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Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College

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The New York Times defines The Electoral College as “a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States” (Bromwich 2016). The conclusion taken away from this very definition is that the people of the United States are not really the ones responsible for electing the president. This is often a misconception of the election process. Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. Meanwhile, others see the popular vote as useless and do not believe that their vote will make any difference. The debate of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has …show more content…

Instead of abolishing the Electoral Vote, it introduces the idea of abolishing the popular vote. Eric Boehm states in his article, “Yes, get rid of the popular vote. For all the money, time, and attention paid to the presidential race, the actual votes cast on Election Day are basically meaningless.” Boehm believes that the vote of the people has no direct influence on which candidate ultimately chosen for president. This Article eludes to the idea that popular vote is an illusion set by the government to make a person believe that they are voting for the president when in reality, their vote does not have any influence on who will win the election. Therefore, the stance of Boehm is that the government should get rid of the ‘popular vote’ process completely, instead of making any changes to the Electoral …show more content…

Tyler Lewis says that one of the problems with the Electoral College is “The distribution of Electoral College votes per state is not equally dispersed.” Lewis is saying that the “playing field” is not equal when it comes to the vote. “It made the value of each citizens vote different from that of someone living in another state” (Lewis). States with a smaller population get more votes per person than a state with a larger population would. The article also addresses the fact that a presidential candidate can win the overall election even though they did not win the popular vote. This validates that with the Electoral College in place, an individual’s opinion holds little to no

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1603 Words | 7 Pages

Benjamin Bolinger, the author of, “Point: Abolishing the Electoral College,” believes that America was founded on the idea of majority rule. He asserts that the Electoral College defies these ideals through the winner-take-all system, which has allowed candidates to lose the popular vote but still earn a ticket to the white house. The author believes that the President should be chosen the same way as every other elected official, by a popular vote. In a popular vote, the majority would rule and every person’s voice would matter (179). In addition, the author points out that America was also founded on the phrase, “no taxation without representation,” and yet four million United States citizens are excluded entirely from voting in the election.

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1953 Words | 8 Pages

Based on the pie charts, the reader is shown that presidents that did win the popular vote, did not win by that large of a margin the Independent candidate and other major-party candidate split the votes. The Electoral College only shows a larger win ratio. Abolishing the electoral college would “...encourage single-issue ideologues and eccentric millionaires to just into presidential contests” (Document E). Although these people tend to run anyways, the electoral college is a way to ensure that the people with no political background or people that do not qualify as president will not win. The Electoral College was originally built for a world that did not have mass media and a way for people among the U.S. to communicate, but presently, the Electoral College serves as a way to ensure

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801 Words | 4 Pages

In its favor, one may argue that it supports smaller states, creates more stability within the election due to the two-party system, and prevents the chances of recounting votes. However, the Electoral College is also believed to be “complicated” by cause of its unique representative system, persuade candidates into giving more attention to the smaller states, and be a magnet for faithless Electors, or Electors who decide to not vote for their party’s candidate (Veracity

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

The existence of the Electoral College has remained a source of debate for the population of the United States for centuries. Despite the evident discontent surrounding it, the United States is largely unaware of the disconnect between citizens’ voices and the Presidency. It can be said that popular sovereignty, no matter how pleasant a concept, has become little more than an illusion the people cling to. In short, the Electoral College is an institution that must be abolished, because it violates political equality, is unfair to third party candidates, and is not an accurate representation of the people’s votes.

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1344 Words | 6 Pages

Do We Need the Electoral College? Following the 2016 election many individuals we shocked to find Donald Trump had won the Presidency while not having the popular vote. They were unaware of how the electoral college works and how the president is actually elected through the electoral college rather than the popular vote. But, before we find out if we need the electoral college, we must look into why it was created, and look at the pros and cons of the electoral college as well as the pros and cons of the proposed system to replace it.

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This is where opponents of the College find fault. The prime example is a comparison of Alaska, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North and South Dakota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming to the single state of Illinois. These twelve states and the district account for forty-four electoral votes, and 12,500,000 people live there. Illinois, with a population of 12,830,000, only gets twenty electoral votes (Document D). Here, it seems as if the 12,500,000 people of the District and the twelve states are essentially getting over double the representation than the people of Illinois.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

According to the National Archives, the Electoral College is, “...a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.'' The Electoral College was created in the late 1700’s, and was used as a buffer between the voting population and the official selection of the president. For the founding fathers, this solved a wide array of problems: the possible risk of leaving the power of choosing who the leader of the country to ill -informed voters, unequal representation and distribution of votes between the North and South of the U.S., and supported the idea of separation between powers in the government. In this country, it has been believed that the government has been built off of popular sovereignty, the theory that the government is created by and is subject to the will of its citizens. But how is this concept valid when the people of the United States don’t directly vote and decide who will govern them?

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There is no law stating that electoral have to choose what they want in 49 of the 50 states, the one being Massichuties who choses the natioal popular voter winner. With all these problems a question is always raised should the electoral stay with us or be abolished. The Electoral College needs to be abolished because the

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Several years after the United States came to be, the Constitutional Convention met to determine how the new nation should govern itself. The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. The delegates believed that the president’s power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the electing of the president and vice president. Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nation’s principle of representative democracy, while others

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1308 Words | 6 Pages

Primarily, the Electoral College promotes a racial bias and gives more electoral weight to the Southern Republican states. Moreover, the popular vote system would enable third-party candidates to have a higher probability of becoming the president. However, several misguided Americans believe that the popular vote would not protect small states, but small states actually become ignored during presidential campaigns. Hence, the federal government’s elimination of the Electoral College would strengthen the representative government and the chances of third-party candidates, giving states and American citizens the power to choose their president as they

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423 Words | 2 Pages

I really enjoyed this video because ever since I grasped the idea of the Electoral College I have disagreed with it. However, I never really did any research revolving what goes on behind closed doors. The premises most definitely lead to the conclusion without any additional points. We see that the Electoral College ruins democracy because citizens of smaller states have a louder, more important voice than their larger neighboring states. This means that the votes of the larger states will, in a sense, be ignored also like the wants, and needs of people in set states.

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685 Words | 3 Pages

Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. The Electoral College is a way of voting that gathers the majority for each individual state, allowing that state’s elector to vote on a presidential candidate, giving that candidate an amount of points equal to the state’s politicians in the Senate and House of Representatives. Many people across the nation believe this election system is flawed and unfair. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of.

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

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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837 Words | 4 Pages

All through the history of the United States of America, many people have discussed the abolishment of the Electoral College. For many reasons, some believe it is what makes our country have the type of government we have, some believe that it's what limits the power of the government, and many people such as Mitch McConnell believes it is what gives us our freedom and prosperity. While these are valid arguments there is a multitude of reasons to why the electoral college should be abolished. Such as there is only a need for twelve states in order to become the president, popular vote of the people for president can still lose, and the Swing states are given too much power and attention compared to that of the other states. This is why I believe in the abolishment of the Electoral College.

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1641 Words | 7 Pages

The Electoral College is the system used to elect a new President in the United States where there are a set of electors for each state that represent the state’s number of members in its Congressional delegation. Each state is allowed to decide their own method of choosing their electors within each state’s constitution. There is a total of 538 electors and to win, the President elect needs to win 275 elector votes. After the election in November, the chosen electors then meet in December to cast their final vote on who will be the President. This was established in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers in 1787.

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