Since the beginning, the Electoral College is a controversial method for electing the next President of the United States. To be the next President, one must accumulate a majority of two-hundred seventy electoral votes out of five-hundred thirty eight. The Electoral College also distributes the amount of electoral votes by the sum of the House of Representatives and Senators for each state. This allows a big difference in the amount of electoral votes one state has over the other. For example, Texas has a population over twenty million people and Wyoming is just shy of six-hundred thousand people. The population difference allows Texas to overcome Wyoming’s electoral votes by a difference of thirty five which can cause a major effect on an …show more content…
There are many positive arguments for the Electoral College like- encouraging a two- party system and having a federal system of government. The two political parties, Republicans and Democrats, dominated the United States government positions especially the President of the United States. There has been a total of thirty four presidents that are affiliated by either Republican or Democrat party. The reason is due to the, Electoral College. The Electoral College votes are based on the popular vote. Therefore having a minority party or faction win the presidency, all depends on the voters. Lastly, the United States government uses a federal system which the Electoral College is able to maintain. By sharing government powers between local and national, the votes to elect the next chief of staff is fair. The presidential election in 2000 was a very close race between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The marginal difference in Electoral College votes was five. This meant that states with low population like, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Utah, had a major impact on choosing George W. Bush as the forty-third president. (Sheppard 2001, 344) Without the Electoral College, the enforcement on a two-party system and a federal system of government would not be …show more content…
Another reason citizens do not agree with the Electoral College is the national polls versus Electoral College votes. Some believe the Electoral College falsely depicts who the citizens of the United States desire as their next president. The most recent instance of a president losing the popular vote was Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Clinton commanded a lead over Trump by almost three million votes. However, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton with seventy-seven votes Electoral College votes. Ultimately, there are valid claims citizens of the United States can state to show that the Electoral College is a flaw in
The Electoral College vs. Popular Vote The United States is a privileged country with freedoms and opportunities many countries strive to achieve. People come into the United States in hopes of obtaining these rights and a better life for themselves; they strive to achieve “The American Dream.” Citizens are given the chance to vote, speak their mind, and live according to their desires without prejudice. However, the same government that promises hope has flaws that frustrate the American people: the Electoral College is one topic of debate. Many feel this system is a safe way to regulate who leads the country, while others feel that issues should be left to popular vote.
The Electoral College started in 1789, even then controversy arose. Key factors supporting the Electoral College are representation in states with a small population, prioritizes the organization of campaigns, and provides equality throughout the United States. Candidates would campaign in the major populous regions, overlooking rural area. Virtually placing emphasis in the major cities, neglecting small towns leaving them obsolete. Keep America a two-party system intact in important, how could a candidate win the majority with four or five parties. The South would vote their candidate, California their candidate, East Coast their candidate, causing an enormous problem, avoiding a recount, saving time and
Electoral College is Wrong The Electoral College is the name given to a group of electors who are nominated by political activists and party members within the states. The electoral college really isn't necessary and should be abolished. There are numerous reasons why this is so important. With the Electoral College in effect, third parties don't have a chance to become the president, which isn't fair.
The Electoral College has been the favored method by the United States to elect the president for many years. When the College was first created in 1787 it was seen as an efficient and reliable way to vote the president into office. It has been more than 2 centuries since this method of electing was chosen, and many things have changed in U.S. society. The Electoral College is failing to keep up with these advancements in society and a new method must be chosen soon. Throughout the almost 2 and a half centuries since the beginning of the Electoral College there has been a large change in population.
The Electoral College was created by the framers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. They believe that it wasn’t a good idea for the people to elect the president directly because they did not trust that voters would have enough information to make a good choice. The Electoral College basically chooses who the next president will be since it takes away our freedom to vote. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties. The United States of America is a democratic country that is characterized by the equality of rights and privileges.
