ipl-logo

Pros And Cons Of The United States Voting System

1978 Words8 Pages

The problems of our voting system and why we need to fix them The collective ability of a population to vote for how they want their society to be run, is basically the definition of a “democracy”. However the principle that everyone should have an equal vote in United States hasn’t exactly been held up by the US’s voting system. For good part of the United States history everyone who lived in the country couldn’t vote! Women haven't even had the right to vote the last hundred years (only 96 years). There are some American citizens who still lack the right to vote just because of where they live. We historically have had the problem of low voter turnout. According to data from Professor Michael McDonald’s United States Elections Project, …show more content…

As long as a candidate gets just over 50% of the popular vote in a state they win all of that state's electoral votes. In other words winning by a million citizens votes is no different than winning by one vote. This is why candidates spend more time on states that have close races, otherwise, known as swing states. Another failing of the electoral college is how it gives out votes to the states. All states get three votes to start and the rest are given based on population. This gives states who should technically only have one or two votes based on population more voting power. How? Remember there are only 538 electoral votes so they have come from another state. In other words the Electoral College pretends fewer People live where they do, and less people live where they don't. Many people will argue this system is to make sure candidates pay attention to states with smaller populations. However this just isn’t true. The electoral College forces them to go to states with close races in order to win. There’s no point for a candidate to visit a state where they’re way behind or comfortably ahead due to the electoral college. The system of the Electoral college is problematic, as it can lead to elections where most of the country votes for one candidate, but the other one wins by electoral votes, a situation that has occurred Four times in the last 58 elections. That basically means that, on average, every 56 years, we can expect the loser to become president, which last happened this past

Show More
Related
564 Words | 3 Pages

However, many states make a requirement for the electors to vote for the candidate with the most votes of that state. The Electoral College was originally created to prevent the people of the United States from having too much power. Mainly because the creators of the Constitution, were very wary of any one group acquiring too much power. Also, at the time of the creation of the Constitution, it was almost impossible for citizens to be able to go and cast

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

A single citizen’s vote really does not matter. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. The Electoral College is used as a compromise between the election of a President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote by the people. The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. The Electoral College should not be changed or abolished, but kept the same.

Read More
749 Words | 3 Pages

Giving back the power of the people will solve many debating issues in the election system. Take away the majority and give back the power to the individual

Read More
1100 Words | 5 Pages

The distribution of electoral votes acts as though less people live where they do, and more people live where they don’t, meaning that in the vast majority of states citizens are either over- or underrepresented (Document A). By beginning to distribute electoral votes based on Congressional representatives, the Electoral College gives an unfair advantage in voting power to citizens of smaller states, and reduces the voting power held by larger states. In short, the Electoral College essentially deems that some residents are worth more than others. The elections of 1980 and 1992 must once again be taken into consideration as, between them, 25,463,258 votes, cast by citizens of the United States, were completely dismissed by the Electoral College (Document B). While neither of the candidates would have won, the fact that the votes of citizens can be so blatantly ignored is troubling.

Read More
1570 Words | 7 Pages

They would ignore the less populated areas in between. They also argue that it would be dangerous and unnecessary to replace a system that has functioned for over 200 years. Proponents of the Electoral College system defend it because they believe that the Electoral College contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be President, enhances the status of minority interests, contributes to the political stability of the nation, and maintains a federal system of government. Proponents say that the voters of even small miniorties in a State may make the difference between winning all of the State’s electoral votes or none of the State’s electoral votes. They argue that the original design of the federal system was thought out and wisely debated.

Read More
1784 Words | 8 Pages

The Electoral College’s opponents believe that it is an unfair way of doing things because it doesn’t necessarily make every vote count, but they may not realize that it lets every state have a say. The candidate with an absolute majority in each state receives the elector’s votes, therefore it really boils down to a popular election just on a state by state basis, rather than a national one. “The proposals to abolish the Electoral College are proposals to abolish the Federal principle in presidential elections”(Best). The Electoral College has history on it’s side, the system they use really works, it is the best option we have, and it needs to be

Read More
1572 Words | 7 Pages

However, the journey towards electoral reform is not without its challenges and complexities. It requires careful consideration, informed debate, and a collective commitment to advancing democratic

Read More
1031 Words | 5 Pages

In an era where people worldwide are gaining their right to vote, the citizen in the United States of America does not seem to view voting as an essential tool to make democracy work. The U.S is considered a world power where its ideology of democracy is an example worldwide. That’s ironic because there are a lot of people like African-Americans and Hispanics who are the ones that have a low voter turnout during elections. The idea of democracy is a delusion lived by American citizens who have fought for progression in democracy but now has resulted in a lack of faith in our democratic system. We are jeopardizing the idea of democracy each election, due to a lack of interest in voting.

Read More
3583 Words | 15 Pages

Owen Barnes Professor Raynaldo Composition and Rhetoric 1302 22 April 2024 An Electoral Reform in the United States: The Benefits of Ranked Choice Voting and Multi-Member Districts The Voting System of the United States should be revamped because the currently used electoral systems are flawed and biased. Although the Simple Majority Voting System and Single-Member districts - which are the current electoral systems being used in the United States - do harbor strengths that in some ways make them better than the Ranked Choice Voting System, these small advantages pale in comparison to the many drawbacks. Even though it is true that there does not exist a single electoral system or combination of electoral systems that are perfect in every, or even in a single, way.

Read More
3434 Words | 14 Pages

In conclusion, electoral reform is needed in the United States, as

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.

Read More
1021 Words | 5 Pages

An examination of the voter turnout percentages of the U.S. presidential election demonstrates how the voter percentage was once around 80%, but has dropped to around 60% within the last century. (Appendix A). An examination of voter turnout by age demonstrates how the younger an individual is, the less likely they are to vote (Appendix B). According to the Center for Voting and Democracy, the voter turnout rate are affected by four main factors: demographics, voting laws, election types, and electoral representatives. Demographics is the most important.

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

  In other words, under the Electoral College, Americans, technically, do not vote directly for the president.   By analyzing the nature of the modern American electoral system, this short essay will discuss how the complicated and sometimes confusing process of the United States voting system have failed

Read More
684 Words | 3 Pages

In spite of this, almost all of the opinions share a common thread. The thread is the belief that changes should be made to the system to ensure fair elections. In this essay we will look at some of the most prominent experts on this subject and what changes they proposed. The issue of gerrymandering is a plague. It’s also a plague some think

Read More
634 Words | 3 Pages

Fourthly, the frequency and number of elections in the US has been indicated to be twice as much compared to many western countries. With the various separate elections in multiple levels, voters may choose to skip some of them and participate in others (McDonald, 2011). Finally, the development of democracy and level of civic education have affected the number of people who cast votes (Ezrow & Xezonakis, 2014). It is prudent to postulate that some individuals lack the feeling that their individual votes can change outcomes in the elections and they therefore do not vote. The recommendations to increase the voter turn-out, the registration process should be streamlined.

Read More

More about Pros And Cons Of The United States Voting System

Open Document