Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College

The abolishment of the Electoral College has been, and will continue to be, a subject that has been debated and argued upon for many years. This question becomes apparent after the countless arguments that the Electoral College is nothing but an unnecessary hassle that undermines our democratic values. Although that might be the primary argument, the big picture involves much more. These include, first, the possibility that this system is antiquated and the idea that the Electoral College was something that the founding fathers agreed upon because, “they were tired, impatient, and frustrated” so, “they cobbled together this plan because they couldn’t agree on anything else” (Roos). Questions like “Does the majority really decide?” and “Do all

Let’s start with the historical evidence that the Electoral College has come close to extinction on previous occasions and that this concept has been spoken about before and clearly for a reason. The proposal to abolish the Electoral College in 1970 was sparked by the chaotic 1969 election, and it should be noted that this plan came the closest to being fully carried out. Independent candidate George Wallace managed to obtain 46 electoral college votes, bringing about concern over the thought of contingent elections and the possibility of bartering electoral votes in exchange for political favors. Many agreed with these concerns as well and the dismantling of the Electoral College was granted very popular within the House with the passing of 338-70. Yet with a filibuster, it failed to pass in the Senate (“Past Attempts at Reform”). Though this time it may have failed, it continues to come up in the House and the Senate for a reason. With more concerns and questions coming to the surface, it’s a question of when will there be that last shove to decide on a nationwide vote

This is due mostly to the fact that all states, besides Maine and Nebraska, follow the winner-take-all policy. This policy states that the person with the most votes wins all of the electors of that state. This may sound fair to some, but in the large aspect of it, with some states holding large numbers of the electoral college votes, this concept springs the idea of, “wasted votes”, a loss of voice in the minorities of these states, and a result in decreased voting turnout due to the fact of limited choice and little sway in the outcome of an election (“Winner-take-all”). People have the right to doubt the facts given the way the Electoral College operates, and they frequently wonder why their vote matters. State voting powers are disproportionately increased by the Electoral College. For instance, the weight of each vote in Wyoming is about four times more than that of each individual vote in Texas. This is because Texas, with a population of over 25 million, has 32 electoral votes, whereas Wyoming, with a population of 532,668, has 3 electoral