Yogi Strachan feels the Electoral College is in need of drastic change, should favor popular vote.
“He is mature beyond his years,” Mike Wolk said of his Clearview Regional High School student Yogi Strachan on Friday, May 18. Strachan stood before friends, family, school and township officials to accept an award celebrating his documentary about the electoral college, a system he thinks is broken.
Since 2006, C-SPAN, a U.S.-based cable and satellite television network, holds a student documentary competition called StudentCam each year. The goal is to engage middle and high school students in subjects of national importance. This year’s theme is “The Constitution & You.” A nationwide competition, Strachan’s seven-minute documentary had to meet three criteria: last five to seven minutes, contain different perspectives and use C-SPAN video clips along with his own footage.
Doug Hemmig, a C-SPAN marketing representative, presented Strachan with the award, noting 2,985 videos from more than 5,700 students in 46 states and Washington, D.C., were submitted. Some 150 students and 53 teacher were awarded prizes.
Noting the lack of positive school coverage in the news, Hemmig said, “You don’t hear about all the great things going on in education because it doesn’t make a great sound bite, but there are a lot of great things. Your work is an example of that.”
Strachan’s video begins with a modern scene of a Philadelphia bridge with smooth jazz music in the background. Cutting to a shot of the Liberty Bell, Strachan’s commentary about the electoral college begins:
“At its signing, the electoral college was originally much different than it is today. At its conception, the system was made up by actual electors who were appointed by the population in order to determine who would become the next president. It was emphasized that there should be as many electors as members of Congress but the two couldn’t overlap in any way.”
In the video, Strachan questions authorities such as Kimberly Guadagno, then-lieutenant governor, Sen. Cory Booker, and more.
When asked her opinion of the electoral college, Guadagno, first elected in 2010, said, “The answer to the question is, it works.”
She added the system is not perfect but cautioned against quick, radical change.
“Before you open up something that has worked pretty well for more than 200 years, you have to have something that is exponentially better.”
Strachan then discussed the subject of swing states, stating he feels candidates in presidential elections, at times, ignore states outside of this category, resulting in a candidate with less of the popular vote winning the presidency.
Strachan integrated a C-SPAN video clip of Ralph Neas, former director of leadership of the Conference of Civil Rights, explaining that leading up to the General Election candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton blatantly ignored a majority of states, stating 70 percent of their campaign appearances were in six states, and 94 percent in 12 states.
“That means about 40 states were ignored by the presidential candidates in the general election. That’s not something we want to continue. We want to have them out there in as many states as possible and getting as many citizens as possible involved in voting,” Neas said.
In an interview with Booker — the piece that “put his project over the edge,” Wolk said — the senator expressed major concern for the electoral college system.
“I really believe this system of the electoral college is outdated, and we’ve seen our democracy evolve over time,” he said, noting the process of electing senators changed due to the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Before then, senators were appointed by state legislatures.
However, while Booker hopes for more debate about the electoral college in the Senate, he told Strachan, “I’m hoping we can make changes, but I’ll tell you this: It is very hard to amend the Constitution… I’m not that optimistic that this is something that is going to change anytime soon…”
Booker did mention he feels if change is to take place, people need to become more active in the political process.
“If you don’t want to mess with politics. I promise you, politics is going to mess with you,” he said.
At the end of the video, Strachan notes, “Obviously changing the Constitution with such a complex system like electing the president is a difficult process, but I think with enough patience and resources it would definitely be worth it and it would favor the majority a lot more.”
Strachan will attend Montclair State University next year where he plans to study sound design.
To watch the full documentary, visit https://www.viddler.com/v/610dfe03?secret=12433867.
