The current process of electing the President of the United States through the Electoral College system should not be changed because the Electoral College system is superior in comparison to other comprehensive voting systems. Systems like direct popular vote or the national popular vote may work in democracies; however the United States is a federal republic. While allowing large metropolises and large states to be represented in a manner consistent with their size, the Electoral College has the exceptional attribute of allowing small states and rural areas to still maintain influence in the government. Allowing the entire nation to decide the direction of our government ensures candidates appeal to the majority of the nation, not just a handful of populous centers. This leads to more moderate policies and a protection of minority rights. Problems in elections such as fraud and recounts, are very disruptive in systems such as popular vote, but are minimized in the Electoral College system because these problems are limited to individual states allowing for a national review of such localized problems. Finally, the Electoral College incentivizes policy makers and parties to continually try to win in states that have opposed them in recent elections, ensuring long term policy that addresses needs of the populous quickly. Overall, the Electoral College’s benefits make it the superior system to elect the President, and for that reason it should not be changed.
Smaller and particularly rural states are protected by the Electoral College. The number of votes a state is allocated in the Electoral College is determined by adding the number of United States Representatives and Senators a state sends to congress. This means each state ...
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...ure, and prosperous nation in the world. Large states and cities are represented with consideration for their size, smaller and rural states given a base minimum representation to protect their intrinsic interests. Moderate and nationally inclusive policies are incentivized, and minority coalitions that foster compromise are encouraged. Fraud and recounts are minimized in relation to other voting systems, and mechanisms to deal with such issues promptly exist in the Electoral College. Finally, all states that need concrete policy change and attention receive it with the Electoral College. When asked what kind of government the United States had, Dr. Benjamin Franklin said “A republic, if you can keep it.” The Founding Father’s understood the benefits of the Electoral College which have since been validated; therefore the Electoral College should remain in place.
Voting is at the center of every democratic system. In america, it is the system in which a president is elected into office, and people express their opinion. Many people walk into the voting booth with the thought that every vote counts, and that their vote might be the one that matters above all else. But in reality, America’s voting system is old and flawed in many ways. Electoral College is a commonly used term on the topic of elections but few people actually know how it works.
The Electoral College is an outdated and unrealistic arrangement that caters to eighteenth century federalist America in a way that is detrimental to modern democracy. The electoral college gives too much power to the government, overlooks equal representation, and creates loopholes that do not serve to help America thrive.
Due to the discrepancy between the winner of the popular vote and the winner of the electoral college in the most recent election, there has been a lot of talk about eliminating the electoral college and moving to a direct popular vote. While many people argue for this shift, usually with little knowledge of what a popular vote election would look like, there are also many citizens who are opposed to the idea. In our polarized political climate, this fact is not surprising. Those who support the electoral college defend it by claiming that it is not only constitutional, but it also represents the whole county, and makes for a more certain, legitimate election process.
The United States of America is often touted as the guiding beacon of democracy for the entirety of the modern world. In spite of this tremendous responsibility the political system of the United States retains some aspects which upon examination appear to be significantly undemocratic. Perhaps the most perplexing and oft misunderstood of these establishments is the process of electing the president and the institution known as the Electoral College. The puzzle of the Electoral College presents the American people with a unique conundrum as the mark of any true democracy is the citizens’ ability to elect their own ruling officials. Unfortunately, the Electoral College system dilutes this essential capacity by introducing an election by
Matthew Green, a writer for KQED learning, said we should try elections “decided state by state… it’s a winner-take-all system… the candidate who receives the most popular… votes in each state gets all of the electors from his/her party. The other candidates in the race… get no electors from that state at all,” (Green 4). This is just one example out of the endless amount of alternatives to the electoral college system. We should change the way we elect the president because with the electoral college system, it “completely blocks out 3rd parties,” ignores the people’s vote on who should be the president and their “voice”, and it “undemocratic,” (Should the US adopt a different method of electing its President? 1-4). The government should start thinking of alternatives to the electoral college system today rather than
In this paper four subjects on the Electoral College will be addressed. These four subjects are: What is the Electoral College? Why did the founding fathers create the Electoral College? What are some major criticisms of the Electoral College? Should we keep it? Before these questions are addressed it should be noted that many people were not aware of the existence of the Electoral College, perhaps even the Author of this paper.
By dismembering the Electoral College and replacing it with popular vote, some Americans believe this would eradicate any further issues on who is placed in office, while others want a system to do the dirty work and select their future leader. But by eliminating the very system created to keep the states at peace, the Electoral College has, in fact, caused turmoil and confusion among the people in regards to American politics; many people have a sense of displacement and lack of care for politics due to the mindset that someone else is in charge and their voice does not matter. Allowing the American people to cast their choice for who takes care of their future and eliminating the middle man ideals of the Electoral College, government can give back to its people in ways they might not have thought about before. They give the people a voice, choice, and a sense of personal expression and
The author argues that without the use of an Electoral College that every vote by an American citizen would still create a big outcome in the election for a candidate. Instead of telling electors who citizens wished to cast their vote for, citizens would be able to really vote for the candidate in which they feel will be most effective for the country. The author believes that the Electoral College has soiled our elections and that we should make a better way in which we can make the elections more efficient and equal for each and every citizen in
Every four years, the century-old debate over the Electoral College rekindles. Currently, as the contest between the Republican candidates intensifies and the remaining four rush toward the finish line for nomination, speculators are turning their attention toward the Presidential Election that is right around the corner. Predictably, the legitimacy of the Electoral College is once again under scrutiny. Although the Electoral College was an ingenious compromise establish by Framers of the Constitution, the development of the two party politics and the “winner-take-all” system has led it to the fail its original purpose.
