Voting In Presidential Elections 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

Being able to cast my first vote in the 21st century is a privilege. My generation needs to accept their patriotic responsibility and vote because many reforms are needed in order to carry us into the new millennium. Voting reforms are necessary to inspire political participation for other modifications and adjustments needed in areas such as health care, education, and Social Security, all which we as young people will face in the future. Participation in elections is necessary to facilitate and enable progress, but our present day system of voting is expiring by frustrated Americans.

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

The electoral college, per Wikipedia, is a mechanism set up to select the president and vice president of the United States. (The Electoral college, 2016) It was during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that the founders established Article 2. Article 2 Section 1 details the innerworkings of the executive branch of government. The constitution states, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress”. (The Constitution of the United States, n.d.) The framers of the Constitution had many different ideas about how the selection of our president should go but ultimately

in their state. In some states laws and restrictions, may apply to future presidential candidates on

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.

Regardless of who had the ability to vote, the process of the election of the presidents itself would not be very efficient had a structure not been established early into the years after the formation of the United States. The framers of the Constitution had originally designed what was to be known as the Electoral College, a system that established how the president and vice president were to be elected, along with the hope that political parties wouldn’t arise and that candidacy was chosen solely on who was the “best [man]” (Levinson). Electors, people who

     With the surge of controversy surrounding the recent election, the United States has rekindled the Electoral College debate. However, this isn’t the first time that a tight election has resulted in unclear or contested results. Nor is it the first time the Electoral College has made a president out of the popular vote loser. In the over two hundred years since its construction, the Electoral College has demonstrated its shortcomings with more than its share of mishaps. Is this system a tribute to democracy and the brilliance of its creators or is it an archaic tradition that should be eliminated?

The electoral college; an act that has been written in the constitution and engraved in the minds of people young and old, citizens of America unable to make the official decision of their future and their children’s future. Americans are lodged in the same repetitive cycle that fails to recognize that it is a corrupt and worn down system. The United States of America--a nation built on slavery, prejudice, and war- is now being built on a new foundation: diversity, egalitarianism, and benevolence.

The American Constitution, as outlined in the Preamble, boldly defines its purpose as “We the People” (U.S. Constitution). Reasonableness suggests that the framers of the Constitution would provide appropriate legislation enhancing the citizenship’s right to actively participate in government via public elections given such a definitive statement expanding on the power of the people. However, American citizens do not possess a constitutionally protected right to vote. During the drafting period of the Constitution, only white male property owners could vote, however, voting rights have drastically changed throughout the history of the United States. Through amendments passed over the past two centuries, the Constitution has changed

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.

If one were to look at the voting history as of late in America you would surely find information on the Florida catastrophe in 2000. The problem with our voting system today is in the technology being used; many demographic groups find our current systems confusing and hard to use. As voters step into the polling places this election year many will be voting through new devices some even sporting “touch screen” technology and we can only hope that the new technology is understood and accepted.

Imagine you’re six years old with dreams about being the president of The United States of America. Now you are a senior in High School watching the current U.S. Election take place with hopes slowly diminishing. In all reality you realize that the opportunity to become the President might never actually happen.

Less than 50% of eligible voters will turn out to vote at national elections, and at the local elections there are less than 25%. There is a correlation between voting behavior and the demographic of those voting.