The Electoral College is a system established by the United States Constitution to elect our country's President and Vice President. Although often viewed as one national election, it is a series of state elections. As originally designed, each state would choose a slate of electors that would then select the President and Vice President. This means that rather than voting directly for the President, people vote for certain electors who choose the President. This process has largely been sidelined and people today vote for a presidential candidate of a certain party rather than an elector. The electors still exist, but they do not usually appear on the ballot and are instead chosen by the presidential candidate. Each state is assigned a certain …show more content…
The change we would propose to the electoral college is to lower its authority in the presidential election— to make it on equal footing with the popular vote. Since its creation, there have been five presidential elections whereby the winning presidential candidate secured electors’ votes of the Electoral College and not the plurality of the national vote. One of the Electoral College’s initial purposes was to find a middle ground between the popular vote and the election vote in Congress of the presidential elections but having the electoral college override the national vote in chance a candidate receives a majority negates the purpose entirely. The Electoral College should be able to threaten the presidential election, not dominate it. Leveling the playing field between the plurality of the national vote and the majority of the electoral college allows the losing candidate in either election a fighting chance. That is, if one candidate loses the electoral college but wins the national vote, another election between the winner of the electoral college and the winner of the national vote should take place— a …show more content…
If thousands of such people don’t vote then elections truly cannot be considered to be fair. Also if people don’t show trust in the very system that elects their leaders then it should be the priority of the institution to correct its flaws and regain the lost trust. Statistically, several variables show that in government certain races, age groups, etc are over-represented and others are underrepresented, one of the solutions to those problems could be if more people vote and trust that the system works for them. The Electoral College has received certain amounts of disapproval due to the question of whether or not the Electoral College promotes direct democracy. True democracy involves each individual having a say in all political matters, and the Electoral College can be seen as something that limits direct political involvement. However, the electors are assigned the task of fulfilling their constituents' desires, allowing each individual’s vote to still impact the election of a presidential
Citizens have the option on the day of elections, to choose the candidate they believe is right for them. However, this does not mean that their candidate will actually be chosen in. The system of the electoral college allows candidates who did not win the popular vote (the election in which the citizens participate in) to ultimately win the election. For example, even if candidate A won the popular vote, the one casted by the people and what they believe is right, it is very possible for candidate B to win the election instead, due to the amount of elector votes they received. It is easier to note from real life examples seen in document G; many candidates that were ultimately chosen into the presidency did not receive their support from the people but from the electoral college.
Since 1800 there have been over 700 proposals to either revise or eliminate the electoral college. The electoral college was added to the Constitution in 1787 to guarantee the best candidate was elected. The electoral college consists of electors who officially cast their votes for President. The number of electors for each state is determined by the number of congress members each state has. While there are no qualifications to become an elector, electors must follow the people's directive.
The Electoral College has been a part of the American National government ever since its beginnings, but is it the system that we should keep using? The Electoral College is made up of electors. Each state has 3 or more electors based on the amount of Senators and Representatives it has. These electors each vote for a running presidential candidate. And these votes directly determine who will become president.
As it currently stands, the presidential democracy of the United States government is one where the people’s beliefs are generally well represented. All members of Congress are elected by the people along with the two people at the head of the executive branch. This way, the people have a lot of control over what takes place in their country. If the Constitution of the United States were to be rewritten, the removal of the electoral college should be seriously considered.
Throughout the years, there have been many qualms regarding the electoral college. Does the Electoral College properly represent the will of the American people? Is the electoral college an outdated system? Recently, these questions resurfaced as the election of 2016 resulted in the projection of Donald Trump triumphing over Hilary Clinton, even though Clinton received more popular votes at the end of the election. I believe that the Electoral College should be removed and changed to a more balanced system which reflects the needs and wants of each individual residing in America rather than society that does not account for the greater population of America in an old-fashioned system where the framers of the Constitution did not trust the American people to elect a leader worthy of the title.
The electoral college is the system that has been used to elect Presidents in the United States since the Constitution was established. However, there has been a debate that the electoral college should be abolished. (Claim) The Electoral College should be abolished and replaced with a direct popular vote. This system goes against the Constitution by undermining democracy, and the distribution of voting weight in states is extremely uneven.
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December of a leap year, five hundred and thirty eight electors travel to their state capitol buildings to decide who is the next president of the United States of America. They take an oath, and cast the official ballots for the presidential election. The problem is that this system is not fair. So, which way of electoral college reform is the best? In this essay, some options for electoral college reform are introduced, and the best one is chosen.
The Electoral College is a system that has been used to elect the president of the United States since the country’s founding. It is essentially groups of people called electors who cast votes for the president and vice president of the US. Each state has a slate of electors chosen by political parties. This system is prone to manipulation and fraud and takes away the meaning from the American people’s fundamental right to vote. For three reasons, the Electoral College should be abolished.
Isaac Allen Mr. Baker American Government 2/28/23 Electoral College The Electoral College is a unique feature of the United States’ electoral system, which has been in place since the country’s founding. The Electoral College can be viewed as a compromise between electing a president via the popular vote versus by Congress alone. Over time arguments have been made regarding the need for the electoral college. Despite these criticisms, the Electoral College system an integral part of American democracy and should be kept in place.
When individual citizens vote, their votes go towards the popular vote. One would think that whoever wins the popular vote would win the election, however that's not the case. A candidate can win the popular vote, but end up losing the election. This is because while most states use a Winner-take-all system, meaning that whichever candidate wins the majority gets the electoral votes in that state; it is not required in all states. According to the website for the House of Representatives, an article on the E.C states “it is not unconstitutional for electors to vote for someone other than those to whom they pledged their support” meaning that there are no constitutional consequences for electors who choose to go against the entire states
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.
The number of electors in each state is equaled two plus one for each member of the House of Representatives, and Washington DC has three votes, bringing the total number of electors to 538 (“What is the Electoral College?”). It’s a well-known fact that when the public goes to vote for a candidate they also vote for the corresponding vice president. A much less well-known fact is that they are actually voting for the electors as well; by voting democratic or republican the corresponding electors for the party are elected as well (“Electoral College” 2010). Then on the Monday after the second Wednesday of December the electors assemble in a central location in each state and cast their votes for president. In forty-eight states, there is a “winner-take-all-system” where the highest vote getter in the state gets all the electoral votes, however in two states, Maine and Nebraska, there is a proportionality system in place; where if one third of the votes are for one party and two thirds are for another, the electors will split and one third of the state electoral votes will go to one party and the rest will go to another (“What is the Electoral College?”).
Several years after the United States came to be, the Constitutional Convention met to determine how the new nation should govern itself. The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. The delegates believed that the president’s power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the electing of the president and vice president. Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nation’s principle of representative democracy, while others
No longer should we stand for this we have to insure that votes are actually making a difference in our country. What is the point not voting if we are just ignored and tossed aside? The Electoral College is the sole reason why some people just do not care about voting, because they feel like they don't make a difference in the matter, and that is correct in some degree because the Electoral College makes it that