The Electoral College is a system of voting created by the writers of the Constitution. The main goal of the Electoral College was to ensure that the citizens of the United States could not elect the president directly. The writers of the Constitution believed that the voters would not be properly educated on who they were voting for and consequently make a poor choice. The Electoral College is no longer in need today given that the public is adequately educated on the candidates for elections as a result of the excess amount of communication today. The Electoral College should be abolished because small states are over represented, the system is unfair to third party candidates, and a tie leads to a vote in the House of Representatives. Small states are extremely over represented. The Electoral …show more content…
“In 1980 and 1992 the third party candidates received 6.6% and 18.9% of the popular vote but both received 0% of the Electoral Vote” (Document B). This is a significant difference of the popular vote and the electoral votes. It is not a correct representation of the citizens’ votes. Arthur Schlesinger wrote, “The abolition of state-by-state, winner-take-all electoral votes would speed the disintegration of the already weakened two-party system” (Document E). The Electoral College voters mostly belong to Republican and Democratic parties therefore they do not want a third party candidate to win. Arthur Schlesinger also wrote, “It (The abolition of the Electoral College) would encourage single-issue ideologues and eccentric millionaires to jump into president contests” (Document E). This is only an excuse made by those who support the traditions of the government because they do not want a new candidate with modern ideas for the United States government. Not only is this not a correct representation of the citizens’ votes, but also if it is sent to the House of
The smaller states rule the elections because they have the most power. “The states with the most electoral votes in California with 55, and Texas with 38” (Document A), which isn’t fair with some smaller states having only 3. Also each state doesn’t have the equal amount of votes, and the smaller states have more power behind their votes. “Each state casts only one vote, the single representative from Wyoming,
On document C, the text says, “It is designed to promote good government and legislation that forwards the common good of a large and diverse nation” (Document C), “It has formed our political parties, moderated our more extreme elements and forged the presidential campaigns that have given direction to our ship of state” (Document C). This here explains that the Electoral College is designed to promote good government and legislation to progress from our distinct nation. This comes to the closure of that the Founding Fathers created this for the common good of our nation and it promotes many elements that shape America as we see it
The electoral college is unfair to the third party because they don’t get votes from the electoral college. Based on the presidential election from 1980 and 1992, it have show that the third party don’t get electoral vote(Doc B). The third party have a disadvantage which make it impossible for the third party to win the election because of the “winner take it all” system. According to George Will, he say that it discriminate smaller party and only help the main two parties(Doc E). The electoral college supports a two party system, discourages third party, and thereby restrict choices available to the
People vote for the candidates by voting for the electors that reflect the viewpoints of the particular candidate and their personal political opinion. With that said, the Electoral College is a winner take all system where the states have voted and the majority vote of the presidential candidate goes to the electors that then cast their votes for the states. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College in the Constitution for a couple of reasons. Schulman (n.d.) states the first reason it was fabricated “was to create a buffer between population and the selection of a President” (p. 1). Although, another significant reason that the Electoral College was created was for equal representation in voting
Supporters of the continuation of the Electoral College assert that this institution brings forth equal importance among all states and that the voting of the president is the hands of a well educated body who will choose what is best for the country. In a letter written by Alex Hamilton to the state of New York, he praises the Electoral College in that the electoral body is composed of “men most capable of analyzing the qualities needed to be president… [and] will most likely possess the information and judgment needed for such complicated investigations” (Source A). The modern era today leaves no one uninformed especially when it comes to politics. The fact that the Electoral College wants the decision to be made by credible officials is commendable, but in the current world any civilian can access the most up to date information about presidential candidates with a click of a button. This entails that there is in fact no need for a separate party to carry out a decision for the citizens of America.
As it currently stands, the presidential democracy of the United States government is one where the people’s beliefs are generally well represented. All members of Congress are elected by the people along with the two people at the head of the executive branch. This way, the people have a lot of control over what takes place in their country. If the Constitution of the United States were to be rewritten, the removal of the electoral college should be seriously considered.
When the founding fathers set up the Electoral College, it served our country well. It was an effective way of tallying the votes for the Presidential election. Since the votes were counted by
The Electoral College should be discontinued because it gets rid of the people’s power that they have in the nation, it makes makes it so that every vote is an important vote, and the whole Electoral College system is messed up since each state has their own rules.
Although many have made their case against the Electoral College system, it is a necessary institution in the Presidential election because it preserves Federalism and encourages the two party system. One reason why the Electoral College is a necessary evil is because it secures the power of the states in the election, thereby upholding Federalism. As previously indicated, when citizens vote, they are voting for the amount of electors in their state to vote for their candidate of choice. The number of these electoral votes varies from state to state due to the fact that they are made up of the sum of its state’s Senators and House Representatives.
Electoral College Argumentative The Electoral College was a compromise between the national and state governments in the United States back when the Constitution was still a new governmental document. In its time the Electoral College served to make sure that the President was chosen by the most qualified people from each state. Nowadays things have changed, the Electoral College’s original purpose has been perverted into a tool used by politicians to win the presidency unfairly. The Electoral College is an outdated piece of legislation that favors votes from swing states rather than the popular vote and should be abolished.
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
Because it allows smaller states to influence who is elected president, the Electoral College is a crucial component of the current system. The Electoral College has been the subject of ongoing discussion about the effectiveness and fairness of the electoral process in the United States. There are compelling arguments to keep the Electoral College as an essential part of our democratic system, even though many call for its elimination. By analyzing its importance, its function in representing smaller states, and its propensity to foster a sense of national unity. The electoral college system is still an essential tool for making sure that every citizen's voice is heard and respected during the presidential election process.
"A candidate can win an election with just two hundred and seventy electoral votes" (Document A). This means that a candidate could potentially win an election by just persuading eleven out of the fifty-five states. The number of electors in each state is decided by the number that that state has in The House of Representatives and Senate combined. This causes more power/weight to be given to the smaller states, making states such as Alaska, with a population of 710,231 and Wyoming, with a population of 563,626 equal regardless of their population differences with both states having three electoral votes (Document A). A candidate could potentially become president by just winning over the small states because that it where the most electoral votes are (Document A).
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
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.