The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

Despite the Electoral College system being founded by the founding fathers in America and being there as long as the Constitution exists, many people still do not have sufficient knowledge on how it works. The Electoral College does not provide honest presidential elections rather it has the potential to undo the will of people at any point from the selection of electors to the vote tallying in Congress (Shaw, 3). Electoral College in the United States has played a major role in depressing the voter's turnout. Every State is given an equal number of electoral votes despite the population and in turn, the system has put in place no measure to encourage the voters to take part in the elections. Besides, the system distorts

In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives and Senate are conjoined to elect the President and Vice President. In this case, each is given one vote, making California’s whooping population of 39 billion equal to Wyoming’s measly 350,000. This overrules the matter of “equal representation” and gives the power to the House and Senate to dictate the outcome of the nation (Doc D).

Since the electoral vote is partially based on the state’s representatives in the House, the most populated states have more votes. This can be evidenced above with the four most populated states in the nation, California, Texas, Florida and New York, having the four highest electoral votes in the nation. The question of to whom the state’s electoral votes go to is decided by an elector. An elector is someone who decides to which candidate the state’s electoral votes goes to, electors are instructed to award the votes to whomever wins the state popular vote. However, electors can go against these instructions. Most electors pledge to keep to those instructions but sometimes an elector will cast the state’s electoral against the instructions, these electors are known as “faithless” electors. Due to “faithless” electors, nine electoral votes have been cast against instruction since 1820. Thankfully, none of these votes changed the outcome of any election.

The voting process in America appears straightforward, but it is a very complex, complicated system. The Electoral College is America’s current voting system. The Electoral College still serves its intended purpose, but with increasing political activity among Americans it has caused a need to reform this process. Research suggests that the Electoral College system should be amended because it poorly illustrates democracy, is outdated and the majority of Americans are in favor of abolishing the system.

In June of 1804 the states had ratified the Twelfth Amendment which enacted the Electoral College in time for the 1804 election. When election time comes, Americans vote for the President and Vice President who are chosen by Presidential electors, who as a whole are known as the Electoral College. As a decision was needed for a method of choosing candidates, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 contemplated many different ways of electing the President, but toward the end of the proposals and ideas the matter had to be taken to the Committee of Eleven on Postponed Matters which is the committee who conceived the original Electoral College. In recent years, much debate has been stirring regarding whether or not the Electoral College has a place within this country's elections. For many states this method of tallying and casting votes is great because every state receives a minimum of three electoral votes considering each state has two senators and at least one representative (Lewis). However, these minimum electoral votes make the distribution of electoral college votes uneven throughout the fifty states, making each American citizen's vote count less or much more which is cause for change. If the information on these weighted votes is analyzed it can be concluded that states with a population similar to Wyoming has one “elector” for every 177, 556 persons while Texas has one “elector” for every 715,499 persons. While the Electoral College has worked for generations, there are some negative factors that give cause to abolish this practice, such that are; faithless electors, the winner take all system, and finally, safe and swing states.

Every time there is an election in the United States, the debate of Electoral College always heats up, and suddenly everybody seems to know about or at least they are interested in learning about it. The Electoral College is firmly established under the United States Constitution to elect the president and the vice president of the United States indirectly. A slate of “electors” are chosen from each state, and they are the ones responsible for voting for president in the general elections depending on which party the candidate is vying with. From this statement, what it means is that one does not choose his or her preferred leader directly and this has made many suggestions that the Electoral College is not a true representation of democracy. This paper will look at the strongest arguments for and against the Electoral College, analyze whether the current Electoral College should be re-engineered or scrapped in favor of direct vote and finally determine if the Electoral College is consistent or contrary to democratic principle.

The Electoral College was created in 1787 to protect this country’s voting system. It is a group of 538 members that directly cast the votes to determine who the next president will be. (Green) However, the issues of the present day can’t help but wonder, is the Electoral College’s system outdated and corrupt? My dialogue’s purpose is to defend the Electoral College and show how it still protects us to this day by using evidence from the most recent 2016 election, and prove that it gave us the best candidate suited for the role of the President of the United States.

