A4
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 1, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Ask voters about Electoral College change
A
few weeks ago, state Sen.
Betsy Johnson of Scap-
poose took to the Sen-
ate floor and pointed out the irony
within a proposal to change how
Oregon helps elect our nation’s
president.
Senate Bill 870 would require
that Oregon’s votes in the Electoral
College be cast for whoever wins
the national popular vote for presi-
dent, regardless of the election out-
come in Oregon. Supporters of that
legislation say they believe in “one
person, one vote,” yet they don’t
want to send the proposed election
change to the voters.
That rankled Johnson. “If we’re
going to change how we’re going
to elect the president of the United
States, it should be referred to
the ballot,” she told her fellow
senators.
We agree.
A majority of her colleagues
disagreed. The bill passed the
Senate 17-12 and now is in the
House, where the Rules Commit-
tee approved it this week on a par-
ty-line vote with no discussion. It
could go to the House floor next
week for final action.
The House passed similar bills
in previous years, only to see them
disappear in the Senate. This year,
advocates started in the Senate,
where the increased number of lib-
eral Democratic senators ensured
passage.
Our nation’s founders created a
process in which electors — now
referred to as the Electoral Col-
lege, a term that does not appear
in the Constitution — choose the
president and vice president. This
arrangement was an 18th-century
compromise between Congress
electing the president and hav-
AP Photo/Cliff Owen
Vice President Joe Biden presents an Electoral College ballot as House Speaker Paul Ryan
watches during a joint session of Congress in January 2017 to certify Donald Trump’s
presidential victory.
ing the people do so. It also gave
a greater voice to smaller states,
although advocates of National
Popular Vote say that no longer
applies.
The Electoral College has
proved controversial, to say the
least. Through the centuries, more
than 700 proposals have been intro-
duced in Congress to reform or
eliminate the Electoral College.
The impetus stems in large part
from five presidents — including
two of the past three — losing the
popular vote but winning the presi-
dency via the Electoral College.
That is how Republicans Donald
Trump and George W. Bush came
to occupy the White House instead
of Democrats Hillary Clinton in
2016 and Al Gore in 2000. The
other three, in case you’re wonder-
ing, are presidents Benjamin Har-
rison (1888), Rutherford B. Hayes
(1876) and John Quincy Adams
(1824).
Democrat Johnson recalled that
recent history in her floor speech.
“There are two words not men-
tioned in Senate Bill 870: Don-
ald Trump. In my opinion, he’s the
reason the National Popular Vote
has caught on so aggressively of
late,” she said. “If we’re going to
end an historic institution, let it be
prompted by something loftier than
dislike for one particular president.
“Let regular voters make that
decision, not the Legislature.”
SB 870 would add Oregon to
the 14 states, plus the District of
Columbia, that have adopted the
“Interstate Compact for Agreement
Among the States to Elect the Pres-
ident by National Popular Vote.”
If Oregon joined, participating
jurisdictions would have a collec-
tive total of 196 electoral votes.
The compact will become legally
binding once enough more states
have joined to reach an Electoral
College majority — 270 votes.
The Electoral College com-
prises 538 electors. Each state has
as many electors as it does U.S.
senators and members of the U.S.
House of Representatives, giving
Oregon seven electors. And under
the 23rd Amendment to the Consti-
tution, the District of Columbia is
allocated three electors.
Like most other states, Ore-
gon has required its electors to cast
their Electoral College ballots for
whichever presidential candidate
wins the popular vote in their own
state, regardless of what happened
nationally.
Feelings run strong on both sides
of the issue. Advocates of National
Popular Vote consider the Elec-
toral College an anachronism from
an era in which the white male elite
made all the decisions. They con-
tend the current system disenfran-
chises members of political minori-
ties — for example, Republicans
in Oregon, Democrats in Idaho —
because such states are predictably
blue or red in presidential races.
Opponents warn that Americans
should be very wary of tinkering
with the U.S. Constitution, even
in a roundabout way. They say the
change would make it even less
likely that presidential candidates
would personally campaign in Ore-
gon or other small states. They also
argue that presidential elections
would be effectively decided once
East Coast voters cast their ballots
three time zones ahead of the West
Coast, making our votes irrelevant.
In any case, the Legislature
should heed the words of Sen.
Johnson. If lawmakers believe Ore-
gon should join the National Pop-
ular Vote movement, then put the
measure on the 2020 statewide pri-
mary election ballot.
