Rethinking the Electoral College: A Plea for Popular Vote

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The United States of America is known as the free world, which is thought of as such due to its separation from the English monarch and the establishment of the United States Constitution, which grants its citizens certain rights and freedoms. One of those rights is the power to choose its own leaders, which is termed a democracy when the citizens elect a person directly. However, there is a slight difference, in the United States the President and Vice President are not chosen by the people directly instead there is a unique process used called the Electoral College. The Constitution of the United States of America should be amended to allow the citizens to elect their Presidents and Vice-Presidents through a popular vote in order to give …show more content…

This was created as a form of compromise between the opposing ideas of how the President should be elected. The Electoral College is comprised of electoral voters by a total of 538 electors. This number comes from the number of representatives in congress for each state, 1 for each member in the House of Representatives and 2 for the senate plus 3 more voters in the District of Columbia. This means that the total eligible voting population in the United States is represented by 538 votes to elect their leader. This dilutes the representation of each citizen to the majority in its area, which is unjust and unfair for the minority, which should still be able to voice their opinion and let their voice be heard. The Electoral College was put in place because it was believed a popular vote gave too much power to high-populated areas. How is that different from creating representation in the Electoral College based on the representatives in Congress, since the House of Representatives is also based on population? Signifying that the population still has an effect on how the President is elected. Another view is that not every citizen, at the time white male, was knowledgeable enough to elect the Head of State without the Electoral system. This, even though some might still agree with that previous notion, should not be the basis why the Citizens of the “free world” do not hold the equal power in electing their

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