How could you? A racist, sexist, xenophobic bigot has been elected as the 45th president of this country. I am shocked that Donald Trump has had such an eager fan base, and he was able to appeal to people’s fears and insecurities in order to encourage them to vote for him. Donald Trump ran against the most qualified candidate to ever run for the office of President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. Despite losing the popular vote, Trump is the President-Elect (and as of January 20, President) of this country. How is that fair? Someone who lost the popular vote is going to be the leader of this country. Every American deserves an equal representation in our democracy. However, due to the Electoral College, a vote in a small swing state is worth much more than a vote in …show more content…
This goes against what the people want, and favors people living in rural areas, who tend to be Republican. The Electoral College encourages candidates to only campaign in “swing states” because there are certain states that have only gone either Republican or Democratic for the last 20 or more years, that the candidates assume will go one way or another. This system results in a vote in Nevada (a swing state) being worth more than a vote across the border in California. Even though the system is broken, that is a secondary point, and not the main one. Donald Trump has shown himself multiple times to be unqualified to be the President of the United States. Mr. Trump has mocked people with disabilities, bragged about sexually assaulting women, called all Mexicans “rapists” and “drug dealers”, proposed banning Muslims from immigrating to the United States, among many other things. I believe that America made a terrible mistake electing Donald Trump as
The Electoral College is unfair. The electoral college is not democratic, and also the winner-take all system and the disaster factor is not fair.
The electoral vote allotment is based on the population of each state, collected from the census. This method of division leads to severe imbalances between the decisions of small states and the decisions of the larger states. In 2010, Alaska, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming had a total amount of 44 electoral votes. Illinois, a single state, had 20. This means that one sole state had as many electoral votes as six states put together. While the electoral system is usually unfair to smaller states, in the case of ties, the larger states suffer the most. When the electoral vote is tied, each state can only cast one vote for the final decision, meaning that a “representative from Wyoming, representing 500,000 voters, would have as much say as the 55 representatives from California, who represent 35 million voters,” according to Bradford Plumer, author of the article “The Indefensible Electoral College.” No matter what happens during the election, one group is always being cheated out of their rightful votes. The choice of our country’s leader should not be based on a system that is unfair to a specific group of voters simply due to their state
The guarantee of at least three electors per state leans heavily in the favor of small, white, rural states like Wyoming and North Dakota. In such states, each person’s vote has more power than one’s vote in a state like California. Each electoral vote in smaller states represents a smaller population, hence giving each individual in such states significantly more power. These larger states have more cities
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.
This past election has raised several questions and issues, one of them being on the effectiveness of the Electoral College. Though Clinton won the popular vote with a margin of 2,868,692 votes, Trump won the presidency because his electoral votes were greater. Many were confused as to how this could happen, but looking at a map of the U.S. county-wise, it is somewhat more believable. Most of Clinton’s votes were concentrated in major cities,unlike Trump’s which were more widespread. This allowed him to cast a wider net to collect more electoral votes. Despite this being the reasoning behind it, many question if this is the right path. In truth, the Electoral college system is very faulty in the sense that it misrepresents a large portion of American Citizens. Therefore, it requires several changes, i.e. converting to a proportional system rather than winner-take-all, to be made so it could better reflect the will of the people, without dismissing the entire establishment as a whole.
Most Americans would be surprised to find out that when they go vote for the President of the United States that they are not voting directly for the President, they are instead voting for the people that in turn vote for President. A recent survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute found that only 65.88% of people knew anything about the way the commander and chief is elected. Even more staggering though is that only 57.31% of elected officials within the United States government knew the way the President is elected (Additional). America elects its President is through a complex process of state electors that vote on behalf of their constituents. This process is called the Electoral College, and it is written directly into the United States Constitution. The Electoral College is a system unique to America, so most reform options won’t be accepted by the American people or won't represent the the opinions of the majority of Americans if this system is changed.
The 2016 election between Democrat candidate, Hillary Clinton, and Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, was one of the most tense elections in American History. The time leading up to the election was full of suspense for the citizens of the country. The election ended with Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote of the country by 2,865,075 votes. Although Clinton won the popular vote, Trump won the Electoral College. This example in history along with many others, proves that the Electoral College is inefficient and should be abolished. The Electoral College does not give the voter enough say in the election, while it only helps decide a majority party for the state. The Electoral College gives more power to the larger states, causes confusion in the result of a tie, and is inefficient in today's society.
The Founding Fathers worked to create an equal nation without the chance of an oppressive ruler, such as King George the Third. They hoped to balance the power and make sure that the nation was never in the hands of a leader like him. To accomplish this goal of equal representation they created the Electoral College. This created a system where Americans when voting for the President, weren’t voting directly for the candidates and were voting for electors that would cast votes to represent their state. Although this system worked in the time that it was created, when there were fewer states and people, now there are problems within this system leading to an election that isn’t as representative of the nation as the Founding Fathers would have probably wanted. Although it provides many benefits and is better than other systems of electing presidents, there are too many ambiguities for the system to not be labeled as wrong and unequal. The Electoral College is an inept and disadvantageous system due to its influence on the citizen’s efficacy, misrepresentation of the people, the chance of electing a president that the majority don’t want, and the ability of
Only 53.6% of eligible voters vote, leaving 46.4% not voting (“Political Participation in the US”). This 46.4% of people do not believe their votes count. They believe that the Electoral College system cancels out their votes and that the government will not listen anyway. People think that nothing will change due to the incumbency rate in Congress. That is where the people do not see what is really happening. Americans do not vote enough, so they cannot possibly make a change in government when they are not exercising one of their most powerful rights. Citizens of other countries yearn for the right to vote and Americans who fought so hard for this right do not even use it. “US voting rates are among the lowest in the developed world” (“Political Participation in the US”). Young people should be concerned with this issue. Because America has a democratic form of government, political participation is necessary, everyone’s vote counts, and corrections in government can only be made by the people first.
The Constitution of the United States of America created a system called the Electoral College where it outlines the rules in which we elect the President of the United States of America. As stated in Article 2, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution created the Electoral College. Each state receives as many electoral votes as it has senators and representatives. Therefore, each state, including the District of Columbia, will have at least three electors. This is the vision of the Constitution. Now the problem arises when all the Electoral votes from one state are given to the popular winner for that state. This causes a with people’s right to chose their leader as votes of the people that voted for the losing candidate are tossed in the trash. All this while giving the state the ultimate power to elect the president.
Whichever candidate gets the majority of votes within that state, then that is who the state in whole votes for. The problem I found with that is it could possibly mean the loser of the election ultimately wins. In our recent election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it was proven that Clinton had more votes than Trump. Approximately 2,864,974 more votes. If she is more popular with the people than Donald Trump, how come she is not our 45th president? It is because of the Electoral College that the people’s vote was lost and ultimately won Trump. In the aftermath, I believe Trump has caused many problems. According to Eric Levitz of NY Magazine, “President Trump’s proposed budget would increase defense spending by $54 billion- while slashing funding for medical research, climate science, public housing, and education, aid to the indigent, developing grants for poor and rural areas, infrastructure, and many, many other things.” Also, hate crime rose. According to the Sothern Poverty Law Centre, it has been reported that there have been 900 incidents of hate crimes in the last 10 days that Trump was inaugurated. Also at a Michigan Civils Right Commission meeting, it was reported that there had been 65 incidents of hate crimes in Michigan alone. The solution to the Electoral College is direct voting. To prevent unqualified candidates from winning the presidency without having the majority of the nation’s support, a bill should be passed to where presidency is chosen by popular votes instead of electoral. This bill would ensure that each vote in every state is counted for and not just that state’s
Does a United States citizen think that electoral college is democracy's safety net? The people of the U.S. have their own opinions about Electoral College. Some disagree on the topics that Electoral College discusses, and some agree. Most U.S. citizens should support the electoral college because it prevents majority rule, the US needs the electoral college more than ever before, and the intentions of the founding fathers held the abhorrence in the US.
Do you believe the electoral college is the ideal method to vote for the next president of the united states? I do not agree with this method of choosing the president and I think the popular vote should be the method of voting instead. In the Electoral College you vote for someone to vote the president for you which defeats the purpose of voting. Especially since that person legally doesn't have to vote for who you want. Also the electoral college makes voting more complicated which differs from the popular vote method which is easier by just counting votes and the winner would be who has the most votes. My last reason for abolishing the Electoral College and using the popular vote method is it would help other parties instead of just the Republican and Democratic parties. As third party candidates never won due to the electoral college being more helpful to the other parties.The electoral college is a complicated and not fair way of voting for the president. The process defeats the purpose of voting and most of the time helps only two parties which give the other parties a very low chance of winning.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, yet Donald Trump is president because he won the Electoral College. The Electoral College is the system that the United States of America uses to elect the president and vice president. A couple of groups have a problem with how the Electoral College currently operates with people like Barbara Boxer, a California Senator, stating that “94% of campaigning by the presidential candidates in 2016 took place in 12 states. That was it. Two-thirds of these general election campaign events took place in 6 states.” (Congressional Digest, page 21). The idea that the Electoral College and presidential elections is ignoring the majority of the states has spurred different groups to attempt to reform the Electoral
In recent years, voter fraud has been a controversial topic. Many states have passed or have tried to pass laws that enforce strict Voter ID laws if a person wants to cast a vote in their state. Donald Trump has been someone who has spoken widely on the topic of voter fraud. According to Zeke J. Miller, a writer for Time Magazine, Trump has “repeated his unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud”. I personally do not believe voter fraud is happening this much in our elections and really think some politicians are looking for someone to blame when the outcome is not what they would have liked.