Rethinking the Electoral College: A Plea for Popular Vote

1370 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Controversies with the electoral college

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

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of A More Perfect Constitution By Larry Sabato

    1551 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Why The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Electoral College system should be scrapped and be replaced with popular vote because it is unfair. By abolishing the Electoral College and replacing it with popular vote, it would represent citizens equally, it would allow citizens to elect their president just as they elect their governors and senators, and it would motivate and encourage citizens to participate in voting.

    Read More

  • Pro Electoral College

    1757 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Electoral College requires a presidential candidate to have transregional appeal. No region (South, Northeast, etc.) has enough electoral votes to elect a president. This ensures that whoever gets elected has policies that do not just appeal to one or two major population centers, but rather to the country as a whole. America is conglomeration of fifty states all joined together. The size of America makes it a very diverse country. Farmers living in rural towns in the midwest have very different concerns and beliefs, than someone living in a liberal city like New York or the suburbs of New Jersey. The electoral college requited the president to be everyone president, while also allocating more votes to areas with a larger

    Read More

  • Essay On The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some people believe the Electoral College system weakens the fundamental principle of a representative government- that one person should have one vote. If we switch to a popular vote, people will have a greater amount of saying than before. The candidates will have a better chance to get

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Electoral College

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Electoral College Persuasive Essay

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    In fact, the Constitution contains provisions for direct and indirect election of the different parts of the legislature and the executive, based on overlapping but distinct electorates (Muller 1251). In addition, many people believe that, the Electoral College process of electing the president necessitates replacement with a direct popular vote to honor our democratic form of government in the United States. Moreover, in a democratic form of government, the authority rests with the people rather than in one or a few as in a totalitarian or authoritarian form of government. People believe a direct election supports the 14th Amendment principle of “one person, one vote” (Wagner 577). Therefore, the winner-take-all system inaccurately represents the will of the American citizens since not all candidates garner any electoral votes. On the other hand, a popular vote for the president could lead to many runoffs if neither candidate reaches a majority, creating a bigger opportunity for voter fraud and manipulation of the vote, which would not truly represent the will of the people, states, or country. The Electoral College sometimes fails to represent the national popular vote because states use the winner-take-all approach and not some proportional method for the representation of its voters. However, the Founding Fathers were not too keen on

    Read More

  • Electoral College Should Be Abolished Essay

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Electoral College Should Be Abolished Many years after the United States was founded, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself; they later came to settle on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a system in which the president and vice president are chosen indirectly. In general, the delegates did not believe that a direct popular vote was acceptable, however that it should be decided by the US senators and representatives instead. The way in which it works: a candidate must receive a majority of the electoral votes to be officially declared president. If no candidate obtains a majority, the US Representatives selects the president from the top three contenders; this means each state receives

    Read More

  • Abolishing the Electoral College

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Electoral College: The Value Of The Electoral College

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Electoral College was a compromise between those at the Constitutional Convention who wanted the US president elected by popular vote and those who wanted congress to select the president. They believed that having it where each state would get a certain number of votes based on population would keep a manipulative and charming person out of office. They thought it would prevent bribery and corruption along with secret dealings. I don’t think that this is the case and it one of the reason I feel that the Electoral College should be abolished.

    Read More

  • The Electoral College Vs. Popular Vote

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

    2215 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay on Electoral Colleges

    378 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the United States we are all guaranteed one vote per person. Everyone has an equal voice in electing the people that serve in the government. Every four years during the month of November citizens of America go to the polls to vote for a president and vice-president of the United States. Am I right? Not really. They actually vote for electors that then vote for our president. It makes me wonder, "Are we a democracy?" Having the Electoral College defeats its purpose. I oppose the electoral college for these three reasons, in election 2000 the president that lost the popular vote actually won, everyone's vote doesn't really count, plus the electoral college has disrupted elections fifteen times!

    Read More

  • The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Founders built certain protections for individual rights into this country's founding documents. The United States Constitution was one such document. In particular, such protections guard Americans who hold minority viewpoints from those who side with the majority. For example, the First Amendment protects the right of free speech to ensure that people who hold unpopular views have just as much freedom to express those views as do people who tend to agree with the majority. The United States Constitution, therefore, was intended to protect the individual rights of Americans from a tyrannical government and majority. However, today, the Electoral College does not represent the vibrant democracy into which the United States has grown.

    Read More

  • America's Democracy

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system. William E. Hudson defines four such models in his book American Democracy in Peril: the Protective, Developmental, Pluralist, and Participatory models of democracy (Hudson, 8-19). Of these models, perhaps Participatory comes closest to an ideal, pure democracy of rule by the people (16-19). In practice, however, establishing a stable ideal democracy is not entirely feasible. In a country the size of the United States, it quickly becomes unwieldy if not impossible to have direct rule by the people. To overcome this, the compromise of the representative system allows the people to choose who will rule on a regular basis. The political culture that defines American politics shows that despite this compromise, America is still very much a democratic society.

    Read More

  • Questioning the Electoral College System

    1971 Words  | 4 Pages

    With the Electoral College in place, the United States remains a true Representative Democracy. By having electors, who are nominated to cast their vote for the president, the nation distances itself from a Direct Democracy (Longley). While creating the nation, many people believe the founders were strictly concerned with power to the citizens. However, they truly did not give the people much “political credit” (Longley). In fact, the “framers expressly ejected” the idea of popular vote, and felt using state electors was the only fair method of electing the president (Gringer 2008). They also understood “it would be unlikely for a candidate to have a nationwide presence among the people” (Patel, 2012) Delegate Elbridge Gerry believed a plan using popular vote was “radically vicious” and feared that the “people are uninformed, and would be misled by a few designing men” (Gerry 1787). They framers understood many people do not have a lot of information on, or background in politi...

    Read More

More about Rethinking the Electoral College: A Plea for Popular Vote

Open Document