Phones have been ringing during dinner, heated debates have been starting in the lunchroom, and new politician masks are available for Halloween. What does this mean? It’s election time and everyone wants to know who you are voting for. However, does your vote actually count? Today we delve deep into the archaic system that is the electoral college and evaluate this for ourselves. By looking at facts regarding swing states, an imbalance of votes, and our representatives, the answer should become clear.
Swing states are what keeps people on the edge of their seat come election time. Thanks to the winner-take-all method many states have adopted, the entire election can be determined by a handful of states. Also known as key battleground states, they hold the most power come election time and everyone knows it -- especially presidential candidates. As recent as the 2008 election, running candidates Obama and Romney spent 55% of their campaign funds on ads for Ohio, Florida, and Virginia (fairvote.org). This leads to non-swing
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If neither candidate has a majority of the electoral votes, then our House of Representatives votes for our next president. There is a way to exploit this part of the system. Each state is split into a certain number of congressional districts; one for every house member they have. These districts are supposed to be drawn in a way that allows each district to have an equal number of people. However, gerrymandering happens when one party draws these lines in a way that favors their group. For example, in the year 2010, House representatives only won 49% of the popular vote. They ended up walking away with 72% of the house seats (Prokop). If an election through the House of Representatives had to take place, and there was already some gerrymandering involved, then the presidential election would have been