The electoral college is a process we have used since 1804 when the 12th amendment was passed. This process was used so that we would not have to use the popular vote because it gave an unfair advantage to the bigger more populated states. For a candidate to become President of the United States, he or she must be able to attain 270 electoral votes to become president-elect. Currently there are 538 members of the electoral college. These people will gather together in their states to vote for the next president of the United States. The electoral college is very important in the election process, it gives smaller states a voice in the election, as well gives the power of the election to the states. The government should not get rid of this process because it gives power to the states and not just two states with the biggest population. It is important that we keep this electoral college because this keeps the government and the states with a checks and balance system. In the electoral college a person cannot be a member of congress and be on the electoral committee of your state. Once on the electoral committee the members are responsible for casting a vote for the candidate that the state voted for. The 12th amendment to the United States Constitution was added so that every state would have a …show more content…
(National Constitution Center) So they came up with the electoral college.The first system they used by George Washington they electors were able to vote twice for the President and Vice- President, they were able to use this for both of his 2 terms, but the system was started to crumble so they need to fix the few problem that it had. The politicians then decided to fix it to where each elector was only able to cast one vote for the President and Vice
The Electoral College was first established in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 by the founding fathers as a compromise between the election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens and a vote in Congress. The Electoral College was established because the founding fathers did not trust he people in making the right choice. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors who cast their votes in order to elect the President and Vice-President of the United States, however a majority of 270 votes is required to win. As of today, each state currently has members ranging from 3 to 55 members per state. When ordinary people vote for a president, they are not voting for their president, but rather for the presidential electors.
The electoral college has been a major part of the American political system since its founding. This was first brought into question while the founding fathers were discussing the Constitution and the manner in which a president is to be elected. Thus, the Electoral College of the US was introduced. The requirements for the proper setup and execution of the electoral college is that every state has at least three representatives between two Senators and one Representative based on population which translate into the number of electoral votes. While using the college, forty eight states have the winner take all system where the candidate who has the most votes will get all of the votes from said state. This is one of many reasons to why the US needs to protect the establishment of the Electoral College. The main focal areas to why the Electoral College is a beneficial aspect of the political system is the ability to change with the people of the nation, the rapid pace to which the results are given to the public, as well as incorporating and
The Electoral College began as a solution to the argumentation of how the United States should elect an executive during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. This system to the election provides a way for citizens to have an influential impact while also providing those within politics to hold some power, which may help guide and provide more insight on political knowledge. The Electoral College helps represent minorities’ interests, which help to benefit different groups of people allowing them to hold power. This system benefits the U.S. in helping it stay strongly together by forcing a distribution of the popular support. The Electoral College has been beneficial to our government by keeping a well-balanced system of representation within
The Electoral College is a constitutional system written in 1787, in this system “each state selects as many electors as it has representatives in Congress”, members of the college casts ballots for individuals, the individual with the most electoral votes becomes the President of the United States (Shelley 80). It is
The Electoral College is a system of electing our President. Each state gets a specific number of electoral votes which are cast by that states electoral slate or group of electors. In 1787, the government extended the Connecticut Compromise to the Electoral College, meaning that the state is allocated their votes based on how many people they have in the Senate (two) and then how many Representative’s they have (Estes 256). This system requires a slate of electors from each of the states that can be selected by the state legislature as stated in the Constitution, “qualified men,” in the early 1790s, meaning male, white, and land
The electoral college is a system designed more than 200 years ago, in a vastly different political, economic, and social landscape, that has somehow managed to remain in use in the United States complete unchanged for so long a period of time. To understand the Electoral College, one must first understand where it came from; in the earliest days of America democracy as radical as exists in America today was neither the intention nor the norm for American politics. Instead, the electoral college was put in place so that a small group of faceless party officials could overturn the will of the people in the case that mob rule ran amok, and this group of people felt strongly enough about the
The Electoral College system was initially set up to help create a more efficient way of electing government officials. In the 1700’s the media coverage was not as broad as it is today, so many people would be without knowledge of the candidates or even what is going on in that election. With the vast coverage of media all around the country, people are more informed and better educated than ever before. This coverage of media makes the sole purpose of the Electoral College irrelevant and it should be taken out of our system today.
