The Controversy Over the Electoral College System
A number of Americans fail to realize that when they vote they are not voting for the president and vice-president directly, but for electors who then cast their ballots in the Electoral College. Until the recent battle between Gov. George W. Bush and Vice-president Al Gore for the presidency, this new generation of American voters has never witnessed a controversial election. Historically, there have been problematic elections allowing voters to question this system. The Electoral College is now a process open to criticism and debate, specifically because many do not understand its origin or purpose today. On November 7, 2000, Election Day, I was excited to become an official voter. Considering myself mature, responsible, and finally of age to vote, I had mailed my registration, received my voter’s card, ready to become a participant in one of the most crucial events of the year. I was a faithful supporter of my candidate, crossing my fingers in hopes of victory. That night I watched CNN, eating my dinner and sipping a Diet Coke when the station announced Al Gore had won Florida, which held twenty-five electoral votes. Two hundred and seventy are needed to win, and presidential candidates Bush and Gore had switched leads all night.
Each state held a close percentage ranging from an average 2-6 percent difference in votes between candidates. Florida had been anticipated as a Republican victory, which led to disappointment among Republican voters when its electoral votes were awarded to Al Gore. I continued to watch as each state was announced and electoral votes were awarded to either candidate. About an hour later, Florida became “too close to call” and CNN among other st...
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... situation may cause discouragement in some voters, but in others motivation to become a participant in voting for entrusted electors to select our next president. Between the presidential candidates, whomever wins among this controversy should be respected and relied upon to reunite a divided country. Americans must have faith in a system that despite its flaws works and has set us apart from other nations in our
freedoms and rights.
Works Cited
Best, Judith A. The Choice of the People? Debating the Electoral College. England: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996, pgs. 43-44.
Glennon, Michael J. When No Majority Rules: The Electoral College and Presidential Succession. Washington D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1993, p.20.
Schmidt, Shelley, and Bardes. American Politics and Government Today. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999, pgs. 325-327.
Dye, Thomas R. , L. Tucker Gibson Jr., and Clay Robinson. Politics In America. Brief Texas Edition ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2005.
The childhood of the past has changed through many eras of time. The labor work of children is not needed in a great deal no more. The 1800s was a time of labor for children. Families would have more children than now, because without a child many families could not survive. Children were needed to bring home money and feed the family. The girls were used to do the chores around the house, while the boys were used to do outside work, like cut wood. Children were influenced to do labor. They would not believe in an education, both rural and urban children. Through the industrialization children started working in family farms or in small workshops. Boys and girls would find work at mines or large factories. Children were seen as the important economic survivals to their families. By the 1890s, Canada ...
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 many years, but nowadays, it isn’t capable of keeping 300 million people calm.
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 away. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties.
Ken Kollman, The American Political System, (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2012), 25, 322-323, 330, 449.
The United States is a privileged country with freedoms and opportunities many countries strive to achieve. People come into the United States in hopes to obtain these rights and make 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.
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.
Neale, Thomas H., CRS Web. CRS Report For Congress. The Electoral College: How It Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections. 28 September, 2004. http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/36762.pdf
The very history of the country, a major contributor to the evolution of its political culture, shows a legacy of democracy that reaches from the Declaration of Independence through over two hundred years to today’s society. The formation of the country as a reaction to the tyrannical rule of a monarchy marks the first unique feature of America’s democratic political culture. It was this reactionary mindset that greatly affected many of the decisions over how to set up the new governmental system. A fear of simply creating a new, but just as tyrannic...
Nasri, Grace. “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing To Trade Data For Personalization.” Digital Trend. 10 Dec. 2012. Web.
Happening on multiple occasions, the Electoral College has elected a President that did not win the popular vote. Called a “faithless electors”, this happens when an elector doesn’t follow the guidelines provided by the general election (Williams 2). The election of a “minority” President has created controversy whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not. People in favor of the Electoral College state that it requires popular support throughout the states to be elected President, and it protects the smaller states’ interests for the candidates. Those in favor also say that the Electoral College supports and stabilizes a two-party system and maintains the United States’ system of representation (Williams 3). While some people are in favor of the Electoral College, there are people that protest against it. These people say that the Electoral College can lessen the voter turnout, put votes with “faithless electors”, and the Electoral College might not show what the citizens want based on popular vote. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, from League of Women Voters, is a protester of the Electoral College and said, “The Electoral College, a curious vestige of the eighteenth century, violates the principle of one person, one vote. The time has come to abolish it.” Jefferson-Jenkins goes on to state that the Electoral College is becoming outdated with the technology advancements of
Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While marijuana has a small amount of negligible effects to its users, the herbal drug more importantly has remarkable health benefits, and legalizing one of the oldest and most commonly known drugs would redirect America’s future with the advantages outweighing the disadvantages.
The legalization of marijuana in the United States is a long and historically debated subject. Pro-legalization advocates provide many reasons for the decriminalization of marijuana; some of the reasons include, zero recorded deaths from direct use, wasting tax-payer money prosecuting non-violent offenders, and prohibition promotes organized crime. Anti-legalization organizers condemn legalization due to marijuana being considered a gateway drug, moral and religious opposition, legalization could lead to harder drugs being legalized, and the fear that legalization would enable the drug to be more accessible to children. There are many positive and negative aspects of legalization, but personally I am in favor of legalization and taxation of the non-deadly drug. In this paper, I will outline the good and the bad of legalization and investigate if legalization would be beneficial to America and society as a whole.
The opportunity to vote for the officials that represent our government, I feel, is quintessentially American. Throughout our history, the right to vote has been something people have fought for. The framers created the foundation for the electoral system we know today. There are notable strengths and weaknesses within our electoral process, most notably with the Electoral College, that I would like to review.
"Legalization of Marijuana." Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Discovering Collection. Gale. MINITEX. 20 Mar. 2014