Electoral College Argumentative

The Electoral College Since the founding of our country, the Electoral College system has been used to determine our President. Established by the founding fathers in the constitution as a compromise between the election of the President through congress and through the popular vote, the Electoral College has become a point of contention for many people across the U.S. This system designates a number of electoral votes per state, and a majority of 270 out of 538 votes are needed to be elected (U.S. Electoral College). As of 2016, only 41% of adults in the United States feel the Electoral College should remain in use (Dutton). A CBS news article stated “By 54 percent to 41 percent, more Americans favor amending the Constitution to elect the

The system allows for the voices of the people to be heard through the popular vote and have elected officials make educated decisions based on the opinions of the nation’s citizens. However, the way the Electoral college is set up makes it possible for a candidate to be elected president without the majority of the popular vote (U.S. Electoral College). The combination of the controversial nature of the College and the differing opinions of U.S. citizens leads to a question being asked: Is the Electoral College damaging to the democratic system in United States, or is it a pivotal extension of our democracy? While some U.S. citizens feel that the Electoral College should be abolished, there are those who feel the system plays a key role in our Presidential election. The main argument of those who favor using the Electoral College is that the system was established by the founding fathers in order to safeguard against uninformed voters by putting the final decision in the hands of electors (The Electoral College). By giving electors the final say, many feel as though the final decision is being made by those

The argument of those who believe this way has many components. First, the Electoral College is felt to be an outdated system which is no longer necessary for our elections (The Electoral College). Opponents of the College admit that yes, at one point in time, the Electoral College was a necessary component in electing the President of the Union. However, technology has made it so that the information necessary to make informed decisions about voting is available to the majority of voters (The Electoral College). Voters today are more informed than they were back when the constitution was written and, because of that, placing the final vote in the hands of electors rather than the people is unnecessary. Another main issue opponents have is the matter of swing states. Due to the fact that the main political parties can count on securing the electoral votes from certain states due to political ties, the main campaign focus turns to “battleground” states such as Florida where the outcome of the popular vote is unsure, therefore becoming a swing state (The Electoral College). Because of these swing states, some states are deemed more important than others during the election and, because of this, gain more political power. The final main concern of opponents of the Electoral College is the possibility of a minority President being elected.