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Pros And Cons Of Abolishing The Electoral College

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Abrogate the Electoral College immediately. The Electoral College is a formal body of 538 electors who determine the President and Vice President of the United States of America. The system was established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution for the reason of keeping a balance between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote of citizenry. Copious amounts of controversy have been surrounding the subject ever since its date of inauguration. The Electoral College should be abolished because it does not serve democracy, the presidential outcome is able to be altered by just the Electoral College–not the majority–and an appreciable amount of the U.S. population believes the Electoral College should be terminated. The Electoral College does not accurately align with the ways of a Democratic society. The idea of ‘Democracy’ was different when the Constitution was created and as an ever-changing country, we must establish laws that fit our time period and put an end to the ones that don’t. Presidents being elected despite losing the popular vote goes against the definition of democracy according to Oxford Languages, “Control …show more content…

While completely disregarding the majority’s votes, the president and vice president can single handedly be decided by the Electoral College. As a result, the only purpose of having a voting system in place for ordinary citizens is to make them feel as if they have a significant impact on decisions for the country. According to the Pew Research Center, 15 former U.S. presidents were all elected on the independent strength of the Electoral College. It’s relatively straightforward enough to overturn the entire presidential outcome with a single electoral college vote, as demonstrated in 1876: “Rutherford B. Hayes wins the presidential election by one electoral vote. He loses the popular vote to Samuel Tilden,”(SIRS Timelines

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Did you know that in two out of the last five U.S. presidential elections, the candidate who won the popular vote did not win the presidency? Now, to explore the question, Should We Abolish the Electoral College? The very system that defies the will of the majority. This question is often being thought about as the Electoral College has what some may argue advantages and perks, but it does have its downsides and what some may argue flaws. We will be exploring on why the current Electoral College should be left alone, as it does not allow the majority to always get their way, it ensures that all parts of a country is involved in the election and that candidates will serve the entire country, and lastly, the Electoral College creates a compromise between popular vote and congressional choice.

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In November of 2012, Donald Trump would tweet arguably one of the most ironically true statements he has ever articulated: “The electoral college is a disaster for democracy!” Although he didn’t know it then, Donald Trump’s position on the Electoral College would soon change. Following election day in November of 2016, Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States despite losing the general election to Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes. He did, however, win the Electoral College by 74 votes; winning with a system he had once looked at with disdain. Trump’s presidential victory has reignited debate over whether the country should continue to utilize the Electoral College. This vexing system is not an easy one to change and erasing it completely from our political system has complex and serious consequences.

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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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“The system would allow majorities to rule, but only while they were reasonable, broad-based, and not tyrannical”( Tara Ross "The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy" 2004). Historically speaking, the forefathers intended for the Electoral College to protect democracy in the U.S and for the most part, it has done a nice job, socially, people really only want to change it when it leads to a result that they don't agree with, for example, this past election. The Electoral College doesn't, or in better words can't protect democracy if people don't get out and vote, Gregory Wallace of CNN reports that “55% of voting age citizens cast ballots this year… the lowest turnout since 1996”. The opponents of the Electoral College instead of talking about of how it doesn't work need to take a step back and consider, how can the Electoral College work if people don't get out and vote, something that they need to solve in the

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The Electoral College allows the United States to vote for the President and Vice President. Instead of being voted directly by the people, each state selects electors to vote for the President (Lau). The system has been in place since the country's founding and has been the subject of much debate over the years. While some

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Electoral College: For the Lose One view to consider that when voting for a president through the electoral college , voters are confused about the election process no more than they are unprepared of the consequences they ace of their votes not being counted. Voting by popular vote when electing a president is the best choice contrary to the electoral college; in favor of defying the people. Americans vote in order to elect a president of their preference to run our country. Voting by popular vote surpasses the whole electoral process by giving the people not just what they want, but what Americans need. Direct election of presidents remains solid as opposed to the “faithless” electoral college.

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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?”

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Does your vote really matter? In our complicated election, will your vote matter ever really matter. The Electoral College should be abolished, for its lack of representation of America’s votes. In our most recent election, the electoral college played a huge part in deciding who would be the leader of our country. Though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, due to the electoral college, what the majority of the people in our country did not matter and Donald Trump won through electoral votes.

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Democracy within our country has been questioned and tested through our voting system. In America, our system for electing our president has remained under a process that aims to benefit our nation. By doing this, America uses the Electoral College, in which may cause disputes about the process of electing our president. Overall, there are advantages and disadvantages within the concept of winner-take all system, representing our nation as a whole, and equality of our votes. The Electoral College can be reformed to establish a more democratic voting system in order to allow for the voices of American citizens to be heard.

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The electoral college system was invented a very long time ago. A lot of things have changed since then, the most obvious is the population of this country and the technology. The electoral college system should be abolished. There are many problems with the current electoral college system. Some of these problems are, everyone’s vote is not equal, people are discouraged to vote in certain states, and it would be a more accurate representation of how the American people want as the president.

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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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Even though there have been immediate reactions by the opponents of the Electoral College demanding its abolition , it is unlikely that such major change is about to happen. Looking back to history, it has been very difficult to get the necessary support in the Congress in order to try to change the traditional

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A question some people never understand considering that the first words of the constitution are “We The People”. The Electoral College has been going on, for as long the US government existed. A system where only a few people can actually decide who becomes the new leader of the nation, a historic system founded when the people of the country was originally considered incapable of deciding for themselves. While more than two centuries have passed and the average intelligence of a person already bolted up, the same historic ruling is still in play. It’s almost an

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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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The Electoral College is a system established by the United States Constitution to elect our country's President and Vice President. Although often viewed as one national election, it is a series of state elections. As originally designed, each state would choose a slate of electors that would then select the President and Vice President. This means that rather than voting directly for the President, people vote for certain electors who choose the President. This process has largely been sidelined and people today vote for a presidential candidate of a certain party rather than an elector.

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