The Electoral College
A School Report
Written by Hannah Dewar
Hello, my name is Hannah and today I am going to talk about the Electoral College. The book I read was called “We Elect a President” by Tara and Emma Ross. I do not have it with me because it was an E-Book. It talks about how and why the Founders created our Electoral College.
The Electoral College is a system that was created by our Founders, men such as George Washington and James Madison. The system happens in two parts, the people vote, then the states get their turn.
But why did the states have to vote at all? Why couldn’t they just go with a Democracy-no states vote. Only the people vote, and whoever got more people to vote for them wins-well, because our Founders wanted a fair system, and in their minds they thought that a Democracy was unfair to smaller states. An example is: if two eagles and a mouse were deciding what to eat, the mouse would always be outvoted and get eaten.
In a system that uses the popular vote, meaning most votes, Hillary Clinton-the Democratic nominee-would have won easily, but with our Electoral College system, Donald Trump-the Republican nominee-won by a
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Well, it starts when the people in a state vote. If the most people in that state vote for a Democrat then the state will be a blue state. If most people in that state vote for a Republican, the state would be a red state. Each of these states has a number. The number stands for how many electoral votes-or points-the winner will get. Bigger states like California or Texas get a higher number because more people live there. Smaller states like New Hampshire or Rhode Island get a lower number because fewer people live there. The Founders made sure to give each state at least 3 votes. After every state has voted we count the number of votes each nominee got. Since the total number of votes is 538 the future president needs 270 votes to
Beginning in America in 1787, the Electoral College was originally created during the Constitutional Convention to help make a fair way for the president to be elected without giving too much power to either the national government or individual states. Over the years, the Electoral College has undergone a few changes in attempt to make it more fair, but there is still much debate about whether or not the Electoral College is the most effective way to elect a president. Some people believe that the Electoral College does an excellent job of creating an equal distribution of votes across all ethnicities and social classes of America. In contrast, others think that the Electoral College does not give an accurate portrayal of the popular
So what is the electoral college as defined in the constitution? The electoral college is a slate of electors who will cast the real votes for the president and vice president. These electors are appointed by the state in proportional amount to the number of senators that each state are entitled by congress as well as entitled representatives.. The actions of these electors and the manner of how they will be chosen is outlined by the Constitution, “The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall
The Electoral College dates back to the very founding of America and American politics. The way to elect the President was a hotly contested issue at the Constitutional Convention. Many options were considered, including selection by Congress, selection by state governors, selection by state legislatures, and direct popular vote (Electoral College 6). The final decision of the Founding Fathers was written in Article II, Sections II and III of the US Constitution:
Electing government officials is a major part of being an American. The citizens of the United States have the privilege of voting for their officials , representing America’s democracy. Although a big misconception on this is that the people actually do not vote directly for who becomes elected president but rather who gets to elect the next president. The Electoral College has been in place since 1804 and continues to be the system the United States uses to elect the president. The Electoral College is filled with history, a lengthy process , and questionable arguments on its validity.
The Electoral College was created during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 when the framers of the constitution debated many options for determining how the President of the United States would be chosen. The Electoral College was created to give smaller states a voice in the process of choosing a President for the United States. If a President was chosen through popular vote, people feared numerous candidates would be receiving votes and a candidate would win the most votes from a populous state instead of votes from smaller states. Another option for voting for the President was that Congress would
The Electoral College system was created in the constitution by the Founding Fathers. This system forms the beginning of the United States' national elections and is therefore, considered to be important to this country's history. It is made up of 538 members and a candidate must receive a majority of 270 electoral votes to win the election. Electors usually get selected to one of the presidential candidates running. When people go to the ballot on voting day and pick their favorite candidate, they are really choosing the electors for their state and then the electors are the ones that vote for the president. The Electoral College should be revised or abolished because it is both undemocratic, is not beneficial to the nation, and may weaken the validity of elections and the elected President.
The idea behind the Electoral College was to have “electors” that could not be a member of Congress, vote for the President. The final plan, after two were voted down, was to have the electors selected by each state's legislatures. It was agreed that each state’s electors would be the total of the states representatives and senators.( Electoral 256). The process for electing the President of the United States had been determined.(Pierce 44).
The electoral college has been choosing a president for the United States of America for hundred of years. The college has been put in effect in 1787 in order to balance the needs of large and small states. But this has stopped people from choosing their wanted president. The electoral vote has trumped the popular vote many times during presidential election. The electoral college is an unfair voting system which can favor mostly large states and limit the say of people in choosing their leader.
However that was not the case. The Electoral College said otherwise and said that Donald Trump won instead of Hillary. It was the second time for this to happen in 16 years, before Trump it was George Bush who won without the popular
The Electoral College is the name for the electors who nominally choose the president and vice president of the United States. Each of the states receives a certain number of electors, which is determined by the total number of senators and representatives it sends to the U.S. Congress. Therefore, each state has at least 3 electors. The Electoral College was devised by the Framers of the Constitution as a procedure to elect the president by the people, at least indirectly. The framers came up with this procedure for many reasons. Such reasons included the lack of information to make a good choice by the people and it was also a way to control the power of the people. Although the Electoral
The Electoral College is just an indirect election of the President of The U.S. The Author of the Constitution created it this way so it's calm and easy for people to choose. in each state the voters actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These electors, vote for the presidential candidate. Each state is apportioned a number of electors equal to the number of their Congressional delegation.
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 system, while not completely unique to the United States, is the best way for our country to choose the next President of the United States. So what exactly is the Electoral College? “When the founders of the United States set out to secure a system of political
What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is a system that our Founding Fathers established in the Constitution in which representatives from the 50 states elect the President of the United States. The system begins with the people electing representatives to represent them, and then the representatives meet so they can vote for the next President and Vice President. The votes from each representative are then counted by Congress and are able to elect the candidate that has the most votes. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (2013), “The Electoral College consists of 538 electors…270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.” Every state has an
Write an essay that explains how the Electoral College works. How does the Electoral College shape the strategy of candidates? Why is it harder to win presidential elections post 1968?