The Importance Of The Electoral College

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.

How would you react if you learned that the Presidential candidate you had cast your vote for, had actually received more of the popular vote than his competition, but was not elected the next President of the United States? Every four years in November over 90 million Americans vote for the presidential candidates, then in the middle of December the president and vice president of the United States are actually elected by the votes of only 538 citizens. Wouldn't you think there was an obvious flaw in the system? I would be willing to bet that the majority of you would, but in the case of the Electoral College apparently the majority doesn't count.

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

In the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson ran against John Quincy Adams and won more of the popular vote and electoral college but failed to get the majority.(Document 3) Since no one won the majority of the electoral college, the House of Representatives was able to choose the next president. The House of Representatives then chose John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson was the most popular choice among the citizens so he should have had office instead of John Quincy Adams. When there is no majority, and more than two candidates are running for office, the two most popular candidates should be taken and another election should be held between the two most popular candidates. If there is still a split and no one has still received the majority, the House of Representatives should then decide. This gives the power to the people rather than a select 435 people. This helps to set the stage for why a winner take all system allows for a lack of

In this country, we hold elections every four years to select the president. The founding fathers of our country established the electoral college to give the original thirteen states a fair voice in the election process. This country electoral called the electoral college into question on more the one occasion. In the most recent election, President-elect Donald Trump won the electoral vote over Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. This election has sent the country into an uproar and citizens of the United States are now challenging the legitimacy of the electoral college process. This paper will examine whether this process is reliable and valid when choosing the leadership of this country.

Established in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, the Electoral College is a system utilized in The United States of America to select the President and Vice President. This process was established by the Founding Fathers in 1787, when the Constitution was written. The original purpose of the electoral system was to ensure that those who select the leaders of this nation were the most knowledgeable and informed people that America had to offer. The electors - the elected officials that make up the Electoral College - are elected to office through a general election wherein the entire national population has the right to vote. The President of the United States, however, is actually elected to office by the Electoral College only, regardless of the popular vote of the citizens in general. Thus, the Presidential election is the only federal election in our nation where the vote of the citizenry does not directly determine the victor. Despite the fact that this electoral system has been in place and operational for over two hundred years, the Electoral College is looked upon by some as an honorable system, whereas others view it as faulty. The Electoral College is not fair and equitable because it is based on population, it is not trusted by the people, and it is unjust to the wishes of the citizens.

The Electoral College has been around since 1787 and is how the United States elects the president and vice president. Many people support the Electoral College because the Founding Fathers thought it was the only way to have a democracy without completely trusting the people to elect the president. The Electoral College process is stated in the Constitution so many people think it is the only way to elect the president. Many critics of the Electoral College call it out on the fact that a candidate can win a popular vote but not the presidency. This actually contradicts the fact that the United States is supposed to be a democracy. Many people, including myself, think that the downfalls of the Electoral College vastly outweigh the benefits, so the Electoral College should be abolished. Instead the United States should elect the president based solely on the national popular vote.

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

In 2000, Democratic candidate, Al Gore and Republican candidate, George W. Bush ran for the position of the president of the United States. Al Gore won the popular vote but, since Bush won in the Electoral College he was elected president (Hall). This has not been the only time in U.S. history and surely will not be the last for a situation like that to happen. When the citizens of the United States vote for president they think each individual vote counts and their votes determine the winner. However, this is not necessarily the way our process works because of the outdated Electoral College.

The Electoral College, first instituted in 1787, is designed to give all states in the United States a say in who the president will be. The Electoral College works by giving a vote to each House Representative and Senator for the state. The senators and representatives for a state cast their ballot based on the popular vote in the state. Whichever candidate gets the most electoral votes in the state gets all the electoral votes for the state; this is called the winner take all system. Many people believe the Electoral College is flawed and should be changed while others believe it should be thrown away altogether. There are many things about the Electoral College that should be changed but the system is not completely broken. The Electoral College is a flawed process, but one that is needed for a fair election. The way electoral votes are given is fair but, how a President is chosen with no majority, which is a requirement to become president, and the winner take all system are ineffective and must be changed because they do not reflect the true will of the people.

"The Electoral College is widely regarded as an anachronism, method of selecting a president that ought to be [overruled] by declaring the candidate who receives the most popular votes the winner" (Posner Richard 15). The electoral college is not fair for the people of our fine country. The residents of the United States of America live in a democratic country where they have the right to elect their leader, the electoral college prevents that. I believe that the electoral college should be disbanded because it goes against the people's democracy.

Another major fault of the Electoral College is the fact that it allows for a tie during the official Presidential race while on the other hand a popular vote would almost never result in a tie. In order to win the Presidency a candidate must receive a minimum of 269 electoral votes during the official election. There are exactly 538 electoral votes available for each candidate to win, one for each member of the Senate and the House of Representatives combined. The math shows that 538 divided by two is exactly 269 votes, one vote shy of the needed majority to become President. If each candidate was voted for 269 times during the official elections, no candidate would become President right away. Founding Fathers also did the math when the Electoral

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.

The Electoral College system continues to be a process which not every citizen understands how it works, how and when was created, furthermore, why it was created and by whom it was created. Those questions will be answered

Thesis: The Electoral College is unfair and should be abolished because of the “winner takes all rule,” the chance that a president cannot have the support of the majority of the voters, and candidates would campaign equally in every state.