One Founding-Era Argument For The Electoral College

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Many may believe that the Electoral College is a place but it is a process that is taken by Congress. “The Electoral College was established by the Founding Fathers as a compromise in the Constitution between elections of the President by votes in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens” ("U. S. Electoral College, Official - What Is The Electoral College?" 2017). “There are 538 electors in the Electoral College because the number of electors is based on the number of members of Congress---435 in the House of Representatives., 100 in the Senate---plus 3 electors who represent the District of Columbia. A presidential candidate needs a simple majority of votes (270) to win” (Harrison, Harris and Deardorff). The Framers believed that implementing an Electoral College would help balance interests between the high-population and low-population states. “Opponents of the Electoral College believed that the system should be scrapped, stating that it was fundamentally flawed” (Stepman 2017). “One Founding-era argument for the Electoral College stemmed from the fact that ordinary Americans …show more content…

Constitution, the 12th Amendment states that, “the electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President” (Edwards 2017). Meaning that citizens who vote in their respective states, cast their votes and whichever candidate wins the most votes for that state, will have the designated electors for that state vote for the candidate that receives the most votes for that state. There are times when the electors decide to not vote for the candidate that their state voted for. Those electors are called Faithless Electors. They have the power to vote for other candidates and to help sway an Electoral College win from the candidate on top. However, the Electoral College ballots are then sent to Congress for final approval, where they must confirm the winning candidate for