A voting U.S. citizen does not directly elect the President and Vice President; instead, these voters directly elect designated intermediaries called "electors," who almost always have pledged to vote for particular presidential and vice presidential candidates. Many Americans believe that their vote directly affects who leads the election but that is simply not true. They are voting for their state Electoral College to vote for that candidate. The Electoral College was made way back when, so it has its pros and cons. Is this the right way to vote for the president of the United States. Overall, should the Electoral College stay in place or should it be replaced? The Electoral College has many cons that must be heard before a decision can be made. A huge downside to the Electoral College is that it misperceives the general population into thinking that they …show more content…
One advantage is that it eliminates victory based on solely on populations. This gives power to states no matter what size rather than the population of the state. If the Electoral College was not in place this will lead to campaign solely on the big states rather than all. The Electoral College will continue to create and maintain a two party system. It allows for some continuity and stability for the current government. “It contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system and discouraging the proliferation of splinter parties such as those that have plagued many European democracies”(Thirty-Thousand.org 11). Lastly the electoral college helps encourage minority parties. Due to how the Electoral College distributes power, many minority interests have the ability to be represented and even backed by larger parties in order to get Electoral College votes. While a third party may have particular difficulty in securing a presidency, they can at least have enough delegates that their interests have to be taken
I think we should keep the Electoral College. Electoral College is defined in our textbook as; “An unofficial term that refers to the electors who cast the states’ electoral votes” (Patterson, T.E., 2013). Electoral voting is tied in with the states popular voting. Choosing electoral college adds to the cohesiveness of the nation by obliging an appropriation of popular support to be elected President, improves the status of minority interests, contributes to the political dependability of the country by promising a two-party system, and keeps up an elected arrangement of government and representation (Kimberling, W.C., 2008). I think that the Electoral College system is a big part of the cohesiveness of our country and it requires the distribution
The United States' President and Vice President are chosen through the Electoral College, an indirect voting system. As a middle ground between electing the president through a popular vote and having Congress choose the candidate, it was established by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. According to this method, a set number of electors is allotted to each state based on its population, and these electors vote for the president on behalf of the residents of their state. For more than 200 years, the United States has chosen its president using the Electoral College system, which has proven to be a trustworthy and accurate method.
The United States has benefited from the Electoral College for hundreds of years. This essay will discuss the presidential voting process and the merits of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a more effective method of choosing the president than the general election. This is due to the fact that it greatly improves efficiency and ensures the integrity of the election. There would be a huge number of candidates to pick from if the Electoral College did not exist and we had a public vote instead.
For example, if there is a new party and they are going up against a party that has been around for a while now and they already have the most popular votes to win. Which helps, because even if they have enough electoral votes to get it into the House, they would still have to find a way to get a majority of the State delegations to elect their candidate. In that case the Electoral College encourages political parties to combine divergent interests to make not one but two sets of logical alternatives. That helps us verify how social conflict and political debate play a part in the stability of the nation. Another example could be how the United States has a majority that are either Democrats or Republicans.
In my own words some of the pros and cons of the Electoral College are as followed and explained. My pros are that it maintains the federalist system, and allows for minority interests to be represented. It helps maintain the federalist system by keeping all of the branches of government equal. It helps allow for minority interests to be represented by helping the interest and have the ability to be represented and backed up by bigger parties to help get votes. My cons of the Electoral College are that is does not reflect the popular vote, and lowers voter turnout.
When people go to the polls to vote, they aren’t voting directly for who should get elected, instead they are telling their state how they want it to use its electoral college votes. 48 states use the “winner takes all principle” This means that in these 48 states, if one candidate wins the majority in that state, then that candidate gets all the electoral votes in that state. These “Votes” are actually electors. Each elector has one vote, and although they are supposed to vote for the candidate their state supports, they are not required to.
Do We Need the Electoral College? Following the 2016 election many individuals we shocked to find Donald Trump had won the Presidency while not having the popular vote. They were unaware of how the electoral college works and how the president is actually elected through the electoral college rather than the popular vote. But, before we find out if we need the electoral college, we must look into why it was created, and look at the pros and cons of the electoral college as well as the pros and cons of the proposed system to replace it.
The Electoral college was a successful method of election as it eliminated corruption from the process. In The Federalist 68 Alexander Hamilton points out, “They have not made the appointment of President to depend on any preexisting bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes” (The Federalist 68). The electors have no preconceived notions about the president, and will not allow their votes to be bought out. They are unbiased which allows for a fair and uncorrupt election.
If we somehow happened to be a capable vote, then we ought to have the capacity to really pick who might be president. The Electoral College removes that from us. The Electoral College is not by any stretch of the imagination reasonable for our rights and our opportunity. It, for the most part, takes away the ability to vote the president. The Electoral College was made in a period when votes were harder to gather and number.
All through the history of the United States of America, many people have discussed the abolishment of the Electoral College. For many reasons, some believe it is what makes our country have the type of government we have, some believe that it's what limits the power of the government, and many people such as Mitch McConnell believes it is what gives us our freedom and prosperity. While these are valid arguments there is a multitude of reasons to why the electoral college should be abolished. Such as there is only a need for twelve states in order to become the president, popular vote of the people for president can still lose, and the Swing states are given too much power and attention compared to that of the other states. This is why I believe in the abolishment of the Electoral College.
In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. The Electoral College is defined as “a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.” Since 1787 the Electoral College has been the system for voting in the United States, but with our nation ever more changing and growing it
The Electoral College is the process to which the United States elects the President, and the Vice President. The founders of the Constitution came up with this process. This was done to give additional power to the small states, and it was done to satisfy them. It works by the citizens of the United States electing representatives called electors. Each state is given the same amount of electors, as they are members of congress.
Consistency plays a huge role in Americans day to day routines. Similarly, the Electoral College ensures the same. The Electoral College has been a longstanding part of the American electoral process. Its continuity provides stability and a predictable framework for presidential elections.
Along with keeping balance between the states, the Electoral College also helps keep independent parties under
Electoral college has been with us since the birth of the constitution, and to this day we are still using this type of system to this day. The Electoral College is a system that the United States uses to elect our upcoming presidents and vice presidents. Each state has electors equal to their senate member and house of representatives, however who ever gets the highest popular vote in the state gets the electoral vote. The issue is the Electoral College do not give votes to the people, but to the states. Which has some unfair consequences.