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.
However, this is not entirely the case. Smaller states are actually given more electors than they otherwise should have, and larger states are short a few electors. If a candidate wins the majority of the citizens’
Like many others great creation the Electoral College has some downfalls. The first con of the Electoral College according to Amelia Josephson " It gives too much power to swing states". What this means is when candidates run for president are more likely to target swing states rather than going to a state that always goes blue or red. Candidates do this because they are trying to sway the swing there way so they can win, which then gives the swing states power into picking the presidency. The second con the Electoral College according Kathleen McCleary
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.
This was proven otherwise in the stolen election of 2000, in which Bush won the candidacy by the 25 Florida electoral votes. This outcome did not serve as an effective system for modern presidency. It makes American’s question whether or not their vote actually counts, in comparison to the votes of the electors they choose to represent their states. If someone who wins the popular vote of the people but not of the electoral loses how exactly does this allow the people to feel comfortable about making a difference with their own vote when the ultimate decision is not left up to them but the Electoral
You are not alone in finding the fact that the majority vote does not always win in United States elections. There are actually many groups attempting to abolish the electoral college after the election of Donald Trump, as he did not win the popular vote. I think that the electoral college was a good solution for the founders to give all of America the ability to have their voice heard by a nonpartisan election caster, but unfortunately it does not seem to be working as well today. Ali from Reading Discussion #2 11 hours ago
So, rather than basing the number of the electoral votes in each state according to its number of representatives and senators, the electoral votes would be based on the percentage of the “popular vote won”. Although the proponents of this plan argue that it retains the Electoral College vigor, “the results would be closer to the national popular vote outcome” (Ross, 2004). They also argue that, “the voices of minority voting groups would be reflected in the final election tally because even ballots cast for third-party candidates could be reflected in the national results” (Ross, 2004). Thus, it is also likely to happen that a presidential candidate can win the election without winning the popular but Ross claims that, it will happen less likely than the system that we have in present
If we somehow happened to be a capable vote, then we ought to have the capacity to really pick who might be president. The Electoral College removes that from us. The Electoral College is not by any stretch of the imagination reasonable for our rights and our opportunity. It, for the most part, takes away the ability to vote the president. The Electoral College was made in a period when votes were harder to gather and number.
Being a person of politics yourself, you of all people should know that many compromises have been made over the course of the establishment of the United States. However, some of the compromises, like the electoral college, were made because of factors in the past and are now not needed in today’s modern democracy. While the electoral college once worked as a compromise in the past, it is an archaic system that unfairly represents the votes of citizens all across the nation. A popular vote should instead be utilized to fairly choose the people of power in this country and would better represent voters’ opinions. In implementing the electoral college, most states’ votes either go to one candidate or the other, leading to candidates to only campaign in swing states (Bradford Plumer 13).
All through the history of the United States of America, many people have discussed the abolishment of the Electoral College. For many reasons, some believe it is what makes our country have the type of government we have, some believe that it's what limits the power of the government, and many people such as Mitch McConnell believes it is what gives us our freedom and prosperity. While these are valid arguments there is a multitude of reasons to why the electoral college should be abolished. Such as there is only a need for twelve states in order to become the president, popular vote of the people for president can still lose, and the Swing states are given too much power and attention compared to that of the other states. This is why I believe in the abolishment of the Electoral College.
The first article's main point is that the United States of America should not get rid of the electoral college, but do away with the popular vote instead. The popular vote does not pick the president, it merely choosing which party of electors will be able to cast their votes towards their candidate. The article also said that instead of the electors for each state be the state's senators and representatives, they should be people of that state, decided by a lottery held before the election day. The second article said that if the country gets rid of the electoral college, then it would be as though the country is handing the election to the states that have the highest populations (i.e. California and Texas).
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
The Electoral College is the process to which the United States elects the President, and the Vice President. The founders of the Constitution came up with this process. This was done to give additional power to the small states, and it was done to satisfy them. It works by the citizens of the United States electing representatives called electors. Each state is given the same amount of electors, as they are members of congress.
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
This is strictly why the Electoral College should be taken off the amendments and if not abolished. The Electoral College has failed three times in history, and the loser ended up winning because of state votes and not popularity votes. If we get rid of the Electoral College we will be able to vote directly, and citizens votes will be equal without having to worry about candidates cheating any kind of system for personal gain. Getting rid of the twelfth amendment will solve this issue like I have stated above, If we do not act; candidates will keep on deceiving the system. We’ve been trying to get rid of the Electoral College for the past couple years now, but we as the people have failed to act and therefore they will put it to the side and say “Don't worry, we will get to it”.