In the “Point: Abolishing the Electoral College,” Benjamin Bolinger, a licensed lawyer who can practice law in Colorado and Pennsylvania, argues that the Electoral College needs to be abolished for the American democracy. Bolinger examines that some states with a little population have large number of electoral college compare to those states with larger populations. He believes that the Electoral College damages the value of democratic government by leaving

In the United States, the Electoral College determines the victor of a national election. Each state has its own number of electoral votes, which is determined by state population. This system is a “winner takes all” system. Which means the candidate with 50 percent or more of the votes in an individual state gets all of that states electoral votes. The 2016 presidential election will have 538 electoral votes, this means that the election will be decided who is the first candidate to 270 votes. Some people have seen this system as outdated and unjust. Many are looking at a way to change the system and others would like to do away with the system

The Electoral College what can I say to be honest, I know nothing about the Electoral College, but I will do my best to explain it to people who might know and to help them know so when they 're seventeen they know like I should. So the Google definition of the Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who cast votes in the election of the President and Vice President. I would have not given that explanation, it would have told you it is a College. So helping you and myself, I will first explain how it works, then how Electors are selected, and the qualifications to be one and their restriction on who the Electors can vote for. Then the Election 1800 and the 12th Amendment. Then I will explain times where

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,

The 2016 presidential election was an example of the discrepancy between the Electoral College votes and the national popular votes. If the last presidential election had been decided by a national popular vote, then Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency because she had the majority of votes. However, due to the design of the Electoral College, Donald Trump won the election for president in 2016; although, he lost the national popular vote. Just as some people questioned the effectiveness of the Electoral College during some of the previous elections, several people questioned the effectiveness of the Electoral College again in 2016. The debate about whether the Electoral College should be kept or

There are some that would argue that the Electoral College should not be abolished. Williams argued, “According to 2013 census data, nine states—California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, and Michigan—have populations that total roughly 160 million, slightly more than half the U.S. population. It is conceivable that just nine states could determine the presidency in a popular vote” (Williams). Consequently, without the Electoral College, nine states can possibly determine the results of an election. Those that support the Electoral College think that elections should be by state instead of a vote per person. The Electoral College can keep unqualified candidates from winning an election and therefore, become president. "Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States. It will not be too strong to say, that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue" (Williams). He supports the idea that the Electoral College keeps unqualified candidates from becoming the president. He also talks about how there is a

If you think on Election Day, you voted for the next president of the United States, sorry to tell you but you were mislead like the millions of Americans whom had believed their votes would decide next president. The United States has a unique process in electing the next president. In order to win the white house, a national election must be held every four years. American citizens whom are registered to vote do not directly vote for their favored candidate, but vote for presidential electors, known as the electoral college, to vote for the candidate. In the election, each state has an assigned number of electoral votes which vary on the number of residing citizens, in the respective state. For example, Texas has thirty-eight electoral votes to Rhode Island’s four. The presidential candidate must gain, at least, two-hundred-and-seventy votes from an electoral college to win the election.

Every four years, in the United States, a president is either elected or re-elected. The process, called the Electoral College, is unique to America and is widely debated. According to Amendment XII of the United States Constitution, state electors, which combined are the Electoral College, vote on who should be president and vice president. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote, they will hold that office. The number of electors a specific state receives is the sum of the number of senators and the number of representatives a state is given. Typically, electors of a state will vote for whoever won the popular vote in their state (Presidential Election Laws). Despite the typical winner-take-all format for state electors, there is an effort to have states’ electors vote based on the national popular vote. This endeavor, officially called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, would go into effect when enough states have joined that would have a total sum of electors greater than the required majority (Zimmerman). Because the Electoral College provides a clearer winner and ensures that the president is elected by the whole country, it should remain the way that the president of the United States is elected.