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Electoral College Pros And Cons

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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 …show more content…

Ideas that included making Congress the determining factor, having the state legislatures decide or having the popular vote directly determine who will become president. Ultimately these were voted against due to the fact that they were worried that this would only lead to the president wanting to please and serve just the individuals who would put him in office. Another idea that was included was to have a “Committee of Eleven”, that would indirectly decide who would become president. Furthermore, this is a very similar process to that of the Roman Catholic Church chooses the next pope. The “two systems are very similar in design and have both the same advantages and disadvantages.” (Kimberling, 1992, Pg. 2) It was to allow for the most knowledgeable, educated men to decide who would be chosen for the presidency. In the first design of the electoral college in article 2, section 1 of the …show more content…

It was also during this time that through writings of the likes of Edmund Burke and James Madison. Due to the presidential election of 1800, it ultimately led to the bargaining of the presidency that the electoral college was supposed to prevent, it is because of this that the 12th amendment was added to the constitution of 1804. The 12th amendment specifies that each elector cast one vote for president and have a separate vote going towards the vice president. This would make it be the runner-up of the presidential election will not just become the vice president. The 12th amendment also states that if no candidate receives a majority of the votes the House of Representatives will be the ones to select the president from the top three candidates. The idea of the popular vote was not widely viewed as an alternative to the electoral college. Due to the fact that most of the country had not changed drastically, this is why I believe now we need to discuss a possible change to the process. (Kimberling, 1992, Pg.

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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.

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