The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

Many people have questioned why the founding fathers implemented the use of the electoral college process and a good assumption would be that the they were quite intentional in rejecting a direct election process mindset and we also have to take into account that as they were crafting our entire constitution. They established the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. They were not trying to create a pure democracy, but had the difficult issue of having to incorporate

The Electoral College has been instituted since 1787 and is a group of people that elect the United State President and Vice President. The United States citizens do not directly vote for the president, but their vote is considered by electors that have pledged to vote for the winning candidate. There are 538 electors which corresponds with the 100 senators and the 435 representatives plus 3 electors for the District of Columbia. An elector is nominated or appointed by their state’s party and are usually well connected. Congressmen and high ranking U.S. officials are prohibited from being electors. In most states they follow a “Winner takes all” format, where the elector votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote. The Electoral College systems is outdated and illogical for the present and should be abolished.

Research suggests that the Electoral College system should be amended because it poorly illustrates democracy, is outdated and

Not all systems are perfect, nor is the Electoral College. As we seen in the 2016 presidential election, the popular vote may not necessarily get the majority in the Electoral College resulting in what is criticized not to be as democratic when the popular vote winner, Hillary Clinton in this case, was the loser of the election. The outcome of the election can be dictated by the electors and in some cases not reflect the will of the people. Also, the winner-take-all clause creates a possibility that the popular vote gets nothing even in a situation when is it very close to half the votes. All states except for

First of all, the Electoral College ignores what most citizens want and undervalues their votes. Because people in each state are voting for electors that are assigned to each party rather than the actual candidates, the decision for president is really up to 538 electors instead of the population of more than 300 million Americans (The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons). 48 states use a winner-take-all system, where the dominant candidate in each state gains control of all the electors. The only states that don’t use this system are Maine and Nebraska ( ). This system the election about winning states in order to gain electors, and not about each citizen's individual vote. It’s so focused on winning overall states that it completely neglects the popular vote. It is mathematically possible under the Electoral College system that a candidate can win only 21.8% of the popular vote and still win the presidency.. This is due to the fact that the 39 smaller states have too many electoral votes for their population, and because of the winner-take-all system in every state except Nebraska and Maine, all a candidate needs to do is win 50.01% of the popular votes in those states, and he/she can clinch the election (Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College). Events similar to this have happened in history where the candidate who received more popular votes didn’t win the election. For example, in 1876

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 Electoral College makes it possible for citizens’ votes in certain states to essentially not matter at all. Since all of the electoral votes go toward the candidate that wins the popular vote in a state, if a state has a majority of people who vote for a certain party and a voter votes for the other party, his vote does not have any effect on the election outcome. The Electoral College system is leaving hundreds of thousands of vote’s discounted and irrelevant. The Electoral College twists each vote’s worth per state, causing the nation’s desires to be misrepresented. The Electoral College does not always show a distribution of support. A candidate could win the electoral votes

To start off, the electoral college system is undemocratic because instead of everyone being involved only a small group of people are able to make the decisions which is the electors citizens pick when voting. This Electoral College System has limited democracy to people because it holds an ability to alter result of Election over popular votes and creates high voter turnouts. The Electoral College betrays American values of majority rule: a candidate can win the election without a majority of popular votes and some states are overrepresented so a large number of citizens get left out. This can create a situation

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

This has been a controversy for ages. Does this give us freedom or take it away? Is our voice being heard? Election after election have brought new thoughts and situations to the table. In 2000 there was disappointment when the people thought they lost their voice. The question remains. Does the Electoral College stand for the rights of the American Citizens or does it mute their voices? By looking into how the Electoral College is structured, the comparison between the popular vote and the electoral vote, and the value of a citizen’s vote, one can see how the electoral college is in fact an important piece in our government.

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

Throughout history there hasn’t been as much controversy toward the Electoral College results during the elections. The Electoral College itself promotes a broad two party system ideologically and geographically, while maintaining a federal system of government and representation. (Benjamin Zycher) The Electoral College also follows the country's history by making a decision while using popular support or a more important group of people that are separated from the population. Sometimes, the Electoral College may determine a winner based on the decision of the faithless electors, which leaves that specific state in misery by overriding the people votes. Having a more educated decision is what truly separates the Electoral College and popular vote. The education of a vote stops the uneducated people from voting with their opinions that could be categorized in all types such as religion, race, laugh, health, and popularity mainly anything. Basically, the Electoral College takes the people's votes and overall takes a look at who was chosen, then discuss it and either go along with the people's voice or change it based on their knowledge. I honestly believe all faithless electors makes a strong decision because they may have felt that the people made a poor decision overall. Some uneducated people feel liI am all for the Electoral College regardless of fraudulent voting. It’s hands down better than population voting that will majority be in favor to the bigger states with more people.. The Electoral College has been worth all the flaws that it brings so I say we keep it and there is always from for

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

When the Electoral College was put in place as part of the voting process it seemed a good idea. “Our framers distrusted democracy and saw the Electoral College as a deliberative body able to correct bad choices made by the people.” (Anderson 519). Times have changed and today’s society is a lot different that it was when George Washington was President. It’s about time that the U.S eliminates the Electoral College and makes America more of a democracy by making the popular vote the deciding factor in electing the president.

The electoral college has been used for more than two centuries and over that time period, it has “established itself as a remarkably stable, adaptable, and successful method of selecting Presidents.” (Vile) The electoral college gives both parties a chance at winning the election. According to the article “Electoral College: Pros & Cons” written by John Vile, there are “more” democrats is the US, making it harder for the Republicans to win the elections. But with the electoral college it evens out the odds of each party winning. The electoral college has also “provided peaceful inaugurations of new administrations.” (Vile) As the US continues to grow in naturalization and centralization the “electoral college reminds us that America is one nation.” (Vile) The electoral college gives electors from both small and large states the opportunity of becoming President. When becoming President the electoral college prevents any President from becoming too dependent on political issues “like the Congress, and promotes separation of powers, which facilitates liberty.” (Vile) The electoral college continues to show everyone that abolishing it would