How to make Black voters disappear? There have been many attempts—including one to abolish the Electoral College. Here is how a newspaper reported the debate in Congress:
In the House the sponsor of the amendment is Rep. Ed Gossett, of Texas, who has always taken a narrowly reactionary view, particularly on any issue involving race or color. In urging all Southerners to crusade for the amendment, Gossett is quite frank in stating that the goal is to end “irresponsible control and domination by small organized minority groups within the large pivotal states.” He names these groups as Negroes, “the radical wing of organized labor” and “with all due deference to our many fine Jewish citizens, they constitute a third group.”
You may have guessed that this happened some time ago. In fact, it was 1950, although the issue kept coming up in Congress into the 1970s. Another member of Congress from Texas, Bob Poage, pointed out that “if the electoral college system of electing a president were abolished, [desegregation] wouldn’t be brought up.”
Perhaps this is why civil rights leaders went to bat to defend the Electoral College. So did then-Senator John F. Kennedy. He pointed out that moving towards a popular vote would increase the incentives for voter suppression in some states. JFK stated that the Electoral College “has served us well; its advantages are well known.” Moving towards a more direct election “would break down the Federal system under which most states entered the Union and which provides a plan of checks and balances designed to prevent any party, region or size of state from obtaining too much or too little electoral power” (underlining in original).
In another post we’ll explain more about how the Electoral College amplifies minority voices, but it’s important to understand the history before jumping on board with poorly thought out reform efforts like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which threatens to diminish the power of minorities in American politics.
(Note: Newspapers cited are the Atlanta Journal, March 1, 1950, and the Waco News-Tribune, October 8, 1957.)