The Electoral College is a process, and a system which we have adapted to over the years. Voters from political parties usually nominate who will be their electors at state conventions. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. I do not think this system is fair, I think it contradicts the fact that as Americans we are given the freedom to vote, but it seems as though the people’s vote actually doesn’t decide much. It has been proven in 2000, when George W. Bush lost the popular vote by .51% yet still won the electoral college vote by 271 to 266, this doesn’t seem right to me at all. Part of living in the U.S. is having the opportunity to vote for the person running your country, we are always told “our vote matters” which it does in a sense, but it seems more as though we are voting for other people to vote. The Electoral College system is very unequitable in my eyes. The people chosen for our electors meet on the Monday following …show more content…
With statistics shown about how the number of electors each state gets isn 't even fair, and that smaller states really do get more of an advantage it leads me to really question why they even have this system. America is about freedom, the freedom to choose your leader, the freedom to vote for laws, and the freedom to vote for who is eligible to pass these laws. If we are promised all these freedoms why is it that there is a whole complicated system not everyone even knows about that actually proves the popular votes of the people do not decipher our president? I believe it should be banned from use due to the unfairness of the process as a
“There is a huge payday if you win 51%+ of the vote, and no benefit if you don’t” (“Problems with US Elections: Winner-takes-all Electoral System”). Candidates who do not win in a state get nothing if they do not manage to win the majority. By ignoring most of the population’s votes, the electoral college fails to accurately represent the will of the nation as a whole. By doing this, the electoral college further discourages people from voting. The over-complicated process makes voters feel as if their votes do not actually matter or make a difference.
As the mode in which electing a president needed to prevent the possibility of “cabal, intrigue, and corruption”, stated by Alexander Hamilton, and thus the Electoral College was born. Our current system follows the regulations dictated by the US Constitution and 12th amendment: each state is assigned a number of votes based off said state’s population and whomever receives the majority of the votes wins that year's election. The system was crafted in attempts to make sure bigger states did not hold an absurd amount of power over smaller states; it was crafted to serve the republic. The political and socio-economical climate is completely different than the one in which the Electoral College was created in. In fact, the original design was “supposed to work without political parties and without national campaigns”, giving more choice to the public.
This is proven through the elections of 1980 and 1992 when the popular vote (voice of the people) did not match with the Electoral College votes (Document B). This means that more of the people voted for one candidate, but that candidate did not win because another candidate received more Electoral College votes. Furthermore, the electors in the electoral college are not even required to vote with their state, which means that theoretically, we could have all of the people vote for one candidate, but if the electors don’t vote for him/her, then that candidate will not win. Even with all of the unfairness to the people, the electoral college is not fair to any candidate who does not choose to side with one of the two major parties (Document E).
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.
Following the recent presidential election of Donald Trump, many individuals have been up in arms over whether or not the Electoral College is a fair way to elect the President of the United States. When Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote, yet Donald Trump became president, there were many questions brought up, as to why the Electoral College is still a running system. The Electoral College was made at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, by the Founding Fathers of America. The Founding Fathers held many meetings to decide on a fair way to elect the President. They thought of using a popular vote, but soon realized it would cause too many problems.
Nonetheless, the electoral college should be abolished because citizens’ votes should all count equally all states should get the same attention from presidential candidates, and everyone’s voice should be heard. The electoral college system ultimately fails the citizens of bigger states because their votes don’t count as much as those in smaller states. How? Well, as previously mentioned, there’s 538 electors who are distributes
The Electoral college was a successful method of election as it eliminated corruption from the process. In The Federalist 68 Alexander Hamilton points out, “They have not made the appointment of President to depend on any preexisting bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes” (The Federalist 68). The electors have no preconceived notions about the president, and will not allow their votes to be bought out. They are unbiased which allows for a fair and uncorrupt election.
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
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 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
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
The Electoral College system is confusing. I'm ashamed to say that when I was casting my vote for a certain person; I had no clue all of the behind the scenes action. I'm actually voting for someone else(electors) who will vote for the same candidate as I have chosen but whose name doesn't appear anywhere on the ballot. . I heard of the Electoral College and Popular votes before but never really understand what it entailed. Voting is a process not just a checkmark to a name on a ballot.
No longer should we stand for this we have to insure that votes are actually making a difference in our country. What is the point not voting if we are just ignored and tossed aside? The Electoral College is the sole reason why some people just do not care about voting, because they feel like they don't make a difference in the matter, and that is correct in some degree because the Electoral College makes it that