The Electoral College, as composed today, is an un-democratic institution. Since, per the Constitution, it is based on the number of Representatives and Senators of each State, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. However, the number of Representatives is not equally proportionate to the population of each State. Take for instance, Wyoming: with a population of approximately 578,000, it has 1 Representative and 2 Senators which equals out to 3 Electoral College votes, a ration of approximately 200,000 to 1 (people to electoral votes.) California, on the opposite extreme, with a population of approximately 39,600,000, has 55 Representatives and 2 Senators, equaling 57 Electoral College votes. California’s people to electoral vote ratio is about 720,000 to 1. That is nowhere near equally proportioned. In order for it to be equally proportioned, California would need 198 Electoral College votes (a ratio of 200,000 to 1.)
To look at it another way, in California, using the 200,000 to 1 ratio, only 11 million people are represented in the House and 28 million are not. Another way to look at it, a citizen of Wyoming has 68 times more political power than a citizen of California does. Hardly equal.
Why this vast inequality? Because the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 fixed the total number of seats in the House of Representatives to 435. This means citizens of the United States will be unequally represented in the House and the Electoral College. To Make every citizen equally represented, the States would need the following equally proportioned representation:
State | 2019 Pop. (est.) | Representatives | Electoral Votes |
39,747,267 | 197 | 199 | |
29,087,070 | 143 | 145 | |
21,646,155 | 106 | 108 | |
19,491,339 | 95 | 97 | |
12,813,969 | 62 | 64 | |
12,700,381 | 62 | 64 | |
11,718,568 | 57 | 59 | |
10,627,767 | 51 | 53 | |
10,497,741 | 50 | 52 | |
10,020,472 | 48 | 50 | |
8,922,547 | 43 | 45 | |
8,571,946 | 41 | 43 | |
7,666,343 | 36 | 38 | |
7,275,070 | 34 | 36 | |
6,939,373 | 33 | 35 | |
6,833,793 | 32 | 34 | |
6,718,616 | 32 | 34 | |
6,147,861 | 29 | 31 | |
6,062,917 | 28 | 30 | |
5,832,661 | 27 | 29 | |
5,770,545 | 27 | 29 | |
5,655,925 | 26 | 28 | |
5,147,111 | 24 | 26 | |
4,898,246 | 22 | 24 | |
4,652,581 | 21 | 23 | |
4,484,047 | 20 | 22 | |
4,245,901 | 19 | 21 | |
3,948,950 | 18 | 20 | |
3,567,871 | 16 | 18 | |
3,221,610 | 14 | 16 | |
3,167,997 | 14 | 16 | |
3,087,025 | 13 | 15 | |
3,026,412 | 13 | 15 | |
2,987,895 | 13 | 15 | |
2,910,931 | 13 | 15 | |
2,096,034 | 8 | 10 | |
1,940,919 | 8 | 10 | |
1,791,951 | 7 | 9 | |
1,790,182 | 7 | 9 | |
1,416,589 | 5 | 7 | |
1,363,852 | 5 | 7 | |
1,342,097 | 5 | 7 | |
1,074,532 | 3 | 5 | |
1,056,738 | 3 | 5 | |
975,033 | 3 | 5 | |
892,631 | 2 | 4 | |
760,900 | 2 | 4 | |
735,720 | 2 | 4 | |
627,180 | 1 | 3 | |
572,381 | 1 | 3 | |
Totals: | 1641 | 1643 |