Since 1789, the process in which the President of the United States was to be selected was established in the United States Constitution. Article II of the Constitution determines that the President will not be determined by popular vote, but rather by the Electoral College. The Electoral College is comprised of 538 electors. This number is determined by the amount of Senators and House Representatives each state has. When voters vote, they are not voting for president. Instead, they vote for the electors who will then vote for the President in December after Election Day. In this system, it is possible for the winner of the election not to win the popular vote; this has made the institution extremely controversial. The elections of 1876, …show more content…
Beginning with modern technology, people are able to access information to make educated decisions, therefore the Electoral College isn’t seemed to be essential. Also, “Electoral College are now selected by the political parties and they are expected to vote along party lines regardless of their own opinions about the candidates”(procon.org). Meaning that their decisions are based on their party system alone, and the electorate personal opinion does not count. In addition to this, some may agree that the general people's opinion is being disregarded. This was seen in the most recent election in 2016. In this election, Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote by more than one million votes and lost the election due to the fact that she did not receive as many electoral votes as Donald Trump. Most would agree that the one who wins the most popular votes should be elected president. Not only does their opinion not have as great of an impact, an issue that some have with the Electoral College is that they give too much power to swing states. Such as in the most recent election, “Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made more than 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 so-called battleground states. Of those visits, nearly two-thirds took place in the four battlegrounds with the most electoral votes” (procon.org) When it comes to campaign strategy, only certain states are selected, …show more content…
A positive attribute is the Electoral Votes allows multiple regions to be in focus, benefiting the entire population. However, a negative of the Electoral College system results in a system in which certain states are ignored in the electoral process, either due to their number of electoral votes or depending on which way their vote swings. In, addition to that issue, the popular vote seems to be not accounted for, as seen in the most recent election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Overall, the Electoral College should be eradicated from the Constitution, mainly because it is not an accurate representation of the peoples of the nation's vote, and voters have access to information to make an educated vote. Being so, more states need to enact the National Popular vote so the Electoral votes will have to be based on the popular vote of that
The United States' President and Vice President are chosen through the Electoral College, an indirect voting system. As a middle ground between electing the president through a popular vote and having Congress choose the candidate, it was established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. According to this method, a set number of electors is allotted to each state based on its population, and these electors vote for the president on behalf of the residents of their state. For more than 200 years, the United States has chosen its president using the Electoral College system, which has proven to be a trustworthy and accurate method.
Did you know that the Electoral College was created as a compromise between those Founding fathers who wanted the president elected by Congress and those who wanted direct election by the people? Presidents are elected by a group of 538 electors, acting on behalf of the states and not by the citizens. This arrangement is called the Electoral College. Every four years, millions of United States citizens vote for a president and a vice president of the United States.
The Electoral College is pretty much a process that was established in the Constitution by the founding fathers which was suppose to be a compromise between election of the President by a vote in congress and by the popular vote of citizens. This process consists of the selection of electors, the meeting of the electors is where they vote for the President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. In the Electoral College it contains 538 electors and to win the majority they need to have 270 electoral votes. As well as, the number of electors for every state is equal to the number of Representations that the state has in congress which is based on the population and there is also one vote for each Senator. So, each state has at least three electors and votes.
In the early years of America the Founding Fathers created the constitution for everyone to follow. One thing that is in the constitution is know as The Electoral College is a group of electors that decide on who the president will be. Electors are decided by each states party convention before the election takes place. The Electoral College consist of 538 people and to elect a president they must reach a majority of 270. The Founding Fathers of the United States created the Electoral College because they believed it was the best way to elect the president, although there are good things about the Electoral College there are also some fall backs.
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
Eric Morrill Cardenas American Government Mr. Baker 3/1/2023 The Advantage of the Electoral College The President of our country has the most power out of any individual in the government. That is why the Electoral College is so significant. The Electoral College was created to elect the president with the influence of the people but also the legitimacy of the people in office. The people of each state cast their votes and then those state’s electors cast their votes in reflection to what the people voted.
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.
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 United States Consitution specially states legislators decide how electors are chosen in their states. They electors then pledge their support to the candidate that we have chosen. It's crazy to think that my vote for the person I think is best for the job isn't actually counted. I vote for a
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.
Senator Barbara Boxer once said, “This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose,” (“Electoral College: Should the United States continue to use the Electoral College in presidential elections?”). Also, the Electoral College has elected presidents who don’t have the popular vote, for example, President Donald Trump (Columnit “Should the Electoral College Be Abolished?| Opinion.”). Lastly, of over the 300 million people in the United States, only 538 of them decides who the next president of the United States is (“The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons.”). The Electoral College discounting millions of votes is definitely the most undemocratic thing about the Electoral College and the main reason why it should be