Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Electoral College
The Electoral College system is an indirect system of voting. Under the Electoral College, American citizens are voting for an elector, who would then vote for the President. It is made up of 538 electors, who based on the public vote, cast their areas vote for president. Those citizens are not directly voting for the President. In order for a person to win presidency, they must obtain 270, or the majority, of the Electoral College votes.
There was many different reasons for why the Electoral College was established. One, A direct election would have been impractical for the time. Collecting all the votes of all the people who voted and then counting those votes would have taken inordinate amounts of time to do as a single, direct election. By splitting it into an Electoral College system, in which each citizen is effectively voting within his or her State, the system became much more easily managed. Another reason the Electoral College was established is because they didn’t want to give the people too much power.
There are many advantages to having an Electoral College. One of the few reasons it was established in the first place was to allow states
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One of the many disadvantages include individual’s votes not mattering. The state can majority vote one way but the Electoral College can vote another way discouraging people not vote because it doesn’t necessary matter. Another one is an unfair sway. Candidates know that some votes weigh more than others so they tend to focus their campaign more in those areas. The minority can win meaning the candidates with the most votes doesn’t always win. Also, a lot of people don’t completely understand the Electoral College process. During the election, you will see sometimes that the popular vote leans in the opposite direction of the Electoral College votes. That can be very