Many people question whether the Electoral College should or should not be abolished. People believe that it has a great impact for the country and the elections that are held every four years, although, none of that is true. Many think of the Electoral College as a place, and not a committee, making it harder for the candidates to understand the true meaning and what the whole idea is of the Electoral College. The Electoral College was introduced by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and later added to the constitution. The Electoral College consist of a group of electors, put together in order to choose from the remaining candidates, to be the country's future president, which is a very big deal. Each state has a certain amount of electors, …show more content…
Once 270 electoral votes are reached, no more are needed, and that candidate is guaranteed the next presidency in return. Along with the electoral votes, there is the winner takes all system, which is not a great idea. If a state has 29 electoral votes and majority of those votes go to the Democratic party, all of the votes will go to the Democratic party, giving that candidate all 29 votes, along with a better chance at winning the presidency. In reality, the Electors should be able to choose which party they want to represent. Issues come across in the Electoral College, because the popular votes that the people cast that are full of their own opinions and beliefs, and are not used in order to determine the president. The Electoral College votes are what really matter in the election process. Citizens who decide to cast votes for the upcoming presidents do become very upset when it comes to their opinions in the electoral college, because they feel that their opinions and beliefs are neglected from the electors, and that they have no say in their country’s upcoming
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 President.
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.
As stated by Jamin Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University and a Democratic state senator in Maryland, “…It simply calls for an interstate compact among all states to agree to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. It becomes effective and binding when states representing at least 270 electors enter the compact. This is the way we will get to elect presidents as we elect governors and senators: everyone acting together, without games and subterfuge”. So really what happens with national popular vote is when a person votes, their vote is going directly towards their choice of president, unlike where in the Electoral College, a persons vote is going towards electors whom is a group of people who have pledged to work for their chosen candidate. The founding fathers thought that people directly voting for their chosen candidate would be too problematic and a disaster, which is why they came up with the Electoral College. So technically with the Electoral College, a candidate can win the most votes yet he can still lose the election, which is one of the reasons the Electoral College System is confusing and hard to understand to some people, and may even discourage citizens to vote because one may think their vote will not count towards their candidate in
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
This process of electing a president is unjust and is not based off of the people’s views. In Document D the chart provided illustrates how some of the electoral votes favor some states over others; for example the twelve states listed and the district of Columbia seem to have a bigger say in the presidential election process than the citizens of Illinois. This itself is unfair because Illinois deserves to have an accurate representation of their votes, the same as other states do. This shows that the Electoral College undercuts the principle of one person, one vote, and therefore violates political equality. “It is not a neutral counting device... it favors some citizens over others, depending solely upon the state in which voters cast their votes for president” (Document D). Political equality means all citizens are equal and it also allows citizens to partake in state affairs, including the right to vote and the right to challenge elections. However the Electoral College violates the principle of this for the fact that it weighs some citizens’ votes more heavily than others (video). Generally it makes no sense for the people to vote if they’re not even counted, and either way it violates their rights.
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
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 should be abolished because the United States today is much more populous and very different than when the founders wrote the Constitution more than two centuries ago (Raasch 1)...
Beginning at the time the Electoral College was put into place, many debated over its pros and cons. As time has gone on, more and more people have begun to show support for a change in the system (Saad 2013). After George W. Bush defeated AL Gore in the 2000 election by losing popular vote, but winning the college, leading to a “legal recount contest”, many began to question the fairness of the college (Cohen, 2010). This marked the “third time in the nation’s history” the less popular candidate has taken office (Longley). However, the Electoral College should remain in place because it ensures the continuation of a Representative Democracy, maintains a two party system, and because currently no plausible plan has been produced as a means of replacement.
The candidate who crosses the threshold of 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. In almost every state, a candidate who wins 50.1 percent of the popular vote is awarded 100 percent of its electoral votes. (Only Maine and Nebraska don’t follow the winner-take-all rule;” for each state has a certain number of votes in the electoral college,depinding on the size and population,witch ever person running for president reaches the amount of 270 electoral votes will win the presidency.also each person who reaches 50.1 percent of popular votes is awarded 100 percent of its votes .maine and Nebraska do not follow the winner-take-all rule. also “Every four years, Americans select a president on a Tuesday in November. The two candidates representing the Republican and Democratic parties on Election Day will have survived a long series of state-level contests. Each state holds either a primary (votes by ballot) or a caucus (votes by a show of hands or by clustering all the candidate’s supporters in one place in the room). These initial elections are held from February through June.;”every four years, Americans select a president on a specific Tuesday in November.also there are a Republican and a democratic parties on election day that will overcome a series of state-level contests.each state holds a primary or a caucus votes or ballots with
One of the main problems with the electoral college is that the citizens votes don’t always matter to the electors. The way the electoral college works is that the normal citizens put in their vote for their desired candidate. However, these votes don’t count directly towards the presidential election, but they actually vote for a “slate of electors” (“The Indefensible Electoral College”, Bradford Plumer). The wicked twist is that these electors don’t necessarily have to vote for the candidate that the citizens wanted and voted towards. To me, this comes off as dishonest, untruthful, and
People have known since childhood that people getting more of a say is unfair. This is exactly the case with the Electoral College. The Electoral College is system in which people vote regionally and that region gets a certain number of votes based off its Senators and House of Representatives. This system is unfair as it give more of a say to those in smaller states. Big states aren't given enough votes to match their population while small states have a limit to how few votes they get.
The second reason the electoral college should be abolished is that it is a old and outdated system. The electoral college was created in 1787 and then later changed again in 1804 since that time the world has progressed a lot (History.com). The electoral college was created in a time where information wasn't readily available to everyone so the system helped a lot when picking the next president but now that information is available everywhere it seems to be a pretty useless function of our government. These reasons show that the electoral college was an old idea and that it should left in the
The Electoral College was documented in the U.S constitution as a means of safeguarding the decision by or votes cast by uninformed voters, hence, putting the decision in the hands of the electors instead of the popular votes. There is need to clearly point out that the Electoral College is the best way of choosing the U.S president because it guarantees the certainty of the result of the presidential election. If elections in America were based on popular votes, then it will be possible for a candidate to obtain the highest number of votes without necessarily obtaining the majority. Henceforth, the