With the 58th presidential election coming up at the end of the year, the topic of the electoral college might come up in any political conversation. The electoral college is a process that was implemented in the Constitution by our founding fathers to vote on who would be the President and the Vice-President. It was put in the Constitution because the founding fathers had feared that the general public would vote in a candidate who was either; not qualified for the position, or someone who would become corrupt. It is also a means to give power to the smaller states with a lower population. To put it in perspective, a state such as California might have millions of voters, while a small state like Kansas can’t reach a million; the state of …show more content…
You might be thinking to yourself “What do you mean they can vote however they want?” Yes, in 24 states, delegates that are chosen by popular vote legally do not have to vote for their party’s candidate. If the entirety of George voted for one candidate, the electoral delegate could vote for whoever he wanted. This leads to the question; in today’s age, do we need an electoral college to vote for us? Or is it a hindrance on our current view of democracy? Let us first look at its effect throughout our country’s history. In the year 1800, we see the importance of the 12th amendment come into play. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the rival opponents in this election. After all the electoral votes were tallied up, Thomas Jefferson and John Adam’s Vice President, Aaron burr, had the same amount. Obviously this is an issue; how can a presidential candidate and a vice presidential candidate compete for the same votes? The choice is deferred to the House of Representatives, with 10 states voting in favor of Jefferson, 4 for Burr, and leaving twos undecided. After this election, Congress made it into law that both the President electoral votes and the Vice President