WHERE TO WRITE
• State Rep. Tiffiny
Mitchell (D): State Capitol,
900 Court St. NE, H-285,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1432. Email: rep.
tiffinymitchell@oregonleg-
islature.gov. Web: oregon-
legislature.gov/mitchell
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court
St. NE, H-374, Salem, OR
97301. Phone: 503-986-
1431. Email: Rep.Brad-
Witt@oregonlegislature.
gov. Web: oregonlegisla-
ture.gov/witt
• State Sen. Betsy John-
son (D): State Capitol,
900 Court St. NE, S-209,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.
betsyjohnson@oregon-
legislature.gov. Web:
oregonlegislature.gov/
johnson. District Office:
P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR
97056. Phone: 503-543-
4046. Astoria office phone:
503-338-1280
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici (D): 2231
Rayburn House Office
Building, Washington, DC
20515. Phone: 202-225-
0855. District office: 12725
SW Millikan Way, Suite
220, Beaverton, OR 97005.
Phone: 503-469-6010.
Web: bonamici.house.gov
GUEST COLUMN
In letting fake Pelosi video stand, Facebook shows its true colors
T
he truth is dead, and Facebook killed
it.
That’s not nearly as much of an
exaggeration as you might wish. Consider
that the social media colossus was the plat-
form of choice for a video that blazed across
the internet last week, pur-
porting to depict a drunken
Nancy Pelosi giving a
speech.
The clip was pretty
basic, as dirty tricks go.
Pelosi’s voice was made
LEONARD
to sound slurred simply
PITTS Jr.
by slowing the video and
changing the pitch — none
of the so-called “deepfake”
next-generation technology that experts say
will soon render digital counterfeits indistin-
guishable from real videos.
But, given that that technology is now
breathing down our necks, Facebook’s mis-
handling of this relatively low-tech hoax did
not inspire confidence. You see, where You-
Tube quickly took the clip down, Facebook
refused. Yes, Twitter did, too, but it’s Face-
book, as the largest social media company
on the planet, whose behavior is uniquely
ominous.
Rather than remove the video, it
appended a note inviting would-be viewers
to visit fact-checking sites where it has been
debunked. This was apparently Facebook’s
way of having its proverbial cake and eating
it, too. In so doing, it ducks the great respon-
sibility that comes with its great power.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen
evidence of the company’s spinal deficien-
yes and yes. But get your news from actual,
reputable news organizations and, if you
must share a story or video of some news
event, make sure it originates with, or has
been vetted by, one of them.
Boom. Problem solved.
Except that human nature doesn’t work
that way, does it? So often, people who
think they want truth just want validation,
something the real news doesn’t always sup-
‘WITH GREAT POWER, THERE MuST
ALSO COME GREAT RESPONSIBILITy.’
— Stan Lee, Amazing Fantasy #15, 1962
cies. As reported in 2018 by the Columbia
Journalism Review, among others, its will-
ingness to serve as a conduit of misinforma-
tion has been linked to tribalistic violence
and even death in places like Sri Lanka,
Libya, Myanmar and India.
Of course, the public could end the mis-
information crisis in a heartbeat. Just stop
looking for news on Facebook. Connect
with friends, argue politics, talk sports, yes,
ply. But a fake video always will.
So Facebook’s idea that it can stand to
the side and accept no responsibility is a
naive delusion at best, a craven abdication
at worst. The company is simply too big, its
reach too great, the potential for harm too
vast, for this to continue. There are three
possible scenarios here:
1. The courts step in. As a public figure,
Pelosi is pretty much fair game for anything
anyone says, but how long before a private
citizen gets slimed and sees no reason to
quietly take it? Facebook would seem to be
a defamation suit waiting to happen.
2. The government steps in. Any legisla-
tive remedy would likely be overly broad.
But at some point, lawmakers may feel they
have no choice.
3. Facebook grows up.
The company seems to want to be a
space where the Nazi stands equal with
the Holocaust survivor. It seems to feel
that assigning value to either betrays some
vague, utopian ideal, some Jeffersonian
spirit of freewheeling debate. So instead,
it embraces this moral pusillanimity, the
same kind of “both sides” imbecility where
newscasters call the Ku Klux Klan “racially
insensitive.”
This refusal to judge is a dangerous lux-
ury at a time when reality is under siege and
lies have become weapons of mass destruc-
tion. So Facebook has a decision to make. It
has a side to choose.
Because in a war for truth, there are no
conscientious objectors.
Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The
Miami Herald.