The United States Election Process Essay

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

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

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.

I choose to agree with the Electoral College. I don’t want a direct popular election because I want the smaller states to still have a voice, but, if America switches to direct popular election, the way things are, might just go worse. There are some good reasons for a direct popular election, and there are not good reasons for one too. I like the Electoral College a lot, and I would like the voting system to keep it that way. However, our founding fathers created the Electoral College, being the geniuses they are, created a good way to elect a president that would not cause chaos or havoc in the country.

The next President of the United States, the successor to William Jefferson Clinton and man who will lead America as the first President of the new millennium is George W. Bush, the Republican governor of Texas, the son of a former President. Or it’s Democratic Vice President Al Gore, President Clinton’s right hand man for the past eight years.

In proportional representation candidates receive a number of delegates proportional to the percentage of primary votes they receive where as in winner take all the candidate with the majority wins all the states delegates.

How do we elect the President? Many people do not understand the process by which we elect the President. They do not understand how the Electoral College works. Bill Stern (Andrews, 1996) said, “Our elections are free, it's in the results where eventually we pay.” Oftentimes, people vote based on public opinion or information obtained by the media. Voters should inform themselves on how the Electoral College works in order to make good decisions when voting for the president.

In the Electoral College system, as presented by Hamilton, every voice is heard and there is a greater guarantee that the elected will effectively represents those voices in office. During election season, the people in the states vote for the representatives that will make up the Electoral College. The people within the states will votes for the prudent few that they believe best conform to their political interests, just as they do for those voted into the House of Representatives. As a result, the few elected representatives in each state mirror the average person within their state. The desires, beliefs, and interests of those representatives hold the same desires, beliefs, and interests of those within the state. The only difference is that the votes of those few would hold more weight than if everyone in the states vote. Each representative in the Electoral College casts his vote with the knowledge that their vote will change the course of their country and affect the lives of their fellow countrymen. The gravity of such a responsibility would push each representative to give great consideration into who should be elected as president. They would scrutinize over their decision, debate the merits of each candidate, and ultimately elect one prudent man to lead the country. In stark contrast, the process of voting in modern day America is treated with less importance than given most mundane tasks. Today, Americans give little thought to whom they will vote for as

Locations, polling stations and workers start preparing for Election Day. On Election Day, the public is able to go vote for the candidate, bills or laws that are up for election.

How exactly does the electoral college work? We the citizens of the U.S. vote for electors who in turn vote for the president. On election day, voters tally up their votes to the candidate of their choice. This normally happens on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November which is election day. Chosen electors meet in their state capitals on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December to tally up their votes for their preferred POTUS or VPOTUS. On the 6th of January, a joint session with congress takes place to declare the winners

This process occurs every four years, when a range of candidates is selected via additional groups in every state, ordinarily by the party state committee or at a state party convention. (Mintz, & McNeil, 2016) It is these voting member nominees, instead of the Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidates, for who the people select during an election. The first candidate that receives 270 or just over 50% of the possible 538 Electoral votes wins the election. The efficient portion of the Electoral College is essentially concentrating on the nations by means of the highest voters. The system which composes the possibility for the people of the United States and District of Columbia to vote. This procedure thrived as anticipated till the 1800s once political candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr both obtained the same number of electoral votes. However, the House of Representatives broke the tie, but brought about the Constitution’s 12th Amendment, which explained the electoral voting procedure in further detail thus providing more support to the voting

After the last presidential election, which is still underway apparently, there is much controversy over what should happen to the Electoral College system. There are people who say that the Electoral College is good but should be modified to meet the needs of the modern world. There are those who say that the Electoral College system is too outdated to be modified and should be entirely eliminated. Finally there are those who say that it is has stood the test of time and is still the best system for our country.

At the conclusion of President Barack Obama’s historical consecutive terms in office there is going to be a large number of candidates that are vying for the nominations of the respective parties. Due to the constitutional term limits imposed on the President, Obama is barred to seek re-election in 2016. While there are about 10 candidates running for the republicans, there are only two still in the running for the Democratic Party. The way candidates are recognized by their respective parties to become a candidate for the United States Presidency is first by receiving an invitation to compete in the primaries, then being included in the nationwide polls, as well as being on the ballot for at least 75% of all states. At the conclusion of the February 1st caucus there were 3 Democrats and 10 republicans who were still in the Presidential race, since then one Democratic candidate had dropped out.

The election process in the United States is a valuable process to the election of the proper officials to satisfy the people. The people run the country which is why we live in freedom because we control what happens with major decisions by choosing whom we want to decide these decisions. The whole country goes to vote on a certain day and by the end of that day we will vote to select who will run the country, state, county, or city political positions. The most complex decision and one with the biggest impact are selecting who the President of the United States shall be. We examine what their views are and who would do a better job. Then vote in our respected states with a certain number of electoral votes

Political campaigns are very significant in American politics and elections. It is the period before the electorate makes political decisions in the form of elections. The attention of the citizens towards politics intensifies as the date of the elections draws near. The salience of voters improves as the election date draws near and could manifest in the form of increased media attention. Political discussions, campaign interest, strength of the intention to vote, and knowledge about the candidates are other manifestations of increased salience of voters. Another indication of improved intensity is the effort put by the candidates and their political parties in the campaigns. Parties increase their efforts in the