The Electoral College allows a candidate to win the presidency without winning the majority of popular votes. Additionally, the unequal representation created by the number of electors each state has leads to a differential worth depending upon a voter’s state of residency. Moreover, the winner-take-all rule of the results in votes which are essentially rendered worthless if they are contrary the state majority. Finally, the system places much of the focus and power to effect elections in the hands of so called swing states that are not historically aligned with only one party. (Dahl, 80-83) These aspects of the U.S. political system are utterly counterintuitive and stand in stark contrast to many of the cardinal ideals of
The electors in each state are equal to the number of representatives that state has in Congress resulting in at least three electors per state regardless of population (McKenzie 285). Each state has two votes to correspond to the senators representing that state in Congress, and then each state has one vote to correspond to the House representative that represents that state in Congress. Smaller states comprise a higher percentage of the total electoral votes than would a popular vote for the president in those states (Muller 1257). The Founders intended the Electoral College to protect overshadowing the small states’ interests of the larger populous states by allowing at least three representative votes rather than none at all, and the smaller states were not willing to give control of the election process to the larger states, which was similar to their fight for representation in Congress (Muller 1250). However, it ignores the people who voted against the winner, since once the result is determined at the state level; the losing voters no longer have any significance nationally (Wagner 579). Wagner also points to the fact that the winner-take-all system can lead to selecting the minority candidate over the majority vote, as in the George
The American Society grants every citizen of legal age to vote in elections. The Electoral College System provides electoral votes to candidates despite losing popular votes. The Electoral College System is unfair as candidates who do not win popular vote can still win a presidential election. This system is unfair as it grants 538 electors to become the voice of 319 million people.
In conclusion, the Electoral College should be abolished because small states are unrepresented, there are many flaws in the system, and it is not accurate based on people 's votes. Overall there seems to be no need for it, it was made for the reason that back then they thought it was a simple way of choosing a president, but really it just causes problems and does not represent the candidates or voters fairly. If America is truly about equality and democracy, then they will abolish the Electoral College and let the people have a
The Electoral College today is a very complex system of voting and campaigning. When it was first created, the Framers thought the average citizen of their day was not intelligent enough to know who should be leading their country. So they created the Electoral College which was run by people who knew what they were doing. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent each state and they determine the president. The real question is: Has the Electoral College gotten too far out of hand where it needs to go? The answer is yes. The reasons are because any third party candidate running in the election has no chance of winning any electoral votes. Also, it gives too much power to the big states in electoral votes. Finally, it creates problems on majority electoral votes and equality of smaller states is diminished.
There are some advantages of the Electoral College such as, it preserves the voices of the states with the lowest population. It also favors a two-party system and dissuades third-parties which creates more stability. Even with all these pros I think without an overhaul that we should eliminate the Electoral College. This would simplify this process and more people would get out and
In the Electoral College system, every state has one electoral vote for each congressman and senator. Congressman is allotted by population and every state has two senators, so Rhode Island, which has basically nobody in it, has three electoral votes. California, with 53 representatives and two senators, has 55 electoral votes. The states choose electors and the electors meet in what is called the Electoral College to pick a president. In practice, nearly every state has passed a law that the electors will all vote for the popular vote winner in their state, but as the Supreme Court said in Bush v. Gore, the people of the United States do not have a constitutional right to pick the president. A state could, if it felt like it, select the electors
Established in Article II of the Constitution, the Electoral College was created as a compromise between those who wanted the people to elect the President and those who wanted Congress to elect the President. This system calls for the people to vote for electors who would then in turn vote to determine who gets the presidency. These electors would be chosen by each state party committee, and they would equal the number of Senators and Representatives each state has (Document 2). In the late 1700s, Alexander Hamilton, a man involved in the creation of the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, argued that this would be a good idea and was in favor of it because he believed it was better for educated citizens to vote for the most powerful man in the country as opposed to the common man (Document 1). Despite his reasoning, the Electoral College has a big problem. The Electoral College is actually not fair and equitable to elect the President because it does not accurately represent the people, does not follow the will of the people, and only supports the two major political parties.
This has has always been a big thing for the United States, has it’s people are bringing in a new person who would eventually lead their country into a good path. When it comes to actually doing the rough work like voting for a new President, that would be an entirely different story. In a chart from Document G, there are 4 past elections listed that compares the popular votes to the electoral votes. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush won by 271 electoral votes, while Gore won by 266 electoral votes. This may seem reasonable for Bush to be the president, but when it comes to the popular vote, although, Gore had highest amount of popular votes than Bush did. So why did Bush win instead? This is one of the main reasons why the Electoral College should be abolished. If the Electoral College stays then the people will not be able to choose the right person for the right job. So this shows how it can cause so many people to be frustrated with the Electoral College, which does not really help the country at all, in terms of the choosing a new
Electoral College has been around for nearly 200 years. This system is used to vote for the next President and vice president. There are a total of 538 electors and 270 of the majority are needed to win. Each state is allowed one for each member in the House and two for the Senate. Like other things in government there are some advantages and disadvantages when it comes to Electoral College.