Electoral College has outlived its usefulness

"The true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good
administration." — Alexander Hamilton

A young Alexander Hamilton envisioned the Electoral College as a shield defending our country from the undue influence of foreign powers and candidates who possessed "talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity."

It probably sounded like a good pitch in 1788 but in today's light the institution is clearly broken, perhaps irreparably.

A few weeks back, I spoke to Michael Baca about his experience as a member of Colorado's Electoral College. It was a weird story and it revealed flaws in the architecture.

[Trump wins Electoral College vote; a few electors break ranks]

Hillary Clinton won Colorado by 75,000 votes and Baca, a registered Democrat, was supposed to cast his electoral ballot for her. But he was less concerned with casting a vote for Clinton and more interested in stopping Donald Trump.

So, he worked with a group of "Hamilton Electors" who hoped they could buck the divisive candidate for a more even-keeled conservative. The kind of compromise that embodies the entire purpose of the college.

When Baca received his ballot, it only had one name on it. There was no space to select an alternate. Baca improvised by scrawling, "John Kasich," on the page and drawing a little check box next to it. He cast his vote.

And then he was removed from the Electoral College.

The other members of the state's college were made to replace Baca and tried to vote him into his own empty seat but the strong-arming state officials would have none of it. A new member was selected and Baca's electoral vote was discounted.

Worse, because of the mess of state laws hemming in the college, Baca now faces possible criminal charges and jail time for attempting to live up to his duties as a member. This system is broken.

Electors here in Alaska were also given ballots with only one name. This is not how the college is supposed to operate. If electors can't vote their conscience, the college is no longer a stopgap against tyranny.

A presidential ballot with one name printed on it and criminal charges awaiting those who vote their conscience is the very antithesis of democracy.

So how do we fix this?

[Alaska's Electoral College members cast their votes for Trump]

Eliminating the college is nearly impossible; it would require the repeal of a
constitutional amendment. But there is a workaround.

The National Popular Vote is an effort to forge an agreement among enough states to collectively cast their electoral ballots for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.

National Popular Vote is already the law in 11 states and represents a potential 165 electoral votes. Once enough states join, to cross the threshold of 270 votes, the college becomes irrelevant.

Critics have called it an end-run around the college and that's exactly why I love it.

National Popular Vote brilliantly uses the biggest flaw in the system, binding votes, to work around the broken establishment.

Over the years, there have been at least 700 proposals introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the college and it has been long derided in public polling. But despite its obvious flaws, it remains.

Defenders of the college like to lean on the myth the system was designed to give rural areas a greater voice. But, that would have been entirely unnecessary at a time when over 94 percent of the population was considered rural. In fact, it wasn't until 1920 that half of our population shifted into urban living.

In reality, the college is more rooted in slavery than rural America. A popular vote would have disadvantaged Southern states where slaves were not allowed to vote. The college was ginned up as a compromise to hold the union together and give those states a more balanced voice in presidential elections.

If rural areas truly held sway, Alaska would surely be on the presidential trapline. Instead, attention goes not to rural America, or even to small states, but to swing states — those most internally divided.

The result is weirdly concentrated campaigns vying to peel off a few plum counties: Miami-Dade in Florida, Cuyahoga in Ohio, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Wayne, Michigan — the usual suspects.

I'm a registered nonpartisan which makes me part of an eclectic majority of unaffiliated Alaskan voters. This group should give the college a particularly strong side-eye, because it serves to entrench the two-party system and largely removes us from selecting and vetting viable candidates during the primaries and caucuses.

Eliminating the college isn't going to change hearts or minds, but it's time to get rid of the broken system and clear the way for a future in which every citizen's vote counts with full and equal weight.