What is the electoral college? It is the system that the United States of America uses to elect its president and vice president, and while many argue about its effectiveness, its disadvantages are alarming. It was outlined and created in the Constitution in Article II, Section I, Clause II, because the framers of the Constitution feared democracy. This system allows for a group of people to formally cast their respective state’s vote for the election of the president and vice president every four years, on the basis of who wins the majority in the General Election in their state. Although it was created with the best intentions by the writers of the Constitution, we now believe that this system, the electoral college, is not the most fair …show more content…
Also, it is completely unfair that the winning candidate in that respective state gets all that state’s votes. Maine and Nebraska are the only exceptions, because they proportionally split their votes. Simply changing all the states to this system would make the electoral college a more equal system; not the best, but better. There have been three occurrences in this country’s history that the electoral college has failed. In 1876 with Hayes, 1888 with Harrison, and 2000 with George W. Bush, the president won by the electoral college, but not by winning the popular vote. There has been one time, in 1824 with John Quincy Adams vs Andrew Jackson, that neither got the needed number of electoral votes to win. While Jackson, had a greater popular vote, since neither won the electoral college, it was sent to the House of Representatives, who voted Adams as president. These errors are not what a national population should want to see in their government; a system whose errors can be exposed extremely quickly, plus taken advantage of. This prompts candidates every election year to play to the system, which should not be
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
The United States of America Electoral College is a team who’s accountable for choosing the President as well as the Vice President, virtually every four years. The United States is known not to be a “true” democracy because of the electoral college. There are rules within the United States Electoral College that are straightforward. Every state is provided several electors.
The National Popular Vote Plan would eliminate many of the issues seen today while still having characteristics that are present in the current Electoral College. Issues such as disproportionate representation and neglecting smaller states during the campaign would be very minor or even nonexistent. Changing our election process would have clear benefits and would create a system which would have a closer representation of a democracy. “ The Electoral College operates to create the illusion of popular mandate” ( Riggs, Hobbs, Riggs 2). It makes us believe we are picking our president but in reality the Electoral College is made up of 538 electors who meet anytime between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to decide our president (Dixon 6).
I. The Electoral College is an unnecessary institution that undermines democracy by not ensuring the victory of the presidential candidate who wins the plurality of the popular vote, by creating a system in which not all votes are equal, and by incentivizing politicians to focus on the needs of specific states while ignoring others. II. A. The Electoral College is a body of people that represent each state within the United States and formally cast votes for their state in the election of the president.
The Electoral College is the system that determines who our next president and vice president will be. The Electoral College is currently made up of 538 electors, with a majority of 270 votes to win the election. Each state gets electors based on how many people in the House of Representatives plus two for each state’s senators. ("U. S. Electoral College, Official - What Is the Electoral College?" National Archives and Records Administration.
The 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.
Under the Electoral College, A candidate can become president with only 21.8% of the popular vote. Meaning that 78.2% of people wouldn’t of chose this candidate for president. Also swing states unfairly allow for only the major two political parties to win, even with a majority votes for a independent party. Another unfair issue is that Smaller population states have a superior role in the election process than a higher population state. For example, Wyoming has one elector for every 177,556 people and Texas has one elector for about every 715,499.
In short, the Electoral College was a solution to the question: “How should we pick our president impartially?” Much like any other point in the early American Government system, there was a long, arduous process of deciding who should be able to choose. Congress, State legislatures, and popular vote were all considered for the job, but none of them would suffice (Kimberling). This was because there was a definite threat of corruption in the government in its early stages of implementation in all three options. And so, a “Committee of Eleven” was created to provide an “indirect election of the president” (Kimberling).
In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. The Electoral College is defined as “a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.” Since 1787 the Electoral College has been the system for voting in the United States, but with our nation ever more changing and growing it
First, Political Parties from the state chose potential electors, and then the people of the state vote on which electors they see fit (Electoral College Fast). Since its creation, The Electoral College has gone unquestioned, and we’ve never stopped to ask ourselves if it should still be in place. People are in opposition to The Electoral College because they believe it creates a sense of inequality, and lack of voice in vital elections. On the other hand, some people believe that The Electoral College gives states with smaller populations a voice, and is helping stupid people from making the wrong choice in elections. To some, The Electoral College has a magnitude of flaws perpetuating a unfair social hierarchy; to others, it is a system that is preventing inequality and anarchy to flourish in the United States.
Tyler Lewis says that one of the problems with the Electoral College is “The distribution of Electoral College votes per state is not equally dispersed.” Lewis is saying that the “playing field” is not equal when it comes to the vote. “It made the value of each citizens vote different from that of someone living in another state” (Lewis). States with a smaller population get more votes per person than a state with a larger population would. The article also addresses the fact that a presidential candidate can win the overall election even though they did not win the popular vote.
The creation of the Electoral College was the result of one of the many compromises of our Founding Fathers. The intentions of such a system were developed to create fairness for smaller states and to prevent an unsuitable candidate from acquiring the office. Although it has been rare, the possibility that the Electoral College and not the popular vote would decide a presidential election was intended in its creation. The pros and cons of such a system have changed over time and are heavily debated in our current circumstances. Due to advancements in technology not envisioned by the founders, alternatives have been suggested to resolve the conflicts of what some feel is an outdated system.
Several years after the United States came to be, the Constitutional Convention met to determine how the new nation should govern itself. The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. The delegates believed that the president’s power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the electing of the president and vice president. Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nation’s principle of representative democracy, while others
The Electoral College Since the founding of our country, the Electoral College system has been used to determine our President. Established by the founding fathers in the constitution as a compromise between the election of the President through congress and through the popular vote, the Electoral College has become a point of contention for many people across the U.S. This system designates a number of electoral votes per state, and a majority of 270 out of 538 votes are needed to be elected (U.S. Electoral College). As of 2016, only 41% of adults in the United States feel the Electoral College should remain in use (Dutton).
Electoral college has been with us since the birth of the constitution, and to this day we are still using this type of system to this day. The Electoral College is a system that the United States uses to elect our upcoming presidents and vice presidents. Each state has electors equal to their senate member and house of representatives, however who ever gets the highest popular vote in the state gets the electoral vote. The issue is the Electoral College do not give votes to the people, but to the states. Which has some unfair consequences.