John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon both competed in the 1960 presidential election. This election allegedly represents the Electoral College functioning as designed. Even though Kennedy lost the popular vote by a small margin, he won most of the electoral votes. As a result, he was elected President. He won regardless of the electoral college in minor addition to the overwhelming majority of the crucial states (History). The Electoral College allows the United States to vote for the President and Vice President. Instead of being voted directly by the people, each state selects electors to vote for the President (Lau). The system has been in place since the country's founding and has been the subject of much debate over the years. While some …show more content…
While there are valid arguments against the Electoral College, it remains a vital component of the American political system. One significant criticism of the Electoral College is that it increases the likelihood of a political candidate securing the presidency without receiving a large majority of the vote. Given this, people must remember why the founding fathers proposed the Electoral College. It was a way to ensure that all states, not just the ones with the most people, have a say in the election (Kirch). Without the Electoral College, candidates will be slightly more motivated to run for office in less populated states because such states' challenges and needs will likely go unmet. Additionally, the Electoral College helps to prevent alleged fraud and political corruption by making it more difficult to manipulate the election results (Ross). While there are valid criticisms of the Electoral College, it remains an important safeguard against the tyranny of the majority and an essential part of our …show more content…
The system allows states to select a specific number of electors based merely on population. This announces political states with reduced populations a more valuable opportunity to secure the contested election than they would under a popular vote (Kirch). This helps ensure that all states' interests are represented, rather than just those with the most massive populations. Also, the fact that each state obtains its electors means that the election is controlled by several authorities, with each state responsible for its election. This helps prevent any condition or region from possessing all the power in an election. The Electoral College restores more populous states from retaining an unqualified influence over election outcomes. Put differently, it ensures that candidates need to earn broad support across many different regions and independent states to win the presidency rather than just focusing on a few densely populated areas. Not only but also, the Electoral College system incentivizes campaigns to visit and engage with voters in various states, including those with more limited populations, rather than solely focusing on the most populated areas (Miller). Finally, the Electoral College is designed to prevent any one state or region from dominating the election outcomes. This is because each state is
The United States has benefited from the Electoral College for hundreds of years. This essay will discuss the presidential voting process and the merits of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a more effective method of choosing the president than the general election. This is due to the fact that it greatly improves efficiency and ensures the integrity of the election. There would be a huge number of candidates to pick from if the Electoral College did not exist and we had a public vote instead.
Preventing this is achieved by giving each state electors equal to the number of House Representatives and Congresspeople. This creates a mathematical advantage to those smaller states, preventing their voice from being trampled by large states like California and Texas (uselectionatlas.org 2008). Another debatable benefit of the electoral college is how well it solidifies Americas two party system. While it allows fewer options for the presidency, it also makes America more efficient, as only two parties have to debate on legislation. The electoral college also forces these two parties to be more moderate, because they have to appeal to at least a plurality of America.
The Electoral College is sometimes considered puzzling. Its purpose and origin can be difficult to understand, and not seem necessary. When the system is understood, people have realized that this system is fallible, and called for reforms. One of the primary reasons for the creation of the Electoral College is that when the American government was being formed, it was believed that citizens could not be relied upon to properly select the nation’s leader. Some founders, Alexander Hamilton in particular, assumed that a candidate with tyrannical views would be able to sway the voters in his or her favor.
Another 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.
The Electoral College is a method that was established by the Founding Fathers of the United States within the Constitution. The Electoral College has been the subject of more proposed amendments than any other provision of the U.S. Constitution (Richie and Levien 353). The Founding Fathers did not intend for the Electoral College to be a perfect democratic system, but James Madison, strongly opposed winner-take-all laws. The Electoral College is a vital part of Federalism, which is the foundation of the system of government and without it no candidate would be likely to receive a majority (Bond and Smith 343-352). Though, there are many downfalls to the Electoral College.
