Electoral College Reform Essay

Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two-party system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.

The second idea was for the state legislatures to select the president, this option was denied because it raised concerns that the President may drawback to heavily on federal authority because it would be at the hand of the states, which were not huge supporters at the time of centralized government. Finally they proposed that a direct popular vote be held, but this was denied for multiple reasons. One reason being that the states would not have the communication tools to be sufficiently informed on the candidates overall and would just choose the favorite from their own state or region, without a factual base for doing so, another being that the large states would have a significant advantage over small states.

The twelfth amendment that created the electoral college, was passed by congress in 1803, and has been instilled since. For the next presidential election, I believe the current situation should continue to be instilled. It has been in place now for over 200 years. It has been working for these past 200 years without major issues which is why I believe it could continue for another 200 years. I don’t think completely abolishing the electoral college is a good idea since it would make the people of the U.S completely in control. I also don’t believe amending the twelfth amendment is necessary. The current system we have in place for the electoral college should continue since it prevents the people from electing an unfit president. I am aware of the fact that in the year 2016, most people have some sort of education,

One might question why the country didn't just begin to elect their presidents with a direct election system. Was the idea never suggested? On the contrary, it was suggested before that of the Electoral College. The main reason the thought wasn't taken seriously is because, "…the worry was that, in a vast country with fitful communications, ordinary citizens were likely to know next to nothing about would-be Presidents from afar. Someone in, say, Georgia 'would be unable to assess the qualifications' of an aspiring President from Massachusetts, and thus couldn't vote intelligently," (Solomon). "The prospect of a direct popular vote also upset the small states, which spent the entire Constitutional Convention trying to stop the populous, powerful states (such as Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts) from taking over. When Gouverneur Morris suggested that the President "ought to be elected by the people at large," Roger Sherman of Connecticut offered a Bronx cheer. "The people at large," he

Many people argue that the Electoral College is an outdated system. After all, many things have changed in the last two centuries. For one, technology is much more advanced now than it was two hundred years ago. With the internet and television, we can now learn everything about a candidate regardless of where the come from in the nation. It is feasible to have direct election of a president because of these improved methods of communication and the evolution of technology in general.

One of the biggest proponents of the direct vote was future President James Madison, who, despite his concerns over unfairness to the underpopulated southern states, felt that since one of the President’s jobs was to guard the people from the legislature, he should be elected by the people he is guarding. (Pierce 41). It was generally believed, however, that the people were essentially misinformed and easily confused and misled. Despite being voted down on two separate occasions, the direct vote system did demonstrate the hazards of the legislature selecting the president. (Pierce 41)

The Electoral College has been around since the Constitution was first written and has been controversial ever since it was started. The process of electing a president includes the Electoral College, which has a rich and interesting history; there are many arguments for and against the College, but the way the Electoral College works now is not representative of the country’s opinion as a whole.

One of the most noteworthy complications about the Electoral College is the fact that the United States neglects its territories? Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S Virgin Islands and Norther Mariana Islands receive no votes because they are not official states. A quick solution to this issue would be to amendment the constitution and recognize these legitimate territories as part of the United States. About 4.4 million Individuals live in these territories and they are undoubtedly American citizens. This amount may not seem significant, but in perspective that is more than Wyoming, Vermont, Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska and Delaware combined yet they have no say in the presidential elections. Additionally, there are about 6.3 million Americans who live

After the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation were drafted on November 15, 1777 to have a government set up for when the colonies won the war or successively seceded from Britain. This form of government is called a confederation meaning it derives most of its’ power from the states. Confederations are considered weak governments because there is no central power to tax and keep order between the states. This is why many historians today are shocked by how weak a government the founders created, considering they were intelligent enough to know the Articles were not going to work. The Articles of Confederation were important to the fledgling United States by keeping the 13 states united; however, glaring flaws in the Articles

We can trace back the Electoral College to the 18th century when the United States was first founded by our Founding Fathers, when after our independence, we created a democracy that will give equal opportunities for the people and not give too much power to one person; therefore the Electoral College holds a great importance in our country’s political history. Located in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, this document states, “The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves…The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President…” Despite the importance of this process, many start to debate whether we should abolish the Electoral College or keep it. Some claim that, this process takes away the choice of an individual that votes for its candidate. While others claim that the Electoral College gives a fair chance to the voters that live in smaller states with less population. In order to make a clear decision. To make a clear judgment, one needs to go back and inform themselves on what is an Electoral College, understand why our Founding Fathers created this political role, know of their advantages and disadvantages as well to analyses wheatear this process is still necessary now in days.

It would seem that the founding fathers were a lot smarter than we give them credit for in 1792. This was the year the College, as we call it today the Electoral College, ratified in the Constitution of the United States of America by the colonies. This would also start the longest continuous debate our nation has ever experienced over a single political issue that continues even today. This debate came center stage during the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (Jefferson’s Vice President running mate)received the same number of electoral votes for President even though they were running mates (http://www.ushistory.org/us/20a.asp). This tie would lead to changes to the Electoral College of their day and the foundation for the 12th Amendment to our Constitution.

It was proposed that the election would be based on a combination of Congress, state officials, and the American people in order to avoid political manipulation (History.com). They did not want any chance of corruption affecting the election process. This being said they also made it clear that they wanted only the people educated on the candidates’ issues to be allowed to vote. There is a major concern today about if voters are informed or just following the social norm; the electoral college was established in hopes of avoiding this. Another suggestion was that the Vice President would be the runner up (Origin). This could have worked; however, due to the polarization of the two main parties, the difference of opinions would have created clashes and a stagnant

It is a common misconception that the this country’s first attempt at establishing their own government with the Constitution was a success. And although the Constitution certainly has proven to be a success, it was not in fact the first attempt at creating a national government. That came with the Articles Of Confederation. A document which despite proving to be ineffective. still laid the foundation for the creation of the Constitution.

Fear of tyranny and fear of hurting the South all were factors into the making of the electoral college. The way government in The United States is set to avoid any potential tyranny of the majority, “ Such a form of government, the Founders believed, would allow them to achieve two potentially conflicting objectives: avoiding the "tyranny of the majority" inherent in pure democratic systems, while allowing the "sense of the people" to be reflected in the new American government.”("The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy.") The electoral college was crafted to stop the majority from ruling America. The Founders wanted democracy, but not at the cost of letting the majority rule this country. Heretofore, the idea of the electoral college and a popular vote would make all happy, people who believed in the popular vote, and people who believed letting only a certain group of people choose the president and vice president. Additionally, the electoral college was manifested out of fear of hurting the South. It was believed, especially by James Madison, that a direct vote would hurt the South: “James Madison of Virginia worried that such a system would hurt the South, which would have been outnumbered by the North in a direct election system” ("The Electoral College, Unfair From Day One.") The South would have been facing tyranny of the majority, and could not happen. The direct vote meant more votes for the North, and less for

The United States, well known for its democracy, holds elections every four years to elect its President. Every American citizen over the age of 18 has a right to cast a vote in the presidential election. The voting process, although it seems easy and straightforward, can be very complicated. In the 2000 election, Al Gore captured the majority of votes, but George Bush won. The reason for this strange outcome and why Al Gore lost was because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is voting system where different states are given a certain amount of votes in the election, and which ever candidate wins a state, is given that state’s votes. The Electoral College is out of date, and should be replaced by the Popular Vote system,