Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

In the United States, the Electoral College determines the victor of a national election. Each state has its own number of electoral votes, which is determined by state population. This system is a “winner takes all” system. Which means the candidate with 50 percent or more of the votes in an individual state gets all of that states electoral votes. The 2016 presidential election will have 538 electoral votes, this means that the election will be decided who is the first candidate to 270 votes. Some people have seen this system as outdated and unjust. Many are looking at a way to change the system and others would like to do away with the system

A Congressional Proportional method is another alternative being proposed in opposition to the Electoral College. A Congressional proportional method would allocate votes based on the winner of each congressional district. It would also award the winner of the overall popular vote in each state two electoral votes(senators). Once again on the surface this system looks fair and reasonable, but if you investigate deeply it can be seen that there is one glaring flaw in this system. The act of Gerrymandering which is used throughout the United States in every state is when the authority in each state decided which way the districts will be drawn. In simpler terms an authority could draw district that would exclude certain type of voters to increase

Those who are for the Electoral College have their own interesting host of points to make on the subject. They make mention of it contributing to the cohesiveness of the country, that it enhances the status of minorities, that it encourages political stability, and that it maintains a federal system of government and representation (Leip) . Regarding the Electoral College affecting the cohesiveness of the country, the concern is that without the Electoral College states with lower populations are devalued and that having the college ensures that they have some value and stake in its votes towards the election. This makes some sense, but it is just worth noting that the votes of the college are determined in some degree by population anyway.

The number of electoral votes decided for each state are based on the number of electors each state is entitled to represent a state in the Senate and House of Representatives known as Congress. The state of North Carolina has fifteen electoral votes and those electoral votes were won by presidential candidate Mitt Romney (winning 50.39%) in the 2012 election. It is understood that the Electoral College has some positive attributes to include maintaining divisions of power between the three branches of government, it promotes a two-party system and allows minority and interest groups to be represented. Unfortunately on the negative side this voting system does not reflect the popular vote of the people, it discourages third parties and then

One of the arguments in this article is that the Electoral College is outdated and should be removed. Then, it states that the Electoral College symbolizes "America's original sin," slavery. When slavery was common in the U.S, a direct popular vote would have the south at a disadvantage because at the time the Constitution gave no voting rights to the black population. Therefore, the North would have an advantage because of their large white population which did have the right to vote. The three-fifths compromise counted the slave population for voting purposes only, each slave being three-fifths of a white person, which gave the south more electoral votes. Another argument is that the Electoral College gives smaller states an advantage. Apparently,

The Electoral College was created in the year 1787. Before it was established, the men who drafted the Constitution also known as the Framers debated several formats for electing the president and vice president for the United States. One of the formats they were debating was to have the Congress choose the president however some felt that there may be corruption, inappropriate political issues and possible interference from foreign powers (Kimberling, W.C. 2008). The other format the Framers were debating were to have the State legislatures select president but it was also rejected because of fear that the president that is obligated to the State legislature have a possibility to wear down federal authority and underestimate the idea of the federation (Kimberling, W.C.

Our Founding Fathers had great concern over the topic of the government obtaining too much power over the people and with that in mind they constructed a system of indirect election where citizens would choose an elector. That system would distant the citizens from directly electing the president, avoiding any possibility to create tyranny. Their fears were about whether citizens could exercise the best judgement and their capability to fully understand and make good choices in voting. They did not want a group to go off in the wrong direction and take control over others. They thought that a chosen group of more educated and elite individuals elected by the people would be able to better interpret the situation and exercise better judgement. In a way, they were trying to safeguard democracy by instituting the Electoral College as the method to elect our presidents.

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.

In 1787, the forebears conjured up the Constitution because they did not want to allow citizens to vote for their president undeviatingly . Afraid that society was not well equipped with information to select a president and that formidable common people would choose candidates from their own state, the forebearers considered that the president should be chosen through a selected group of electors, which they thought should be avowed as they contented. In this, political parties because very tenacious than they were before. These political group selected candidates and electors for the presidential and vice presidential positions. Electors were sworn to vote for their respected candidate. What is this Electoral College? The Electoral College

Last November, Donald Trump became the forty-fifth President of the United States even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.7 Million votes. Donald Trump won because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College gives each state a number of electors that can range from three to fifty-five depending on the size of the state. The number of electors is decided by combining the number of senators and representatives that state has. To win the presidential election, a candidate would have to get 270 electoral votes, if neither candidate gets 270 electoral votes then the senate and the House of Representatives get to choose the president or vice president. This system completely ignores the popular vote and the will of the people.

America has been acknowledged as being one of the world’s leading democracies, but to continue implementing the use of the Electoral College creates some distortion to that title. The out of date system does not accurately portray democracy. Theoretically, a democracy is government system that is ruled by the people. In reality, an individual’s vote may not matter depending on the state they reside in. Robert Dahl, a Democratic Theorist stated, “every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal.” Political equality is important to the distribution of power. Even if a person is wealthy and of power their vote should be counted the same as someone in poverty.

The Electoral College what can I say to be honest, I know nothing about the Electoral College, but I will do my best to explain it to people who might know and to help them know so when they 're seventeen they know like I should. So the Google definition of the Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who cast votes in the election of the President and Vice President. I would have not given that explanation, it would have told you it is a College. So helping you and myself, I will first explain how it works, then how Electors are selected, and the qualifications to be one and their restriction on who the Electors can vote for. Then the Election 1800 and the 12th Amendment. Then I will explain times where

The electoral college is an institution that every four years is in charge of electing our President, and Vice President. In school we are always taught that its the right and fair way to elect our president, but why? When the Founding Fathers created the process in 1787 along with the constitution certain founders such as James Madison thought the process would hurt the south and under a prior agreement set by southern slave states allowed states to count slaves as votes. This gave Southern States the majority of the electoral votes. In the first distribution of electoral votes Virginia(a heavy slave state) came out the big winner with over a quarter of the US votes where a state like Pennsylvania(a free state) had far less. The pro-Southern

The 2016 presidential election was an example of the discrepancy between the Electoral College votes and the national popular votes. If the last presidential election had been decided by a national popular vote, then Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency because she had the majority of votes. However, due to the design of the Electoral College, Donald Trump won the election for president in 2016; although, he lost the national popular vote. Just as some people questioned the effectiveness of the Electoral College during some of the previous elections, several people questioned the effectiveness of the Electoral College again in 2016. The debate about whether the Electoral College should be kept or

Wyndham great post again. Although, I am not convinced one party has any advantage over the other party in the Electoral College. Your post reference the National Archives as stating, “…neither party has consistently won the presidency, with the control passing from one party to the other and back, usually after one or two terms.” So, history has not proven any party advantage over the other in the Electoral College too.