THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE IS AMERICA’S OLDEST DEI PROGRAM — FOR REPUBLICANS

Conservatives have spent years attacking DEI as a system that redistributes influence away from pure merit and simple fairness. Which makes their devotion to the Electoral College a little awkward.

Because the Electoral College is basically DEI for red states.

The system was designed to prevent presidential elections from being decided by straightforward majority vote. Instead of “one person, one vote,” the Constitution gives extra weight to smaller states so they are not politically overwhelmed by larger population centers.

In practice, that means a voter in Wyoming has substantially more influence over a presidential election than a voter in California.

Not because Wyoming voters are wiser. Or more engaged. Or somehow morally superior. Simply because the system was built to give smaller populations enhanced representation.

That is the basic logic behind DEI: adjusting representation so some groups are not drowned out by larger ones.

And today, that adjustment overwhelmingly benefits Republicans. The most overrepresented states per capita — Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Virginia, Montana, Alaska, Nebraska, Kansas, Mississippi, and Utah, and Iowa — reliably vote Republican in presidential elections. Meanwhile, heavily populated Democratic states like California, New York, and Illinois are far underrepresented relative to their size.

The result is a system where Republicans can win the presidency while losing the popular vote, which has happened twice in just 25 years.

The Electoral College is affirmative action for conservatives. ∎

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