The United States Electoral College is an American system designed by the founding fathers to conduct elections. However, it has become subject to controversy in the 2016 Presidential election. The unique aspect of the Electoral College is how electors are awarded to presidential candidates using a state-by-state method of determining the number of electors. While the Electoral College is fundamental to the founders of America to protect the nation, its fatal flaws are too damaging to the people of the United States. In my opinion, the Electoral College needs to be reexamined in order to establish a new way of electing Presidents and Vice Presidents. The best way to protect the people's voice in the United States is to establish a nationwide …show more content…
This system can be detrimental to the American people by diminishing the significance of individual votes for the President. The state-by-state method has changed the course of US history and undermined the will of the majority of voters. This has occurred when the Electoral College has elected the loser of the popular vote in five instances[^1^]. These presidential elections were in 1876, 1888, 1960, 2000, and 2016, going against the wishes of US voters. This represents a 9% failure rate for the state-by-state method, which has allowed the popular vote loser to occupy the Oval Office. This issue has had profound effects on the health of US elections and the essence of democracy. The state-by-state method can silence the will and choices of millions of people, as their votes do not carry the same weight in certain key swing states. Comparing this system to the potential benefits of a nationwide vote for the president, the current system is flawed, and a nationwide vote could be the rectification that US democracy needs. The nationwide vote would likely increase voter turnout in America because it will result in greater competition and impact, encouraging people to vote. This is supported by the fact that "turnout in competitive states is usually higher than in the rest of the country"[^2^]. The higher turnout in the swing states is because of the national focus …show more content…
This process was designed by the founding fathers of the United States, and it involves electors meeting in December to vote for the President and Vice President in separate ballots. Alexander Hamilton favored this method, as he believed that a "small number of persons… will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations" [1]. According to Hamilton's vision, if the electors can determine that the candidate the state has voted for is unqualified to hold the office. They can set aside the votes of the state and vote according to the state’s own will and justifications. Hamilton believed this would have safeguards against “evil was not least to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate, who was to have so important an agency in the administration of the government as the President of the United States” U. This has resulted in the "faithless electors," which has occurred in the United States many times in past elections, as recently as 2016 when 7 electors did not vote for the state candidate. However, this original way of appointing electors goes against the core values of true democracy. Hamilton believed that the people were not educated in politics and were not able to select their preferred candidate without the
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.
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.
“There is a huge payday if you win 51%+ of the vote, and no benefit if you don’t” (“Problems with US Elections: Winner-takes-all Electoral System”). Candidates who do not win in a state get nothing if they do not manage to win the majority. By ignoring most of the population’s votes, the electoral college fails to accurately represent the will of the nation as a whole. By doing this, the electoral college further discourages people from voting. The over-complicated process makes voters feel as if their votes do not actually matter or make a difference.
The people in each State has slowly been given a voice in selecting who they want for each State. Because of the popular vote, we loses our voice in governing. Each state, big or small, should have their choice and let their voice be
When the Democratic System in America was founded in 1787, it was built on the sturdy ideals of equality and fairness. The founding fathers of the constitutional convention developed the Electoral college system with the best interests of the American people in mind, as the average person was highly under-educated and they did not trust them to make a decision as important as the But over time as society and even our democracy has changed, it has become ridden with flaws and corruption especially in the electoral college and voting system. The effects of the Electoral College’s inefficiencies oppose the very ideas our democracy was built off of. Because of the over-representation of small states, the broken promises of political equality, and
Many great presidents were elected through the Electoral College such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Though it may not always be ideal, everyone knows the rules which makes the complex process simpler. It also promotes the building of coalitions, as support from a broad basis is needed, which allows political parties to compromise. Coalitions would increase decisions made and more would get done which would support the general election and even the needs of households at local levels. (Gaille)
The electoral college is an institution that can be found deeply rooted in the functionality of both the state and federal government. Due to this fact, calls for the abolition of the electoral college may cause for many changes to occur in these systems of government. In order to be able to decide whether or not we as a nation should update our electoral system, we must compare both the positive and negative effects that the abolition of the electoral college would have on these institutions. To start the paper, I would first bring to attention the history behind the winner-takes-all system and the intention of the states to move to this system. I would explain that the electoral college promises two electoral votes to every state, and how this disproportionately advantages smaller states.
As the mode in which electing a president needed to prevent the possibility of “cabal, intrigue, and corruption”, stated by Alexander Hamilton, and thus the Electoral College was born. Our current system follows the regulations dictated by the US Constitution and 12th amendment: each state is assigned a number of votes based off said state’s population and whomever receives the majority of the votes wins that year's election. The system was crafted in attempts to make sure bigger states did not hold an absurd amount of power over smaller states; it was crafted to serve the republic. The political and socio-economical climate is completely different than the one in which the Electoral College was created in. In fact, the original design was “supposed to work without political parties and without national campaigns”, giving more choice to the public.
The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. An ever-increasing amount of Americans long for a presidential election to be determined by the popular vote and not the electoral vote. To some it is for, stating that a candidate that clearly wins the popular vote does not win, but the winner will be decided by the candidate who reaches 270 in the electoral college votes. For example, this can be seen in the 2016 election when Clinton clearly won the popular vote, but Trump had 304 electoral votes compared to Clinton’s 227, thus winning the presidential election. I know how the president is chosen, and I believe that the set up of the electoral college is no longer
Every state or even region was likely to nominate their own candidate and it made the founding fathers were afraid that the people may accidently elect a person that they didn't really know much about and that was unsuitable for office. Though it is explained in McCollister essay, that without the electoral college it could mean that “would be destroy the two-party system” which wasn’t the “intention of the Founding Fathers, but is just the consequence of the electoral college”. Without modern technology, it would make it hard for the people to really know who they had voted for. This is somewhat not true anymore, there are possibly candidates that people don't know much about but since the advent of radio, television, and now even the internet people are much more well informed than they were in the 1700's. If you don't know what you need to know about a candidate or what he/she stands for then it’s easy to come by that information.
However, the best way to elect a president is through the Electoral College process. This is because the Electoral College has continued to produce a president, it is fair most of the time, and other methods aren’t as good. First, it has worked for a long time. Hamilton does a wonderful job of explaining the pros of the electoral college.
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
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 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