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Chris Hayes: Electoral College ‘Would Be Unconstitutional’ If It ‘Wasn’t Specifically In The Constitution’

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Chris Hayes argued that the Electoral College “would be unconstitutional” if it “wasn’t specifically in the Constitution.”

The MSNBC host made the comment during a lecture-style presentation knocking the system on Friday night’s “All In with Chris Hayes.”

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“But I think there is actually a deeper philosophical thing happening, which is the question of what exactly American democracy is for,” Hayes said. “And the weirdest thing about the Electoral College is the fact that if it wasn’t specifically in the Constitution for the presidency, it would be unconstitutional.”

The MSNBC host based his opinion off the Supreme Court having developed “a jurisprudence of one person, one vote,” which means “each individual vote has to carry roughly the same amount of weight as each other individual vote.”

“There are all sorts of crazy representational systems that were created that would not give one person one vote and would disenfranchise certain minorities,” said Hayes, pointing out efforts across the South and other places to stymie minority representation which were overturned by the high court. (RELATED: ‘No, It Is Not Racist’ — Dana Perino Defends Electoral College After Ocasio-Cortez Attack)

“The basic principle one person, one vote, the candidate the most votes wins, those are the basic principles that are applied everywhere in the United States, every single election from dog catcher to state senator to governor up to two institutions, the two most powerful,” said Hayes, referring to the United States Senate, which allocates two senators per state regardless of that state’s population, and the presidency.

Here’s a sampling of Twitter reaction to Hayes’ comments: