College really benefit and is it still necessary?

November 03, 2020

Voted printed papers on white surface

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

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Sandra Salathe

I'm a fairly fast learner. I pick things up pretty swiftly and don't need much explanation in the process. But one process that continues to confuse me, regardless of how much explanation I receive, is the archaic and unfair practice of the Electoral College.

I used to think a president was elected based on the amount of votes he/she received. Which in theory, is the way it should be, right? But our founding fathers decided on a different system that doesn't necessarily benefit the entirety of the country. Then again, the majority of our country's history didn't benefit the nation as a whole.

In fact, politicians have discussed the removal of the Electoral College for years based on its unfair nature. But what exactly is the Electoral College and how does it work?

What is it, really?

If you're anything like me, you probably assumed a president has to win the most overall votes in order to secure an election victory. That assumption would be inaccurate.

I know, I was just as shocked.

An electoral collage is made up of 538 electors. Instead of trying to win the most votes in the country, a presidential candidate must win state victories consisting of more than 270 electoral votes. Whichever party hits that mark first, wins the election.

How does it work?

Every state gets an elector for one senator, which is always two per state, and one elector for each U.S. House of Representative, which differs per state. Thirty-three states choose electors by party convention, seven states (and District of Columbia) select electors by state party committees. The remainder of states appointment electors by party nominees or by presidential nominee appointments.

Because electors are loyal to their parties, they must vote for the candidate their party supports. Once ballots are cast and tallied, the electors reconvene in their states during December to officially vote for president and vice president. But there's one final step in this dizzying puzzle.

Once January rolls around, members of the House and Senate officially meet tally up those votes. So, just because one candidate won more votes overall doesn't necessarily mean they'll be inaugurated thanks to the Electoral College.

Who ok'd this?

Once again, we can thank our founding fathers for creating a system that benefits a certain demographic, while disproportionately affecting another. And that demographic would be the one consisting of the rich, white male.

What else is new, America?

The electoral college dates back to 1804, when it was initially ratified. At the time, Black enslaved individuals made up 40 percent of the South's population. Southern delegates wanted to include them when determining how many representatives their states would receive in Congress. Northerners did not agree with this, arguing slaves didn't require representation.

(Insert dramatic eye-roll here)

This led to the creation of the disgusting "three-fifths compromise," where every Black individual counted as only three-fifths of a person when identifying congressional representation for each state by population. Regardless of the progress we've made in America, that progress doesn't necessarily translate into politics.

Can't we just get rid of it?

Getting rid of the Electoral College would require some serious legislation. An entire Constitutional amendment to be exact. For those that know their way around the U.S. Constitution, or basic U.S. politics, you would know creating a new amendment is an extensively drawn out process.

It would require a Constitutional amendment consisting of two-thirds of the U.S. House of Representatives, two-thirds of the Senate, and three-fourths of the states to vote on it. And when you have a country tremendously divided, that's a lot easier said than done.

But hope is not all lost.

Many individuals want the Electoral College abolished. Certain states have already signed a pact promising to give their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote. For example, if Biden were to win the popular vote in a longtime Red state such as Texas, the state would award him all of its electoral votes, despite how he fared on the state ballot.

"Every vote matters," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in Mississippi last year. "And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College."

Even President Trump supported abolishing the Electoral College at some point, stating it was a "total disaster for democracy." Of course, Trump has since changed his views on the Electoral College, thanks to his 2016 victory.

But there's no denying the Electoral College is an incredibly unfair system, over-representing individuals that cater to a specific demographic. A demographic primarily made up of non-white voters.

Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.