On balance, direct popular vote should replace the Electoral College when electing the President and Vice President of the United States. My team and I negates this resolution. In my following statement, I will outline three main contentions from my group’s research to demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of the Electoral College. One, the electoral college can show changing opinion towards a candidate. Two, the reliability of the Electoral College it only ever questioned around an election. Three, if the popular vote was the system of voting for the US, people would switch their loyalty to their state making it a “win all” election. The electoral college is a reliable and efficient system because it can show changing opinion towards …show more content…
The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote can’t offer. Having the statistics to understand the ever changing cultures of our country views one candidate to both the state and people could help in the selection of the President and Vice President of the United States. One example being the elections of 2000 and 2004 where George W. Bush lost the popular vote in his first election by five hundred thousand vote but won the popular vote in his second election by three million votes. Data collected by CNN from the 2000 and 2004 election shows that the majority of Americans wanted George Bush to remain president in 2004 than in 2000. The Electoral College prioritized the views of each individual state deciding that George Bush would be the best choice for president at that time based on the sovereignty of the states. Without the Electoral College, Bush would not have the momentum to keep running for president and run the country the way both the state and people want it to be …show more content…
If the popular vote was the system of voting in the US, Americans would switch their loyalty to their state, meaning the elected candidate would always be from the largest state. This being, the President and vice President of the United states would always come from California with a population of 38 million and holding a majority of 12% of Americans. American citizens rely on their local and states politicians to help push legislation that will balance the government, state, and people relationship. By using the electoral college, candidates can be properly voted for without chance of a tie and splitting of the vote between political parties. It also protects smaller states by balancing the voting power from each state giving everyone representation. With the Electoral College, each state in given an initial 2 electoral votes before giving them the states to complete the 538 vote total. This should create an optimal election where everyone’s opinion is can is treat evenly instead of only using the ideology of the largest state. USA Today states that, “A popular vote contest involving multiple candidates could produce a winner with, say, only 35% of the vote, provoking an outcry to create a runoff process involving the top two vote-getters.” Incidence like riots, voter fraud, and voter recount will be more reamped because a third of the population would be making a decision for an entire country. With the Electoral College, the responsibility of
Based on the pie charts, the reader is shown that presidents that did win the popular vote, did not win by that large of a margin the Independent candidate and other major-party candidate split the votes. The Electoral College only shows a larger win ratio. Abolishing the electoral college would “...encourage single-issue ideologues and eccentric millionaires to just into presidential contests” (Document E). Although these people tend to run anyways, the electoral college is a way to ensure that the people with no political background or people that do not qualify as president will not win. The Electoral College was originally built for a world that did not have mass media and a way for people among the U.S. to communicate, but presently, the Electoral College serves as a way to ensure
This shows that many voters feel that it is time for a change in the United State’s voting system. The Electoral College only reflects the candidate that wins the most votes per state (Kimberling). With a direct popular vote, it will reflect each voter’s opinion. The article, “Origins of the Electoral College, this states that, "the Electoral College was designed by men who did not want the election of the president to be left to the people…” (Holcombe).
One of the most popular reasons why we should keep the electoral system is that it gives small states an equal opportunity. If the president was elected through popular vote the areas of America with more population would rule the White House. But in the electoral college the smaller states have a more equal vote. Small states can make a big difference when it comes to tight elections and because of that candidates cannot ignore the smaller states. But if we had the popular vote system the candidates would only travel to bigger states with a larger population.
Whether or not the electoral college should remain in the voting process is an often debated topic. It’s debated that the popular vote should determine who the president is and I believe that this is the fairest thing to do. If the electoral college is replaced by just going by the popular vote, it will more accurately represents American citizen’s verdict on who the next president will be. Presently, in most states, the candidate to get the most votes gets all of the electoral votes that the state can give.
The Electoral College has been one of the most debated topics in politics ever since its inception. The original idea behind the College was that, back in the 1700s, when communications were slow, voters were uninformed, and votes were counted by hand, the Framers needed a streamlined and efficient system for electing the President. The college worked – and made sense – back then. The question is: does it still apply today? Today, Americans have the technology to vote directly for a President, yet they don’t.
In november of 2016, many of us went to our designated voting polls to cast a vote for our next President of the United States. Our government creates this allured idea that our votes matter, however this isn’t the case. The Electoral College is the process which is responsible for electing the President of the United States. In 48 states, after all the votes are accounted for, the political party whose candidate received a majority in a particular state is given all of the votes for that state. For example, if the majority votes are republican in Virginia, then all 13 of Virginia’s votes go towards the republican candidate, even if 49% of the votes are democratic.
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.
Since the inception of our constitution in 1787, there has only been 4 elections where the Electoral College has allowed the future president-elect candidate to win the election, despite losing the popular vote. 4/57 elections is probably something that political scientists don’t lose sleep over, but it is a topic that is worth mentioning and discussing, especially after the controversial presidential election in 2000. From my point of view, I believe that the method we use in selecting our presidents is flawed and ineffective for a couple of reasons. First, the Electoral College has far fewer votes than the American people, yet their vote has a lot more meaning. With 538 delegates representing the Electoral College, it is unfair and inequitable to the millions of people who devote their time and energy to stand in long
Albert 1 Brekon Albert Government 2A Mr. Baker 28, February 2023 Electoral College Argumentative Essay The Electoral College is the greatest method for electing our President of the United States. It will ensure that the interest of every state is represented, and it will avoid any situations where a few populous states would dominate the entire outcome of the election taking place.
The electoral college also helps the small states have an opinion that actually is heard in the presidential election. In class, it was discussed that Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota together, though their combined population is less than that of Oklahoma, each of those states has three electoral votes, whereas Oklahoma just has seven votes. Going by electoral votes, a candidate would have a better chance at winning the election if they won over Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota versus Oklahoma. With the electoral college, a candidate could win over all thirty-nine small states and win the entire election. Though the candidate could be supported by less than a quarter of the population,
Despite the fact that our world will keep making changes in the government, the electoral college system will have a strong impact. The electoral college ensures that all parts of the country are involved in selecting the President of the United States, with it being created to protect the voice of the minority from being overwhelmed by the will of majority. With the many impacts the popular vote has, and the people that would rather have that I believe, that the electoral college will always be better for out U.S
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.
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
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.