Patricia Totman Briefly explain how the Electoral College works. Do the most "popular" votes always decide the presidency? Do you think the Electoral College is the best way to elect the president? Discuss some alternatives to it (based on your research). The Electoral College Many people believe that when they go to vote on Election Day that their vote is going directly towards their preferred presidential candidate. In actuality their votes are counting towards electors that are chosen by each state that pledge to vote for one of the perspective presidential candidates (Neale, 2012). When citizens go and vote, they are deciding which of the candidates receives their states electors. The electors in each state then vote to decide …show more content…
More populated states, like California, have more congressional representatives and less populated states have less. For instance, California has fifty-five and Alaska has three (Gallopade, 2012). The President and Vice-President are then elected after all 538 electoral votes are totaled in all of the states. It is the writers opinion that the Electoral College is flawed and therefore not the best way to elect the President and Vice-President. The principal of “One Person, One vote” becomes meaningless, when the people do not in actuality, have the power to elect their nations leaders. It is also the author of this papers opinion then the Electoral College was founded, there was not much interest in the people’s opinion. When the system was founded neither black, women, nor people who did not own property could vote (Jefferson-Jenkins, 2001). In this citizen’s opinion the Electoral College system is seemingly outdated for the following reasons. First, a candidate who loses the popular vote may still be voted in by the Electoral College. This has happened at least, four out of the fifty-six presidential elections (Black,