Pros And Cons Of Keeping The Electoral College

Emma Williams
American Government 1A
Mr. Baker
2 March 2023
The Positives of the Electoral College
Once a teenager turns eighteen, they have the privilege to practice their right of voting for their local and federal government officials. Unlike voting for their mayor or House Representatives, the Presidential elections require the Electoral College. Established in Article II of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers decided the best way to elect the President was by both using congressional powers and equal representation. To explain, each state automatically gets two votes representing their Senators, then depending on the number of Representatives in the state, the number of Electoral votes a state gets are decided. Usually, when voting

In the case of close voting results between two candidates, the Electoral College prohibits the recounting for the entire nation, all the while, still allowing states to recount if necessary. This will overall reduce legal challenges and the chaos of electing a new president. In Seymour Spilerman’s article, “The Case for Keeping the Electoral College”, he refers to the close election between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 to further explain the positive solutions provided through the Electoral College. Spilerman shares, “Had the president been determined by the national popular vote, a nationwide recount would have been likely, requiring tabulation of the 101 million votes cast in the country, along with a consideration of the rejects,” (Spilerman). If the election were based on the population vote, it would have created more turmoil for the electorates and the candidates. Monitoring election problems will overall reduce the cost of presidential elections by limiting ballot locations and campaigns. The election between close candidates can be more efficiently solved with the enactment of the Electoral

One of the United States’ fundamental beliefs is the idea that fair taxation with equal representation. Author of, “5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Electoral College”, Louise Gaille, elaborates, “In national representation, each state and population district receives equal representation, in either the house or the senate, and that allows individual voters to still have a say in what happens” (Gaille). The Electoral College was built on compromises the Founding Fathers made to ensure the equal ability for everyone to impact the decisions made in the country. Without national representation, states with smaller populations won’t have their votes as considered as the votes from larger states. For example, although Wyoming makes up about .18% of the population, they still control .56% of all electoral votes. If the electoral process aligned with the US population, then Wyoming would have only .18% of the 536 votes (usafacts.org). Based on the early compromises the Founding Fathers enacted, national representation still helps states that have smaller populations compared to the other states. Overall, the electoral college helped establish the US’s values of national representation in the voting