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Electoral College Analysis

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The presidential election is the biggest and most important election held in the United States. In fact in the Presidential election of 2012, approximately 57.5% of the registered voting population exercised their voting rights, while the 2014 congressional election turnout rate of 41.9 percent was its lowest turnout rate since 1978. However, what these citizens who vote in the Presidential election may or may not know is that their votes do not directly influence who is chosen as president. What it does count toward is the number of Electoral College votes that a candidate receives, which would ultimately secure their presidency. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, whom each candidate needs at least 270 of their votes to win …show more content…

This is undeniable due to the fact that for a third party to have a chance at winning an election, they would have to disproportionately sway enough States to win, which in itself is an extremely difficult task for an alternative party. Nonetheless, this would almost certainly result in an election won by a very small margin. The marginal division that arises from a three party system could cause the least favorable party to win by a split vote because of the other two parties. This would thereby create national division that would prevent progress from being made, serving as an issue for the electoral system. In fact, history has shown that third parties can botch an election. An example of this is the 1912 Presidential election, where Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party split the republican vote by gaining 27% of the vote and allowed Woodrow Wilson of the Democratic Party to win. This election was not the only one of its kind. A similar event took place in the 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush where Ralph Nader of the Green Party was believed to take a significant amount of votes away from Al Gore, causing his loss. However, these events do not happen frequently because the Electoral College system encourages third party movements to eventually join the two major political parties. If an outer party were to join with a major party, they would have more success getting what they want, but they would have to compromise some of their stances to accommodate the major party. This system inhibits political unions to occur within the government and forces them to transpire within political parties. Therefore, although some contest otherwise, the two party system is more convenient and sufficient than other party systems because it allows for continuity and stability in the government. The Electoral College, subsequently, is necessary

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