February 6, 2001

(Oshkosh) Speaking at the Pioneer Inn before about 30 members of the Oshkosh Candlelight Club, James Genisio and Laura Brunell debated the resolution that "the Electoral College should be abolished."

Genisio, a former Catholic priest, two-time Oshkosh Common Council candidate, loyal Democrat, and frequent op-ed contributor to the local press, took the affirmative position. Genisio had seven major arguments to support his position:

1. No one can explain the Electoral College. If something is that confusing and mysterious, it should be dropped.
2. The Electoral College selects the President much like the "College of Cardinals" selects the Pope. It is elitist and anti-democratic.
3. Bush v. Gore was the 4th time a popular vote winner lost the election, and worse is that in 1976, had Gerald Ford won two more states--which he came close to doing--he would have become President even though he would have had over 2,000,000 fewer popular votes than Jimmy Carter.
4. Each state has at least 3 electoral votes, and if those votes are correlated with the population at large, the Electoral College system is weighted heavily to smaller states.
5. The country as a whole has moved steadily toward direct democracy in the last 200 years, making the Electoral College a dinosaur.
6. Genisio identified as his "main reason" for supporting the abolishment of the Electoral College the idea that "the person with the most votes should win."
7. Voting is the only place we are truly equal in America. The Electoral College violates that equality be making it possible for the will of the people to be defeated.

Brunell, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at UW Oshkosh, argued that the Electoral College should stay in place. She supported her position with the following:

1. The founding fathers were motivated to create the Electoral College by the same beliefs that led them to create a representative form of government instead of a direct democracy. They feared that direct elections were in fact less democratic.
2. We turn over many of our democratic responsibilities to representatives--the Electoral College is merely one more form of representation.
3. The founders were concerned not only with protecting "the people," but more importantly "the states." The Electoral College is the major way in which the individual states are protected in the national election for president.
4. The founding fathers feared a "tyranny of the majority," and thus the Electoral College was designed to insure that all parts of the country could have an influence in choosing the executive.
5. Without the Electoral College, much of middle America would lose its voice and politicians would most likely only visit large states.

Professor Brunell did provide the audience with electoral maps highlighting where the support for Bush and Gore actually was, inluding the infamous "county vote" map which shows the remarkable rural/urban split featured in the election.

After the speeches, audience members offered there own views, and while few people seemed to support keeping the College in its current form, neither did there appear to be much support for moving toward a pure popular vote system.

The Candlelight Club is in its 106th year of existence and meets the first Tuesday of every month for dinner and debate.

Story by Tony Palmeri

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