Understanding US Presidential Election According To Its Constitutional Context- A Harsha Sankar Article

 

Dear Citizen,                                                   September 2020

As the presidential election draws near, people need to understand it properly according to its proper US Constitutional context.

The US Constitution, a document that all government officials are supposed to be strictly following, never called for candidates to run directly for President. It merely stated that each state would pick electors on a specific election day once every four years. Those chosen electors then would meet in their respective states to pick anyone they deemed fit for President and for Vice-President. Finally, on a later uniform date for all states, each state would cast its choice separately for both President and  Vice-President.

So what is the point of candidates running directly for President and Vice-President? The direct popular vote for these offices contradicts the US Constitution. As a matter of fact, Presidential elections do not even have to be decided by indirect popular voting. The state legislature is constitutionally allowed to have the electors picked as it sees fit. A state legislature could directly vote for the electors. They can pass laws to have these electors picked  in any manner as they find suitable, provided the electors do not hold an "office of profit and trust".

For the current practices to be allowed, the US Constitution has to be properly amended. The Founding Fathers gave each and every state, which was much more sovereign back then that it is now, much more authority to pick the President. Those electors, on a state by state basis, were supposed to vote for the President as they deemed fit. The American citizenry was not supposed to have any direct input at all on the election of president.  America should  go back to the original practices of picking the POTUS and VPOTUS that the US Constitution still authorizes as lawful. If not,it should amend the nation's charter to allow for direct popular voting for the President via the electoral count.

                               Harsha Sankar

                               Covington, Virginia 24426