In 1888, Grover Cleveland won the popular vote by 100,000 votes. However, he lost the Electoral College by 65 votes. No compromise or bargain was used to settle the election, revealing that even without under the table deals, the winner of a popular presidential vote could fail to win the Electoral
Second, the Electoral College system promotes stability and certainty. The winner of the presidential election is determined quickly, and the system ensures that the candidate who wins the most electoral votes becomes the President, even if they do not win the popular vote. This helps to prevent disputes and legal challenges, which could undermine the legitimacy of the election result. Additionally, the Electoral College system has been in place for over 200 years and changing it now could create uncertainty and confusion among the
The US’s Electoral College has always been a controversial topic. When it was written into the Constitution, it was meant as a compromise between the small and large states, and between Congress and the states (M. West). Since then, the Electoral College system has been how the United States elected its presidents. However, it continues to face criticism and many want the system to change, favoring systems such as a national popular vote instead (National Conference of State Legislatures). Despite how the US’s Electoral College effectively balances power between the states and the federal government, it is still a deeply flawed voting system due to it being based on unrealistic expectations and outdated ideals that should be changed to reflect
The electoral college which was established at the same time that the rest of the three branches were set up, has been heralded as one of, if not the most controversial part of the modern government. Created in the constitution in Article Two, the Electoral College is a process in which the United States chooses its Chief Executive, the president. The Electoral College is made up of 538 members who are chosen, most often, by state party conventions (there is no exact way that is required for the choosing of states’ electors). Once the popular vote is collected the electors pledge themselves to a candidate, normally the person who won the popular vote but not always. This means that sometimes there will be a disparity between who wins the popular
One famous example is the 2000 presidential election. Al Gore has received half a million more popular votes than George Bush at that time. Nonetheless, Gore lost the Electoral College and Bush became the President instead. To sum up, I believe the necessity of the Electoral College still exists, despite the fact that it is weakened. It is probably one of the best ways to prevent the dominance of highly populated states in the election.
The electoral college has always successfully chosen a president and benefited small states. However, in the more recent years there has been much debate as to whether or not this system works for our country. There have been five times when the winner of the popular vote loses the election leaving citizens wondering
This may be true, but in this method, candidates might only spend time in certain battleground districts instead of the entire state and there is a possibility of Gerrymandering. The Electoral College will also resolve ties. “This happened with President Nixon in 1968 and President Clinton in 1992, when both men won the most electoral votes while receiving just 43% of the popular vote. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections.” When in the possibility of a tie, the Electoral College is ready with the decision to recount to get a clear
The Electoral College is a system where each state has a certain number of votes based on the amount of population the state has. The electoral college gives more power to people that live in bigger states. For example, a vote in California has more power than a vote does in Idaho or Washington. The main idea of the electoral college is that candidates would spend most of their time campaigning in populated areas such as California and New York, and focusing their efforts on the swing states, those states would basically decide the election. I believe that the current Electoral College is a fraud and out-of-date system that does not reflect the will of the people.
The Electoral College is a longstanding organization in place in the United States of America that was originally established by the Founding Fathers in create equality in presidential elections has become a topic of harsh criticism and controversy over the years. The Electoral College was established by the Founding Fathers of the United States at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in order ensure there was representation of the people while keeping the best interests of the nation in mind (“What is the Electoral College?”). At the time of the writing of the Constitution, there were two main ideas on how to elect a president. The first was that there should be a simple vote of all eligible people and who ever gets the most votes becomes
The Electoral College system, in our government today, is made up of a winner-take-all system. The winner take all system demonstrates that whichever candidate that receives the most votes wins all of the electoral points and the other candidate receives nothing. The Electoral College system enacts the candidates of both parties to only visit the larger states, in which they know they will most likely receive the most electoral points. This is not technically fair because each state is not getting proper representation. When states disagree, with one candidate’s views on a particular issue, they can swing and vote for the other candidate causing the other candidate to alter their approach to win back the state.