The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

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 The Electoral College systems is outdated and illogical for the present and should be abolished.

Despite the Electoral College system being founded by the founding fathers in America and being there as long as the Constitution exists, many people still do not have sufficient knowledge on how it works. The Electoral College does not provide honest presidential elections rather it has the potential to undo the will of people at any point from the selection of electors to the vote tallying in Congress (Shaw, 3). Electoral College in the United States has played a major role in depressing the voter's turnout. Every State is given an equal number of electoral votes despite the population and in turn, the system has put in place no measure to encourage the voters to take part in the elections. Besides, the system distorts

The voting process in America appears straightforward, but it is a very complex, complicated system. The Electoral College is America’s current voting system. The Electoral College still serves its intended purpose, but with increasing political activity among Americans it has caused a need to reform this process. Research suggests that the Electoral College system should be amended because it poorly illustrates democracy, is outdated and the majority of Americans are in favor of abolishing the system.

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

The Electoral College is a system that creates a compromise between the election of the president by a vote in congress and a popular vote from the citizens of the U.S. This results in a total of 538 electors from congress and to win the presidential election you must have over 270 Electoral votes. There is people who do not like the electoral college because the system is old fashioned and not democratic according to the two articles In Defense of the Electoral College by Richard A. Posner and Time to End the Electoral College by The New York Times. There is people who do agree with the Electoral College process. The Electoral College should not be abolished because the system gives an opportunity to political parties to express themselves in the American government, gives small states a chance in the elections, and the system is determined by the constitution. If presidential candidate does not get over 270 votes then the House of Representatives decides with votes from the top three other presidential candidates with the most electoral votes and same goes for vice presidential election except Senate decides with only top two.

The Electoral College system was created in the constitution by the Founding Fathers. This system forms the beginning of the United States' national elections and is therefore, considered to be important to this country's history. It is made up of 538 members and a candidate must receive a majority of 270 electoral votes to win the election. Electors usually get selected to one of the presidential candidates running. When people go to the ballot on voting day and pick their favorite candidate, they are really choosing the electors for their state and then the electors are the ones that vote for the president. The Electoral College should be revised or abolished because it is both undemocratic, is not beneficial to the nation, and may weaken the validity of elections and the elected President.

“The Electoral College system further distorts the one-person, one-vote principle of democracy because electoral votes are not distributed according to population. Every state gets one electoral vote for each member of its delegation to the House of Representatives and each state also gets two “bonus” electors representing its two senators” (10 reasons why the Electoral College is a problem).Whether they have a high echelon or low one in this country they should be able to have their votes matter. The popular vote allows parties to not have to campaign in lesser known states. “It distorts the presidential campaign, as alluded to yesterday, by incentivizing the parties to write off the more than 40 states (plus the District of Columbia) that they know they either can’t win or can’t lose. Among the states that, in recent history, don’t get campaign visits or TV ads” (10 reasons why the Electoral College is a problem).

Throughout the time line of America, the electoral college has made a negative impact. There are several negative out comes from having the electoral college. The United States has states that have a larger amount of electoral college. There are states several states that are worth more electoral votes than others. Presidential candidates need at least 270 votes to win an election. This creates the problem of paying little to no attention to states with small electoral votes. Candidates often focused on states with higher amounts of electoral votes such as: California (55), Texas (38), New York (29), Florida (29), Illinois (20) and Pennsylvania (20). It was often the strategy to have rallies in these areas to get ahead in electoral votes. “The system of the Electoral College offers power to the small, less populated states, which is unfair with the larger states. It improves that small

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.

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

Since past and current Americans have given so much for our right to vote, the Electoral College serves as a way to make sure every ballot counts. There are two main reasons why I support this governing body. First, this group has existed since the Founding Fathers created it in 1787 because it adds on to the system of checks and balances our country was built on. Michael W. McConnell, a professor at Stanford Law School, writes, “The Founders opted for the Electoral College because the two leading alternatives, election by Congress and by popular vote, were thought to have serious defects”(McConnell 23). If we were to eliminate it, the system of check and balances so carefully composed over 100 years ago would be ruined. In addition, this section

Some believe that in replace of the electoral college, the US uses the “winner takes all” vote, meaning whoever wins the popular vote becomes president, no electoral college voting required. People want this because it keeps the deciding factor 100% on the people, not the government, and the people decide for themselves what candidate they want to be the president. There are many pros and cons to this. The pros are that the vote is

Although many people believe that the electoral college should be ruled out, it is very helpful during elections because it restores some of the weight in the political balance. The electoral college often helps settle ties between candidates. When votes are equally cast, the electoral college is quite useful for making the decision of who is going to be elected. “Voters in toss-up states are more likely to pay close attention to the campaign” (Posner 2012).

There are many arguments as to why using the process of Electoral College is beneficial and non-beneficial. Many arguments break down into 3 major pros and 3 major cons. People

The electoral college makes the representation of the states unbalanced. During the election of a president, the candidates usually spend money and time in swing states. Both democrats and republicans spend time in “more important” states such as Ohio and Florida who will get much more attention than a traditionally republican states like Texas or a traditionally blue state like California. The candidate, once in office, is supposed to be nothing but a mouthpiece of the people in which they represent. “We now have intelligent, well funded and unscrupulous politicians and their party apparatuses who manipulate the system,” (Davis). Currently, the only thing that politicians are