In my opinion, the Electoral College is not needed today. Since one of the original reasons for it being founded was because the citizens were not educated at the time, I believe it is unnecessary. Today, most voters are educated and have the opportunity to inform themselves on the candidates and issues. There is the possibility
Since past and current Americans have given so much for our right to vote, the Electoral College serves as a way to make sure every ballot counts. There are two main reasons why I support this governing body. First, this group has existed since the Founding Fathers created it in 1787 because it adds on to the system of checks and balances our country was built on. Michael W. McConnell, a professor at Stanford Law School, writes, “The Founders opted for the Electoral College because the two leading alternatives, election by Congress and by popular vote, were thought to have serious defects”(McConnell 23). If we were to eliminate it, the system of check and balances so carefully composed over 100 years ago would be ruined. In addition, this section
The history of the Electoral college goes back to 1804 to the framers of the constitution. Many of the nations founding fathers actually did not trust direct democracy and wanted to create a system that had balance between power of the people and power of the government. As James Madison described , he was worried about “ factions” in democracy. “These groups of citizens with a common interest in a proposal that would violate the right of citizens or the nation as a whole” (Joe Miller), Madison's fear which Alexis de Tocqueville later named as the “tyranny of majority”, was that these factions could become the fifty percent and win the majority. Subsequently delegates proposed a variety of different methods to elect the president in order for this to not occur. According to Joe Miller’s article the delegates voted more than 60 times before they finally chose a
What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is consisted of educated people who become electors. They come together from each state every four years to vote for the upcoming president and vice president. The “Founding Fathers” of the Constitution thought that the public intelligence of choosing a president wasn’t as efficient as the Electoral College intended. In 1803, the Constitution Framers created a legislative branch, so that the president and vice president are qualified for the occupation, this is decided by the Electoral College. In addition, The Electoral College was created to check on the power of the president. (Brigid Callahan Harrison, Jean Wahl Harris, and Michelle D. Deardorff. American Democracy Now, Pg. 362)
The Electoral College has been around since 1787 and is how the United States elects the president and vice president. Many people support the Electoral College because the Founding Fathers thought it was the only way to have a democracy without completely trusting the people to elect the president. The Electoral College process is stated in the Constitution so many people think it is the only way to elect the president. Many critics of the Electoral College call it out on the fact that a candidate can win a popular vote but not the presidency. This actually contradicts the fact that the United States is supposed to be a democracy. Many people, including myself, think that the downfalls of the Electoral College vastly outweigh the benefits, so the Electoral College should be abolished. Instead the United States should elect the president based solely on the national popular vote.
The Electoral College has been prominent since the beginning of our country and is still continuing to this day deciding who will become president. However, in the presidential election of 2000 it would go against the results of the popular vote. It was this year in which the battle in the popular vote would be one of the closest in U.S history. It was this year when the president elect would lose the popular vote, and upset the majority of America. It was this year the Electoral College would be the deciding factor in selecting our next president between the two candidates, George Bush and Al Gore. Which begs the question why is the Electoral College so important. The Electoral College was created with the purpose of balancing the power of
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered several methods of electing the President, Including allowing the members of congress, state Governors, state legislatures, and by direct election by the people (Staff, 2010). Because there was so many plans and thoughts on the process, a committee was formed which devised the Electoral College system. This plan received widespread approval by the delegates and was put in the final document.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 considered several methods of electing the President, Including allowing the members of congress, state Governors, state legislatures, and by direct election by the people (Staff, 2010). Because there was so many plans and thoughts on the process, a committee was formed which devised the Electoral College system. This plan received widespread approval by the delegates and was put in the final document.