The Electoral College system is confusing. I'm ashamed to say that when I was casting my vote for a certain person; I had no clue all of the behind the scenes action. I'm actually voting for someone else(electors) who will vote for the same candidate as I have chosen but whose name doesn't appear anywhere on the ballot. . I heard of the Electoral College and Popular votes before but never really understand what it entailed. Voting is a process not just a checkmark to a name on a ballot. The United States Consitution specially states legislators decide how electors are chosen in their states. They electors then pledge their support to the candidate that we have chosen. It's crazy to think that my vote for the person I think is best for the job isn't actually counted. I vote for a …show more content…
Also I think that if the candidates are looking for the electotal votes; then the states with the most electoral votes gets the most attention. They need to concentrate on the states with the most electoral votes. The smaller states or states with lesser electoral votes gets little to no attention. One good aspect of the Electoral College is that it makes more sense to the smaller states to ensure they still have a voice in the elections. If the President were to be elected by popular demand; they would be from a highly populated state leaving less room for the smaller states to cast their votes. They would be overshadowed. The numbers would reflect the population values versus what the people as a whole want. I remember the craziness that came with the Al Gore/ George W. Bush Campaign in 2000. It took days and recounts to accurately find out who the new President Of The United States would be. Had it not been for the Electoral College; Al Gore would of been president. Mr. Gore had won more nationwide votes but It came down to Florida's 25
The United States of America has a rich history filled with success, failure, courage, and drive. Millions have come seeking the “American Dream” and to live in the land of the free. The past is what has shaped this nation’s present and future. Yet, as time drifts, the world around us changes. What was once deemed acceptable can now seem outdated in today’s society.
In november of 2016, many of us went to our designated voting polls to cast a vote for our next President of the United States. Our government creates this allured idea that our votes matter, however this isn’t the case. The Electoral College is the process which is responsible for electing the President of the United States. In 48 states, after all the votes are accounted for, the political party whose candidate received a majority in a particular state is given all of the votes for that state. For example, if the majority votes are republican in Virginia, then all 13 of Virginia’s votes go towards the republican candidate, even if 49% of the votes are democratic.
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.
Despite all the attempts, the Electoral College has stood the test of time. Why? Because without it, candidates would no longer be required to seek support throughout the country. They could focus solely on highly populated areas and completely ignore the needs of less populated states and regions. Before the Electoral College was officially named the way we would elect a president, the framers had narrowed it down to three options: election by the senate alone, election by the house, or electors chosen by the state 's representation in congress (McCollester).
The electoral college has always successfully chosen a president and benefited small states. However, in the more recent years there has been much debate as to whether or not this system works for our country. There have been five times when the winner of the popular vote loses the election leaving citizens wondering
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 order to take a more perceptive look into the electoral college debate, we will need to take a look into the history of the debate as well as the Founding Fathers’ intentions for it. The first thing that we need to take a look at would be the Founding Fathers' intentions as well as how the electoral college changed throughout history. In the article “Electing the People’s President: The Popular Origins of the Electoral College” it is stated that “Our Founding Fathers understood that America is a nation of both ‘we the people’ and a federal system of states” (Villegas 202). What Villegas is saying is that the Founding Fathers' looked at the people’s rights, as stated in the promised bill of rights during the Continental Congress. Most people who argue against the electoral college say that the people’s will and saying of “we the people” in the Constitution are violated, but rather it is a compromise between giving the people a chance at a say of the vote, as well as the federal state of
The electoral college also helps the small states have an opinion that actually is heard in the presidential election. In class, it was discussed that Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota together, though their combined population is less than that of Oklahoma, each of those states has three electoral votes, whereas Oklahoma just has seven votes. Going by electoral votes, a candidate would have a better chance at winning the election if they won over Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota versus Oklahoma. With the electoral college, a candidate could win over all thirty-nine small states and win the entire election. Though the candidate could be supported by less than a quarter of the population,
This system makes a safeguard around our votes. “Using electors instead of the popular vote was intended to safeguard the presidential election against uninformed or uneducated voters by putting the final decision in the hands of electors who were most likely to possess the information necessary to make the best decision in a time when news was not widely disseminated.” (Electoral College). The Electoral College gives voters peace of mind because they know the electors are educated on what they want and will vote accordingly. Some may say the popular vote is better in this situation because it gives each vote an equal amount of power and it would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector.
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.
As one of the most hotly debated areas of the US government, the Electoral College deserves to be given a more in-depth look. It was originally founded as a way to prevent a lack of informed voters from electing an unqualified president. Now, it still serves its original purpose, but has become far less necessary in an age of easily accessible information. Despite having some positive points, the Electoral College is too overburdened by issues like unfair vote distribution and a high failure rate to be an effective system. The way the Electoral College distributes votes is overtly favorable to less populated states.
The Electoral College is a longstanding organization in place in the United States of America that was originally established by the Founding Fathers in create equality in presidential elections has become a topic of harsh criticism and controversy over the years. The Electoral College was established by the Founding Fathers of the United States at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in order ensure there was representation of the people while keeping the best interests of the nation in mind (“What is the Electoral College?”). At the time of the writing of the Constitution, there were two main ideas on how to elect a president. The first was that there should be a simple vote of all eligible people and who ever gets the most votes becomes
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
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.