Olivia Juhasz
Mr. Baker
Government 12
1 March 2023
The Electoral College System In recent years we have used the electoral college system to decide who is elected as our President and Vice President. Now people are starting to think there is a more efficient way to elect a president. So, the question is, what is better the electoral college system or a different method? I believe that the electoral college system will always be an efficient way to elect a president. However, other people might feel that the popular vote might be the better option because it would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S presidential election. The electoral college ensures that all parts of the country are involved in selecting the President of
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Then, they build campaign platforms with a national focus, which means that the winner will serve all of the country’s needs. If the election only depended on the popular vote, candidates could limit campaigning to heavily populated areas or specific regions. Tina Mullaly, a South Dakota Representative, stated, “the Electoral College protects small state and minority interests and that a national popular vote would be like two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner.” (Tina Mullaly) Without the electoral college, some states like Iowa and Ohio with small farmers or factory workers they would be ignored for having favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with a higher population density. This leaves rural areas and small towns …show more content…
If the popular vote takes over, it will reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. Under the electoral college system, the candidates who receive the most votes in each state will receive their assigned electoral votes. A candidate who gets most of their voices in a high-delegate state, like California, could dramatically impact the rest of the election. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. A popular vote structure will virtually eliminate the idea of a third-party candidate having a chance in an election.
Despite the fact that our world will keep making changes in the government, the electoral college system will have a strong impact. The electoral college ensures that all parts of the country are involved in selecting the President of the United States, with it being created to protect the voice of the minority from being overwhelmed by the will of majority. With the many impacts the popular vote has, and the people that would rather have that I believe, that the electoral college will always be better for out U.S
I think we should keep the Electoral College. Electoral College is defined in our textbook as; “An unofficial term that refers to the electors who cast the states’ electoral votes” (Patterson, T.E., 2013). Electoral voting is tied in with the states popular voting. Choosing electoral college adds to the cohesiveness of the nation by obliging an appropriation of popular support to be elected President, improves the status of minority interests, contributes to the political dependability of the country by promising a two-party system, and keeps up an elected arrangement of government and representation (Kimberling, W.C., 2008). I think that the Electoral College system is a big part of the cohesiveness of our country and it requires the distribution
Electoral College has been in United States for a long period of time. The system was formed to select a president through an indirect election and to avoid suspicion of corruption and belief of compromised votes, but the Electoral College never worked as it was intended to work by founding fathers. There are many pros and cons for this system but one of the major con of this system is that people in the U.S. doesn’t think that their opinions about choosing president really matters because of the Electoral College and I also feel the same way about it. I think there are more cons of Electoral College than pros. One the major con is that people in U.S don’t feel that their vote matters because Electoral College redistributes its vote every
However, the best way to elect a president is through the Electoral College process. This is because the Electoral College has continued to produce a president, it is fair most of the time, and other methods aren’t as good. First, it has worked for a long time. Hamilton does a wonderful job of explaining the pros of the electoral college.
One of the most popular reasons why we should keep the electoral system is that it gives small states an equal opportunity. If the president was elected through popular vote the areas of America with more population would rule the White House. But in the electoral college the smaller states have a more equal vote. Small states can make a big difference when it comes to tight elections and because of that candidates cannot ignore the smaller states. But if we had the popular vote system the candidates would only travel to bigger states with a larger population.
Whether or not the electoral college should remain in the voting process is an often debated topic. It’s debated that the popular vote should determine who the president is and I believe that this is the fairest thing to do. If the electoral college is replaced by just going by the popular vote, it will more accurately represents American citizen’s verdict on who the next president will be. Presently, in most states, the candidate to get the most votes gets all of the electoral votes that the state can give.
Do you believe the Electoral College is a fair method of electing our president? Why or why not? In my opinion, I believe that the Electoral College provide a fair method of electing out president. Without the Electoral College, smaller states and less populated regions/area would be ignored completely. Candidates would concentrate on densely populated areas such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
However, our Founding Fathers did not intended a pure democracy, being a pure democracy is not universally good, due to it leads to tyranny of the majority and rejects compromise which could damage the union. Thus, the electoral college has proven to be operating effectively for more than 200 years, due to our Founding Fathers created an efficacious, carefully designed election system through vigorous debate and deliberation. Altogether, the electoral college should be preserved, due to it
Unlike any other democracy in the world, the United States elects its president using the electoral college system. Not even state and local level elections within the United States use this archaic approach. The system was created to protect the interests of smaller states, yet it has failed to do so, meaning it is no longer relevant. The electoral college system is unfair and should be abolished because of the dominance of the winner-takes-all system, inequality of votes, and reliance on electors.
Jackson Fullmer Mr. Baker Government March 2nd, 2023 The Electoral College is a system that has been around for a very long time. It is used to determine which President and Vice President candidates are going to be elected. While some argue that it should be replaced with an alternative method, there are several reasons why the Electoral College is the best option for America.
With the winner-takes-all system the U.S. currently uses, minorities can change what candidate their state representatives vote for. This is because when a candidate gets the popular vote in a state, the electors of that state will typically vote for that candidate, giving all the states' votes to the individual. This also forces the candidates to broaden their focus to all people, instead of just the majority. Furthermore, the electoral college has only two major parties, which forces them to focus on a broader range of issues that appeal to more people.
Despite all the criticisms and calls for reform, the Electoral College remains the best system for electing the President. First off, the great Electoral College will ensure that candidates must campaign in a variety of all different states and in a variety of different ways, instead of focusing only on a few large states or bigger population centers.
The electoral college also helps the small states have an opinion that actually is heard in the presidential election. In class, it was discussed that Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota together, though their combined population is less than that of Oklahoma, each of those states has three electoral votes, whereas Oklahoma just has seven votes. Going by electoral votes, a candidate would have a better chance at winning the election if they won over Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota versus Oklahoma. With the electoral college, a candidate could win over all thirty-nine small states and win the entire election. Though the candidate could be supported by less than a quarter of the population,
This system makes a safeguard around our votes. “Using electors instead of the popular vote was intended to safeguard the presidential election against uninformed or uneducated voters by putting the final decision in the hands of electors who were most likely to possess the information necessary to make the best decision in a time when news was not widely disseminated.” (Electoral College). The Electoral College gives voters peace of mind because they know the electors are educated on what they want and will vote accordingly. Some may say the popular vote is better in this situation because it gives each vote an equal amount of power and it would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector.
The Electoral College system the founding fathers devised helps to balance out the power of the large, populous states. This system forces candidates to campaign in all states since they all carry some sway in the elections (“Understanding the Presidential Election”). However, other issues present themselves as well, like states with large independent voters that can be swayed and the issue that a candidate can lose the popular vote and win the election. The first issue is that states that are equally divided between democrats and republicans and hold a large number of electoral votes like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania are considered swing states. (“Understanding the Presidential Election”)
The Electoral College system assures balanced power between the states, puts the independent parties under control, grants balanced voting, and supports the major political parties. The Electoral College has proven itself to be very sufficient in determining the president and the vice president of the United States. Since this system has been successful since our Founding Fathers created it, there should be no reason as to why we should get rid of the Electoral