Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
Ever since the election involving Bush and Gore, the viability of the Electoral College has become a heatedly debated topic. The question is whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the conditions the United States faces today as opposed to the conditions that the Founding Fathers faced when they created it. For over one hundred and fifty years, the United States has used this system, and controversy has followed it ever since. It was created in an effort to protect the people and institution of America by putting the final vote of the presidency in the hands of a trusted and respected few. These few have the power to disregard the popular vote due to the fact that there is still no federal law demanding electors …show more content…
They would ignore the less populated areas in between. They also argue that it would be dangerous and unnecessary to replace a system that has functioned for over 200 years. Proponents of the Electoral College system defend it because they believe that the Electoral College contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be President, enhances the status of minority interests, contributes to the political stability of the nation, and maintains a federal system of government. Proponents say that the voters of even small miniorties in a State may make the difference between winning all of the State’s electoral votes or none of the State’s electoral votes. They argue that the original design of the federal system was thought out and wisely debated. Proponents of the Electoral College argue that state viewpoints are more important than political minority viewpoints. We shouldn’t tamper with the careful balance of power between the national and state governments. Overall, they believe that the Electoral College has functioned for over 200 years and find the existing system extremely efficient because they feel that electors represent their constituents Proponents of the Electoral College believe that a popular vote would create numerous deficiencies in the system by making candidates too uniform and making them liable to deceptions of the truth (Pass or Fail, 2000). Why change a system that has functioned and elected a handful of respected and successful presidents? The real question though is, has this system truly worked flawlessly for over 200 years, or do we just think it has? Advocates of the Electoral College may think that if a popular vote was instated, candidates would just focus on the larger populated areas; however, don’t they
The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
561 Words | 3 PagesSupporters of the Electoral College system normally promote it on the philosophical view that it contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president(which does not make any sense), it enhances the status of minority interests(which is not true), contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system, and, maintains a federal system of government and representation (Bates, 2004). Under the proposed new electoral system, each candidate’s election showing would be a weighted average of his or her popular vote in 51 states , each state’s weight would be comprised of its proportion of total electoral votes as tallied by present conventions. The final score for candidates would be expressed as a
Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College
748 Words | 3 PagesWatching this year’s election was shocking. Against all predictions, against every analysis, Donald Trump became the president-elect of the United States. But were those predictions really off? As the LA Times put it,” Hillary Clinton got roughly the same number of votes that President Obama received four years ago en route to his reelection, but she nonetheless lost the presidency to Donald Trump, who came in at least 2.8 million votes behind her.” This is, of course, because of the electoral college.
The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
1729 Words | 7 PagesAnother pro to the electoral college system is it helps keep a two party system in this country. If it were an election based on popular vote some say it would be chaos because of how many people would be running for president. The electoral college lets the winning candidate get the majority of the vote In the 1992 polls, Bill Clinton only got 42 percent of the vote, but with Ross Perot’s influence, he won the majority of the electoral college. Ross perot was famous for splitting the republican vote in this election he was a billionaire that ran as a independent. This is one of the reasons George Bush sir didn't have a chance in this election.
Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
1344 Words | 6 PagesDo We Need the Electoral College? Following the 2016 election many individuals we shocked to find Donald Trump had won the Presidency while not having the popular vote. They were unaware of how the electoral college works and how the president is actually elected through the electoral college rather than the popular vote. But, before we find out if we need the electoral college, we must look into why it was created, and look at the pros and cons of the electoral college as well as the pros and cons of the proposed system to replace it.
Electoral College Pros And Cons
427 Words | 2 PagesI must preface this discussion with the fact that I am anything but, pro Electoral College. Nonetheless, the Electoral College is a method of voting within our democracy, which each state is allocated a certain amount of “electors” who are sworn to vote for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their respective state. However, there are two exceptions to this rule, the states of Nebraska and Maine, which bifurcate their respective electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote. The quantity of electoral votes in any given state is grounded in the state’s congressional representation. Respectively, each state is afforded two votes for every Senator with an added vote for every member of the House of Representatives, which is in-turn grounded in volume of the state population.
Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College
990 Words | 4 PagesAs of recently a debate that has existed in American politics for centuries has flared up again. The debate in question is whether we should keep our Electoral College for the purpose of electing our President or abolish it and elect our Presidents through a popular vote. Those who seek to abolish the Electoral College cite instances -recent and past- in which Presidential Candidates have won the popular vote yet lost the majority of the Electoral College. They also argue that the undemocratic philosophy behind the Electoral College, the thought that the American people aren’t competent enough to choose their own Commander in Chief, is an outdated piece of a backwards past that has no place in modern society and law. Those who seek to preserve the Electoral College as it is state that the electoral system the framers of the Constitution created is as good as it can
What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
676 Words | 3 PagesAs an excerpt from an original document about ‘The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College System’, by William C. Kimberling, states, “...the distribution of Electoral votes in the College tends to over-represent people in the rural states” (10). In 1988, people from less populated states combined had the same voting strength as a more populous state that had three times as many people (Kimberling 10). As a result, the more populous state’s potential votes held less weight than the potential votes in the other, less populated states. Many states’ votes are deemed less important than other states due to the Electoral
Pros And Cons Of Keeping The Electoral College
931 Words | 4 PagesOne of the United States’ fundamental beliefs is the idea that fair taxation with equal representation. Author of, “5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Electoral College”, Louise Gaille, elaborates, “In national representation, each state and population district receives equal representation, in either the house or the senate, and that allows individual voters to still have a say in what happens” (Gaille). The Electoral College was built on compromises the Founding Fathers made to ensure the equal ability for everyone to impact the decisions made in the country. Without national representation, states with smaller populations won’t have their votes as considered as the votes from larger states. For example, although Wyoming makes up about .18% of the population, they still control .56% of all electoral votes.
The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
1270 Words | 6 PagesAs the mode in which electing a president needed to prevent the possibility of “cabal, intrigue, and corruption”, stated by Alexander Hamilton, and thus the Electoral College was born. Our current system follows the regulations dictated by the US Constitution and 12th amendment: each state is assigned a number of votes based off said state’s population and whomever receives the majority of the votes wins that year's election. The system was crafted in attempts to make sure bigger states did not hold an absurd amount of power over smaller states; it was crafted to serve the republic. The political and socio-economical climate is completely different than the one in which the Electoral College was created in. In fact, the original design was “supposed to work without political parties and without national campaigns”, giving more choice to the public.
Should Electoral College Be Replaced With A Direct National Election
825 Words | 4 Pages” We should be realistic that the “game” is not going to change anytime, as a few people seem to agree with on nerdwallet.com. However, I feel that this is a good example of us humans always wanting “more” then what we already having and not learning to satisfy with what we have. We must be aware that as stated on uselectionatlas.org, “although there were a few anomalies in its early history, none have occurred in the past century. Proposals to abolish the Electoral College, though frequently put forward, have failed largely because the alternatives to it appear more problematic than is the College itself.”
The Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College
665 Words | 3 PagesThe recent presidential election has had a controversy on the abolishment of the Electoral College. With many citizens not understanding whether or not their vote is actually being counted during the election, more debates have risen on if popular vote should be the deciding factor of presidential determinations instead. Popular vote is an actual count of individual votes from all states in America while the Electoral College is a measure of the House of Representatives and Senators choosing directly who the president should be (Kimberling, 1992). The reasoning behind why the Electoral College was the determining factor for president was declared by the founding fathers decades ago to ensure equality (Pavia, 2011). Recently, critics have expressed that this system is not as equal as predetermined.
Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College
786 Words | 4 PagesThe Electoral College, the system that elects our president in our people’s choice democracy. However, the thing is we do not choose our leader. The Electoral College is created in the Constitution of the United States Article II Section I and reformed in the 12 amendment. The Electoral College is a group of 538 electors who chose the president and vice president in separate votes since the passing of the 2nd amendment.
Should Electoral College Be Abolished Essay
911 Words | 4 PagesThe invention of the Electoral College is particular to The United States; there is only one like it in the world today. Many other countries use the popular vote, or use a parliamentary system to pick their leaders. This brings up the question of if the Founders, in creating a unique voting system, were mistaken. The passionate supporters of the Electoral College argue that this invention is fair and should be kept in use. In fact, they are wrong; the Electoral College should be abolished because of its undemocratic system, its discrimination against voters in different states, and the subversion of its original purpose as was intended by the Framers.
Electoral College Essay
854 Words | 4 PagesAccording to Posner, “The Electoral College restores some of the weight in the political balance that large states lose by virtue of the mal-apportionment of the Senate decreed in the Constitution” (Posner). Although the electoral college does prevent some states from having too much power, it also gives immense power to other states, such as Texas, Florida, and California. Another concern for people that support the electoral college is that it helps control swing states from having too much pull. Despite some states having a stronger pull in the voting system, switching to a popular voting system would negate the swing state concept and help each individual citizen proclaim in own political believes, despite the state he/she lives in. William discusses the 2008 election and states, “It 's time for a national popular vote.
The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
1327 Words | 6 PagesThere is more stability within the government, state, and country when there’s only two parties. This also helps the federal government focus on general The Electoral College is the current system of electing a president in America. The system consists of the selection of electors, which is where the electors get together to vote on the candidates, and also where they count the electoral votes. The Electoral College has 528 electors and to elect a candidate they have to get 270 of the electoral votes. Each state’s electoral votes represents how many members in its Congressional delegation, along with one for each member of the House of Representatives, and two for its Senators.
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