The Importance Of The Electoral College

American voters do not directly vote for the President. When voters go to vote on Election Day to select who they think the next president should be, we are not actually voting for a candidate directly. We are casting our support for a candidate and a group of “electors” who directly submit the votes to determine who the next president will be. (Green) We, as people, do have a right to vote for our president directly, and we are. Members of the electoral college have to be elected and this happens once voters cast their vote for a candidate for president. These are not random people, we elected them. We need to look further into the issue to see that there is a reason for the Electoral College. We need to see the method to the Electoral College’s madness. This is why although some say the electoral college is unfair and corrupt, it

The article, “Electoral College: An Overview,” written by Ballaro, Beverly, Bourassa, and Cheryl, explains how the electoral college is used and why people do not support it. This article targets anyone who is able to vote in the 2016 election. The purpose of this article is to inform voters that their vote does not always choose the president and explains how the president is chosen and the system behind it. The thesis of this article explains that many people abroad are still unaware that the president is not elected directly by the people. The president is chosen by the electoral college. The electoral college is a body of electors chosen to elect the president and vice president of the united states. This setup allows the chance for an

As citizens of the United State of America, one of our most important rights is that of which to vote. By voting, the general population has a say in who its leaders are. Votes for local, state, and even federal representatives directly reflect who the constituents want in office. However, America’s highest office is not elected by a vote of the people. Instead we use a confusing and outdated system called the Electoral College. Our president is not elected by the people, but by 538 electors who can legally vote for whomever they choose. Several times in our nations history an elector has voted against the people’s will. Three presidents have been elected into office by the electoral college and

The Electoral College is the system the United States have used to elect the President for the past two hundred years. In this essay, the reader will see that although it did the best way to represent the will of the American people, and in this essay a better alternative will be proposed to the reader. The Electoral college was created in September sixth, nineteen-eighty-seven, and was described as (founder definition) and was meant to allow a stronger South, who by using the three-fifths compromise of 1787 to allow themselves more votes and ensure they are given the most federal power (Amar). This paper will show the reader that the Electoral College is flawed in the way that minority candidates can be elected, less populated states are overrepresented, and swing states are given the most attention.

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?

Choosing the President of the United States is a huge event not only in America but all over the world as well. The whole world wants to see who will be the next Chief in Command of the most powerful nation in the universe. The Electoral College is the process use to determine who will be the next President and Vice- President of the United States of America. This process is not embraced by every citizen others prefer the popular vote process, creating a division between citizens.

The United States Electoral College is the body that elects the President and Vice President every four years. The people of the United States do not vote directly for the President and Vice President. Fun fact, nowhere in the Constitution does it say that Americans have the right to choose their President. This power is reserved solely for the 538 electors. Explained by the National Conference of State Legislatures: a national organization to support, defend and strengthen state legislatures initiated in 1975, when a voter cast his or her vote for President and Vice President, “s/he is in actuality casting a vote for the presidential electors who were selected by that candidate 's party” (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2016, para 11). The way that the Electoral College works is, each state is allowed an equal number of electors as they were allocated members of Congress. The exception is the District of Columbia, where

The 2000 presidential election was a major eye opener for many people. As it appeared to also be the dismay of many, the candidate who won the most popular votes nationwide actually lost the contest. In the election's risen moment, popular attention centered around the Electoral College and its role in the presidential election. Under the U.S. Constitution, the people did not necessarily direct vote for the President in a nationwide election; rather, the people in each state would vote for electors from that state, who in turn would cast the constitutionally decisive votes for President and Vice President. Moreover, not only is the people's influence indirect, the Electoral College's voting pattern does not necessarily track the national popular

Many people hail the Electoral College as democratic, but the 2016 Presidential Election was anything except democratic. The highly scrutinized leader, Donald J. Trump, won a majority of the Electoral College, sealing his place as the Forty-Fifth President of the United States, but did not receive the majority of votes, as the popular vote went to Hillary Clinton. The results of previous elections have not reflected the people’s opinions, and it disenfranchised millions of Americans. Although the Electoral College is outlined in the United States Constitution, it reflects the needs of an eighteenth century society (Amar, 2016). Because the Electoral College does not meet the needs of a twenty-first century society, it should be replaced by a national popular vote where voter registration is based on a test regarding basic knowledge of the United States government.

The Electoral College was founded in 1787, when the writers of the Constitution were discussing how they would go about electing the future Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States. The Electoral College is just a part of the United States process of electing the next president. In the diagrams on the page above, you can see the Electoral College in the election of 1800 and in the election of 2012. Over time, the Electoral College has played the same role, but as times are changing, is it necessary to keep the Electoral College and continue with what is familiar, or throw it in the trash and try something new?

The Electoral College has been around since the ratification of the Constitution. Overall, 5 of our presidents have not one the popular vote. These presidents are John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush, and our current, “president”, Donald Trump. This is why the electoral college should be replaced because only specific states (swing states) end up determining the outcome of the elections, it is outdated for our new, advanced country, and already 5 presidents haven’t been the candidate people wanted more.

“The Electoral College in the US is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and the vice president.” The Electoral College has been the system of voting in the US since 1787, but with the growing and changing of our country, it has been a very controversial topic whether or not to keep the system in place. On five separate occasions in the history of our country, the Electoral College has voted against majority rules for the nation’s president. Many may say that this is an infringement on the rights of the people themselves to vote for their own president, because in these five instances, it truly was left to a small group of people

As of now, the president of the United States is elected by the votes of 538 electors instead of by the estimated 218,959,000 eligible Americans (Brain 1). This election method, which includes the use of the electoral college, is known as indirect voting. The opposing view, which is based on a popular vote, represents a direct vote by the people for President of the United Sates. The use of the electoral college has raised concerns by Populists claiming that it has reduced the importance of the individual vote (Lombardo 2). This argument is based on the fact that an elector can decide to vote against the popular vote of his state. This makes it possible for the candidate with a minority of the votes to win. Although it is evident that the electoral

The Electoral College was created in the late eighteenth century with its complex process outlined in the United States Constitution; more specifically, the Twelfth Amendment. 538 electors comprise the system, and to win the presidency, a candidate must obtain 270 votes. In the event no candidate receives the required votes, the election redirects to the House of Representatives where they vote on the three candidates who received the largest sum of votes (Parker, 2016). Consequently, the popular vote does not influence the election’s outcome; previous presidents have not won the popular vote.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over two million votes, yet, still lost the election. The electoral college is an outdated system the United States uses in the presidential elections and it is a system that is fundamentally not representing each citizen equally. Thus, it allows a candidate to win the Presidency without the support of a majority of voters. The electoral college is outdated and it is time to implement a more modern voting procedure such as a popular vote.