Electoral College : Criticisms, Effects, And Context

Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two-party system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.

Despite the Electoral College system being founded by the founding fathers in America and being there as long as the Constitution exists, many people still do not have sufficient knowledge on how it works. The Electoral College does not provide honest presidential elections rather it has the potential to undo the will of people at any point from the selection of electors to the vote tallying in Congress (Shaw, 3). Electoral College in the United States has played a major role in depressing the voter's turnout. Every State is given an equal number of electoral votes despite the population and in turn, the system has put in place no measure to encourage the voters to take part in the elections. Besides, the system distorts

The voting process in America appears straightforward, but it is a very complex, complicated system. The Electoral College is America’s current voting system. The Electoral College still serves its intended purpose, but with increasing political activity among Americans it has caused a need to reform this process. Research suggests that the Electoral College system should be amended because it poorly illustrates democracy, is outdated and the majority of Americans are in favor of abolishing the system.

Most Americans think the Electoral College is a nuanced and complex system designed to safeguard democracy. It seems that dividing electoral votes among states and awarding each state's electors to one of the primary candidates would be an effective system and one that would preserve our nation’s freedom. And so society blissfully forges on believing our current system of election is both impartial and up to date. But little do most American citizens know that they are lacking the knowledge and context to understand how malignant the Electoral College is. The Electoral College needs to be abolished because it ignores the popular vote and what most citizens want, it causes candidates to focus too much on swing states, and the old reasons for using are now irrelevant.

Every time there is an election in the United States, the debate of Electoral College always heats up, and suddenly everybody seems to know about or at least they are interested in learning about it. The Electoral College is firmly established under the United States Constitution to elect the president and the vice president of the United States indirectly. A slate of “electors” are chosen from each state, and they are the ones responsible for voting for president in the general elections depending on which party the candidate is vying with. From this statement, what it means is that one does not choose his or her preferred leader directly and this has made many suggestions that the Electoral College is not a true representation of democracy. This paper will look at the strongest arguments for and against the Electoral College, analyze whether the current Electoral College should be re-engineered or scrapped in favor of direct vote and finally determine if the Electoral College is consistent or contrary to democratic principle.

“I’m sorry we ever invented the electoral college” Al Gore. Many think the electoral college is a great thing, others? Not so much. If you’re unaware of what the electoral college is, it’s a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. There’s pros and cons of the electoral college, and by the end of this essay you may decide if you’re for or against it.

The United States is established by democracy and the will of the general population, yet in the 2000 and 2016 elections, the majority of citizens in the United States voted in favor of the losing candidate. These outcomes are on the grounds that the decision of the President in the United States hangs solely on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is obsolete and should be abrogated for different reasons. The original purposes behind embracing the Electoral College were tailored to the time of its creation and never again apply in a modern democracy. Additionally, the Electoral College prompts political imbalance as the instances of federalism, unexpected elections, and the winner-take-all broad ticket framework demonstrates. One must

The Electoral College has always been a topic up for debate. From the very beginning, its method for electing a president was criticized. Even now, well over two-hundred years after the idea was first introduced, people are still questioning whether or not it is our best option. There have been a very large number of proposals suggested to change the ways of the Electoral College, but all of them have failed. Regardless of the views that it is outdated, or your vote doesn’t matter with the current system, the Electoral College has stood the test of time. “It is an institution that has survived as part of the democratic process, but its relevancy to current political realities has been questioned time and time again”(McCollester). People still wonder why the system is invincible. Why, in the face of so many attempts to reform or destroy it, is the Electoral College still in place?

We can trace back the Electoral College to the 18th century when the United States was first founded by our Founding Fathers, when after our independence, we created a democracy that will give equal opportunities for the people and not give too much power to one person; therefore the Electoral College holds a great importance in our country’s political history. Located in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, this document states, “The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves…The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President…” Despite the importance of this process, many start to debate whether we should abolish the Electoral College or keep it. Some claim that, this process takes away the choice of an individual that votes for its candidate. While others claim that the Electoral College gives a fair chance to the voters that live in smaller states with less population. In order to make a clear decision. To make a clear judgment, one needs to go back and inform themselves on what is an Electoral College, understand why our Founding Fathers created this political role, know of their advantages and disadvantages as well to analyses wheatear this process is still necessary now in days.

For hundreds of years, the Electoral College has been the way that we elect our President and Vice President. Recently, people have begun to question this system. Many people would like to abolish the Electoral College. The Electoral College should be abolished because smaller states have a disadvantage, a president can be elected even if he or she does not represent the majority of the people, and people may feel marginalized due to the “‘winner take all’” system.

It’s November 8th, and you are finally old enough to vote. You head to the nearest voting station and check the name of the person you think is most fit to be President of the United States. Heart filled with excitement, you put on your ‘I voted’ sticker and head home to watch the election unravel. Your state’s votes were finally counted, and the presidential candidate you voted for lost by 1%. Your heart sinks as you realize all electoral votes for your state will go to the opposing candidate, and 48% of your population’s votes will be silenced. The Electoral College should no longer be used to elect the President of the United States, because it is an outdated method that makes the votes of the people diluted and unequally distributed across the country.

The Electoral College, a hot topic these days, is subject to both criticism and defense. To understand why either side is valid we must look at its values and its weaknesses, its pros and cons. In defense of the Electoral College we can see that it in its roots the Electoral College was devised to dole out the power of selecting our executives geographically, and to give otherwise marginalized portions of the U.S. population a voice. Adversely the Electoral College can be seen as an obstruction to democracy and the will of the people. Whether or not the Electoral College serves the best interest of all the people in United States is up to debate. Whether or not the Electoral College serves the best interests of all the people in United States is up to debate, and this paper functions to expose what validities either argument may include.

In this argument, replacing the Electoral College with a popular vote is shown to provide a more unified and knowledgeable country. As shown through Spenser Mestel and Clifton B. Parker, a popular vote would empower all voters and allow minorities and majorities to hold equal power. Additionally, the Electoral College remains irrelevant because the basis for its creation was eliminated by the Anti-Slavery Amendments or the Thirteenth Amendment. Furthermore, the Electoral College restricts presidential candidates from utilizing a transregional approach. This not only divides the nation by state lines, but disenfranchises minorities and majorities alike. Although the Electoral College provides a sure way of electing a president, a single popular vote would serve the democratic country more effectively.

Every four years that a Presidential election comes to pass the Electoral College is responsible for the formal election of both the President and Vice President of the United States. As an example of an indirect election, where people in each state at large vote in order to decide which individuals will be delegated the responsibility of casting votes for President and Vice President in accordance with the popular vote of the state which has entrusted them to provide such representation, the Electoral College works to ensure that smaller states are not denied the right to have the equal power of influence in our national election for President (Neale, 2004). The Electoral College itself has been in existence since it was introduced

There have been many attempts to reform or even scrap the Electoral College election sense it's birth. The most recent one being in 1997 when congress debated a constitutional amendment to replace the electoral system with a direct popular vote system. However the Electoral College system to this day remains virtually un-changed from its original form. The only exception is the twelfth amendment, which requires each elector to cast two votes, one for president and one for vice president.