Many proponents of the Electoral College argue that it protects smaller states in the Union and it forces presidential candidates to pay attention to smaller states. This is plainly wrong, considering that most presidential visits during the 2012 election were to Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the smallest of which (Virginia) is ranked 12th in population out of the 50 states and territories in the U.S. Furthermore, the electors for each state are not required to vote according to their citizen 's wishes, which means with the Electoral College, a vote really doesn 't count. Instead of this, we should use the outrageous idea of having a person 's vote count directly to a candidate (the popular vote or "direct democracy"). We need to get rid of the Electoral College soon, because according to history, a mistake is bound to happen again with American elections.
As the United States of America gets older, so does the presidential election voting system. The argument to change this method of voting has been becoming more and more popular as the years go on. It has been said that the Framers of the Constitution came up with this method because of the bad transportation, communication, and they feared the public’s intelligence was not suitable for choosing the President of the United States. Others say that the Framers made this method because they feared that the public did not receive sufficient information about candidates outside of their state to make such a decision based on direct popular vote. My research on this controversial issue of politics will look into the factors into why the Electoral College exists and if it is possibly outdated for today’s society. It will look into the pros and cons of this voting system, and it will explore the alternative methods of voting such as the Direct Popular vote. Many scholarly authors have gathered research to prove that this voting system is outdated and it does not accurately represent the national popular will. Many U.S. citizens value their vote because they only get one to cast towards the candidate of their choice in the presidential election. Based on the Electoral College system their vote may possibly not be represented. Because of today’s society in the U.S. the Electoral College should be abolished because it is not necessary to use a middle-man to choose our president for us. It is a vote by the people, all of us having one voice, one vote.
Lastly, I don’t think that the Electoral College is a very good idea because each person in this country matters. If they chose a president, even if by popular vote, it was their choice and they will be the ones who have to live with whatever promises that president chooses to make or break to them. If they made a mistake on which president to choose it will be their own fault and they won’t have anyone else to blame but themselves.
Beginning in America in 1787, the Electoral College was originally created during the Constitutional Convention to help make a fair way for the president to be elected without giving too much power to either the national government or individual states. Over the years, the Electoral College has undergone a few changes in attempt to make it more fair, but there is still much debate about whether or not the Electoral College is the most effective way to elect a president. Some people believe that the Electoral College does an excellent job of creating an equal distribution of votes across all ethnicities and social classes of America. In contrast, others think that the Electoral College does not give an accurate portrayal of the popular opinion of Americans, believing that the Electoral College is no longer necessary for the election process in our society. The issue of whether or not the Electoral College should be a part of our government is important to our society, because it has had a dramatic effect on who is elected as president. Several times in American history a potential presidential candidate has obtained the presidential office only because of the Electoral College, despite the fact that they lost the popular vote. Therefore, the Electoral College should be removed from the government and replaced with an election system based on the popular vote.
Through these almost 2 and a half centuries since the beginning of the Electoral College there has been a large change in population. Since then, the U.S. has grown from a mere 4 million to a looming number of around 300 million people. It is because of this population increase that the Electoral College has become obsolete and is beginning to fail at its duties. Alexander Hamilton was a Federalist and a supporter of the Electoral College who was quoted as saying “It was also desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder/ promise an effectual security against this mischief” (Document #1). The College would have prevented tumult and disorder for
6 principles of the Constitution was: popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism. One of the 6 principles is the popular sovereignty and the system of electoral college is conflicting this idea. The Great Compromise created the two senates and the house rule, where the number of the house is proportional to the state 's population and every state get two senates. This system is contrary with the idea of the popular sovereignty since the president can be elected without getting the majority of the vote. People in smaller state has more voting power, which leaves the people in the large states voiceless. One of the reason the Framers incorporated this system was because they didn 't fully trust regular people to make the decision. People have influence and power to decide the president but not directly. Our direct influence is electing the House of Representatives so that they will represent you. Although people are foolish and ignorant and tend to make a biased decision, this electoral college isn 't fully representing the majority of the people and being contrary with the 6 principles of Constitution. If the Constitution can 't fulfill the 6 basic principles, it obviously can 't fulfill everybody 's needs. Minority having greater power is not demonstrating the idea of popular sovereignty. The Great Compromise has brought stable and reliable government but it has also prompted an