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Dbq Essay On The Electoral College

693 Words3 Pages

Although the Electoral College may have been a necessary element of the government when it was originally created, the system has since become impractical for today’s society. The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. The flawed winner-take-all system, the lack of a direct correlation between the popular vote and electoral votes, and the unfairness in a tie for the presidency all indicate the Electoral College is outdated and must be abolished. In the current electoral system, the slightest majority in a particular state means all of the votes in that state are given to the candidate that wins the majority. All of the other votes in the state for the …show more content…

The percentage of the popular vote does not always necessarily correlate to a similar percentage in electoral votes. For example, in the 1980 presidential race between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, Reagan won 50.7% of the popular vote. However, Reagan won 91% of the total electoral votes. Carter, who had won 41% of the popular vote had only 9% of the electoral votes (Doc B). Although this example is more hyperbolic than most races, it illustrates the point that electoral votes do not always reflect what is shown in the popular vote. Some states, particularly ones with smaller populations, are given more electoral votes than their population should denote due to their automatic extra two senatorial votes. The twelve smallest states and Washington D.C. combine for 44 electoral votes with only 12.5 million votes. The states of Illinois has a total of 12.8 million people, but only has 20 electoral votes, less than half of the electoral votes the small states possess (Doc D). The lack of correlation shown in this example epitomizes the issues the Electoral College …show more content…

In such a situation, the House of Representatives are responsible for breaking the tie, with each state only receiving a single vote despite how many representatives that state has in Congress. This means that Wyoming, a state with only 500,000 people, will have the same say in a tie as California, a state that represents over 35 million voters (Doc F). This inclusion in the college contradicts the very essence of democracy as the will of the people is not truly being expressed. Although a tie rarely happens in the Electoral College, the possibility of one occurring with such a flawed and weak system further proves that the Electoral College is not a system that should be in place any

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