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Electoral College: President Of The United States

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Electoral College In 2000 George W. Bush was elected as the 43rd president of the United States. This was despite the fact he lost the popular vote. This was made possible by the Electoral College, the system the United States uses to elect the president (and vice president). Elector are the people appointed to vote for the president in the Electoral College system. These electors are appointed to the states based on the number of people in Congress (and 3 electors are given to the District of Columbia). In most states, electors pledged their votes based on their state’s popular vote. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes, wins the presidency. 1 For example, If a president won the popular vote in Minnesota, …show more content…

This would modify the structure of the American government, and slightly modify the 12th amendment. The way the amendment would do this can be done in several ways, but the most simple way is to have a direct nationwide vote. This means the president and vice president would be elected similarly to the way a senator or representative would be elected, but on a larger scale. They would need to have a majority of the votes, or 51 percent or higher. If there was a tie in the race, the presidency would be chosen the same way it has been in the past.3 The president would be elected by the House of Representatives from one of the candidates in the race. In short, the basis of the proposed amendment is to switch from the Electoral College, to a nationwide, majority rules, voting …show more content…

The first and biggest benefit from switching to a popular vote is this system ensures the majority candidate wins the presidency, thus more accurately reflecting the wants of the people. Under the Electoral College system, the minority candidate can win the presidency in a couple of d different ways. The most concerning way is if one candidate had the overall popular vote, but another candidate won a slim enough lead in few states with enough Electoral College points to win the presidency.2 This can be avoided with the popular vote, because regardless of the state, one vote is the same. Another benefit to switching to a popular vote is candidates can focus on states more equally. Swing states are states which don’t have a concrete alliance, or are not prone, to vote a certain way (democratic or republic). With the Electoral College system swing states get a huge disproportionate amount of time spent on them, up to ¾ of a candidate's time.4 Without the Electoral College system, candidates will be able to devote time equally amongst all states, instead of a small few. The final benefit from the change to the popular vote is the likely increase in voter turnout. With the knowledge of swing states, those who live outside of competitive states are less likely to turn up to vote.4 Using a popular vote system, voters are more likely to want to vote, knowing they have more of an impact on the presidential race. An

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