Not sure why I needed to educate a sitting Senator but:

No, Joni, that's the purpose of the Senate. Read the debates & the founder's intent. The electoral college was about counting slaves for the purpose of giving political power to the master class. https://twitter.com/joniernst/status/1164203303904980992

THREAD | More than the Senator require education here.

1. While many a opinionist/commentators have attempted to apply revisionist history to whitewash the the framing of the electoral college, the role and effect slavery is undeniable.

Get comfortable,this is a long thread

2. Pretext: The South was necessary to win the Revolution, but would not joined the union if the AoC contained anything more than weak federalism. Postwar however it was clear that our sys of govt was insufficient... thus the Constitutional Convention to restructure government.

3. Pretext: Slavery became illegal in Britain in 1772 and at the time of the Constitution Convention many northern states had begun the gradual abolition of slavery. Fear of national abolition of slavery manifested itself throughout the debate inthe argument of state sovereignty

4. Delegates recognized that ratification was impossible without the Southern states, not just the Electoral College, but our entire Constitution became a series of compromises rooted in maintaining slavery

5. Our founders were all rich white property owners Even those who expressed opposition for concept of slavery recognized an economic justification. Leaving the word slave out of the Constitution, and hiding their concessions to slavery with euphemisms. Everyone has a tell...

6. The Electoral College was a ultimately another compromise to ensure ratification

Initial forms of selecting the Federal Executive Discussed: Direct (popular) vote
Electoral College
Selection by Governor/leglislature

The Convention's favorite: selection by leglislature

7. An initial draft of the Constitution stated the House would select the President. At this point the Convention had already agreed to the 3/5 compromise - so with the Direct election of House Rep this method offered a pro-slavery bias as well.

8. However once Presidential re-election was approved having the leglislature choose a President ran afoul of seperation of powers. The Convention first discussed the Direct vote again. The south's wholesale rejection of the Direct vote became very evident very fast.

9. Madison most notably agreed that in principle the Direct vote was the "fittest" of options but that the south would lose every time since they won't be able to count their slaves in a popular vote.

10. And Madison was right. Thee 6 Northern States and the 6 Southern states were equally populated around 1.8 million for each half. But in the south 800,000 of were slaves as opposed to only about 40,000 in the north.

Madison claim from the biggest slave state there was.

11. With no reason the see the industral revolution ahead NC's Williamson noted an expectation that there would not always be well known national figures so the state would vote their own candidates & the state that wins is the state with the most eligible voters, not the largest

12. Under the Direct vote only the white landowning men would influence presidential elections therefore the slave-owners couldn’t convert their slaves for political power. For the southern states the Direct would never be an option.

13. Many argue the Direct vote did not have significant support outside the south, however discussions moved quickly to the Electoral college which rec'd only 2 votes weeks before. A system w/ electors appt'd by state leglislature & relative to population(+ 3/5).

14. The Delegates who were fatigued and ready to go home (as James Madison later correspondence would reveal), quickly moved to accept the Electoral college, following the lead of Ellsworth who regularly voted w/ the South on slavery, Madison and Williamson

15. Many incorrectly claim the electoral college was put in place to protect Small states. In all Convention debates re: the Executive, the protection of small states never came up (though protection of large states did). Further, only 3 presidents have come from small states.

16. Representation in the Senate rather was devised to account for the protection of small states.

Many incorrectly claim the electoral college was created to protect the seperate interests of urban and rural voters. Meanwhile, only 5% of America lived in cities at this time.

17. Many incorrectly claim the electoral college was created bc the framers did not trust common man. bridge Gerry a lone delegate stroked this narrative w/ very litte support.

Many of the delegates themselves officeholders elected by the common man.

18. Ultimately Slavery was the reason was the immediate rejection of Direct election as led by southern states. The South would have lost Direct elections & that risked losing slavery.The Electoral College allows states to count slaves, albeit at 3/5 but that kept the owner class

19. The pro-slavery lean of the Electoral College became exceptionally clear in the Jefferson-Adams elections of 1796/1800. This elections was decided, in large part, by the 13 extra electoral votes created by slavery.

20. Even as pro-slavery bias of the Electoral College became broadly known and specifically called out the floor debate the 12th Amendment tinkered with the college as instead of dismantling it when the North quickly gave into the South

21. As you might suspect: eight out of nine of our first Presidential races went to pro-slavery Southern Presidents.

Every president until Lincoln (15!) was either a Southerner or a Northerner who was willing (while president) to accommodate the slaveholding South.

22. I will note that wealth was likely the motivater (White men w/o property couldn't vote) but slavery was the mechanism of maintaining wealth.

Our Founders were the 1%; They believed those who own the country should run it & assumed 'natural aristocracy' wld continue to lead.

23. Any moral opposition our Founders may have had to acquiesing to a pro-slavery biased Presidential Electoral System was outweighed by the recognition that enslavement & exploitation of black bodies was necessary to drive the American economy.

24. Claims that the Constitution suggests a path to end slavery by setting end date for the slave trade were meant to reduce/end slavery, or the 3/5 reduced the power of the slave holders in the EC are simply Whitewashing history.

25. Today the EC is the US's most obvious form of systemic racism.

Look no further than the Average Electoral Impact of 1 Vote by Voter Race:
1 White Vote counts 1.03x
1 Black Vote counts 0.91x
1 Hispanic Vote counts 0.87x
1 Asian Vote counts 0.58x https://twitter.com/sarah_in_ny/status/1270762412631875586?s=20

26. Join Us in Calling on Congress to Tear Down racist institutions like the EC, that like the Confederate Monuments being torn down across the country were originally erected by racists, for the benefit of racists, & are still perpetuating racism today https://twitter.com/sarah_in_ny/status/1275085816243597318?s=20