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How To Win The Electoral College Essay

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When the candidates are running to be president, there are two systems of voting, the popularity vote and the Electoral College vote. The popularity vote is when the people vote, and choose which candidate they want for president, and then the people who run the polls look at the amount of votes each candidate gets. Which ever candidate gets the most votes in that state, normally gets all of that state 's Electoral votes. When it 's over they count up how may Electoral votes each candidate got.
Each state has a different amount of Electoral votes based off of population with s state such as Texas having 38 votes, while one like Vermont has three, and at least 270 Electoral votes are needed for a candidate to become president. Swing states are also major factors in an election, with what ever candidate winning them normally wining. These make it possible for a candidate to have won more states, but not a lot of Electoral votes and for a candidate to win the popular vote, but not the Electoral College. One incident of this was when in 2000 when Al Gore had received more popular votes while George Bush had the most electoral votes, and became president. Incidents like this have led people to be split on the usefulness of the Electoral College.
The people who are …show more content…

On the other side with the defenders of the Electoral College they believe that the Electoral College system is more fair. "In Defense of the Electoral College" states that it provides a certainty of outcome in that "if the difference of the popular vote is small, then if the winner of the popular vote were deemed winner of the presidential election, candidates would have an insensitive to seek a recount in any state." They also state that swing states are important because "they are likely to be the most thoughtful voters" "and the most thoughtful voters should be the ones to decide the elections" giving their votes importance. They also say that it avoids having no candidate winning a

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The Electoral College is a system that was established in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. It is a system that is used to elect the next President of the United States. The number of electors are based on the number of seats a state holds in the Senate and the House of Representatives. So, when a voter places his ballot. It cast a vow for the elector of that state to vote towards that voted candidate (1).

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An example of this occurring is from the most recent which was the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Furthermore, there are pros and cons for the Electoral College. Some arguments for the Electoral College is it would allow cohesiveness throughout the country since it requires a distribution of popular support for the elected president. As well as, it helps enhance the status of minority interests, helps encourage having a two-party system and maintains a federal system of government and representation.

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The opposers of the Electoral College would argue that because of the “winner-takes-all” nature of these states, “candidates don't spend time in states they know they have no chance of winning, focusing only on the tight races in the ‘swing’ states,” in the words of Bradford Plumer from Source 2. Though this can be true, people fail to realize that those swing states are toss-ups in the presidential election because they feature differing interests and a wide array of voters that candidates must appeal to to succeed. Because the Electoral College gives votes to smaller and bigger states, it also guarantees that less populous states still have a say in who runs our country. And while they do have fewer votes than the larger states with millions of more overall voters, this system prevents the smaller regions from being completely unrepresented. It also ensures that candidates campaign around the country, not just in the few big states with substantial populations, since no singular area of the United States has enough votes to win the election for a nominee, as described in Source

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The Electoral College system, written in the U.S. Constitution, holds each state entitled to some of its electors according to its representation in Congress. According to Fortier, the number of electors is similar to that of the congressional representation for the states (Fortier, p. 6). On the day of the election, the voters do not directly vote for the national presidential candidates but rather vote for an elector pledged to a particular candidate. Suppose the person who is a major popular vote in a state wins. In that case, all of that state's electoral votes are planned to go to the EM, except Maine and Nebraska, where the electors are allocated proportionately.

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This problem was corrected by the 12th amendment, ratified in 1804. Now today the winner takes all system in effect in 48 states makes it possible for candidates to win at least 270 electoral votes without winning a majority of the popular vote. Today a candidate who carries the 10 largest states wins 256 electoral votes. But the Electoral College can also help small states. Most people want to abolish the Electoral College.

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The electoral college keeps the federal system of government. Our founding fathers spent hours debating and creating our current system of government and election systems. The federal system has lasted america hundreds of years without fail. Many say current government officials should not mess with a seemingly flawless system. The current election systems ensures the people have a say in who is elected president but do not hold all of the power.

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Along with keeping balance between the states, the Electoral College also helps keep independent parties under

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this could lead to the House of Representatives choosing a president that is only liked by a small population and this cannot easily be undone. Swing states are the only thing that can cause or prevent a tie in elections, and a tie has almost occured in 1976 in Hawaii and in 1968 in Ohio. Those in favor of the electoral college argue that because candidates will focus on swing states in order to win voters in those states will pay closer attention to the election and make a more educated decision (Richard A. Posner 20). However, this is not necessarily the case, and there are plenty of other well-educated voters in other states who have opinions that will never be counted because of the electoral college. If the popular vote becomes the new method in choosing the president, voters all across the nation will pay more attention to elections because they feel that their vote can make a difference, and it will.

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The Framers of the United States Constitution incorporated a number of significant features. Examples of significant features include the Electoral College, and the Roles of the President. Both of these features were incorporated into the United States Constitution and still have an importance today. The Electoral College is a feature incorporated within the U.S. Constitution and it’s mentioned in Article II of the Constitution. The electoral college consists of 538 electors but only 270 electoral votes are needed to become President.

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Electoral college has been with us since the birth of the constitution, and to this day we are still using this type of system to this day. The Electoral College is a system that the United States uses to elect our upcoming presidents and vice presidents. Each state has electors equal to their senate member and house of representatives, however who ever gets the highest popular vote in the state gets the electoral vote. The issue is the Electoral College do not give votes to the people, but to the states. Which has some unfair consequences.

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Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to voting for president, the United States runs on an indirect democracy. This means that we do not directly choose our president; the electoral college is rather an example of federalism, both the Feds and the States are involved in the process. It is a collection of 538 votes that determine who the President will be: 100 senators, 2 per state, and 438 representatives, distributed by the population. These 538 votes in the Electoral College are divided among the states. Each state, no matter how populous or not, starts off with three votes.

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The electoral college also helps the small states have an opinion that actually is heard in the presidential election. In class, it was discussed that Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota together, though their combined population is less than that of Oklahoma, each of those states has three electoral votes, whereas Oklahoma just has seven votes. Going by electoral votes, a candidate would have a better chance at winning the election if they won over Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota versus Oklahoma. With the electoral college, a candidate could win over all thirty-nine small states and win the entire election. Though the candidate could be supported by less than a quarter of the population,

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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

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First, with the specifications of the electoral college there only needs to be 270 electoral votes to a person for them to win. With this rule only 12 states need to be won CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, OH, MI, GA, NC, and NJ(DOC A) and this is only a part of the overall population of America. While

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The Electoral College system the founding fathers devised helps to balance out the power of the large, populous states. This system forces candidates to campaign in all states since they all carry some sway in the elections (“Understanding the Presidential Election”). However, other issues present themselves as well, like states with large independent voters that can be swayed and the issue that a candidate can lose the popular vote and win the election. The first issue is that states that are equally divided between democrats and republicans and hold a large number of electoral votes like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania are considered swing states. (“Understanding the Presidential Election”)

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