ipl-logo

The Influence Of The Electoral College

184 Words1 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mass media and elections

“The Electoral College was created by the Founders because they did not trust people enough to allow them to directly elect the president.” Since the majority of the American people had limited education and communication, the founders felt the “average voter lacked the information to be an informed, unbiased judge of candidates for presidency.” Therefore when voters cast their ballot, the college reviews the peoples’ choices and then decides which of their preferences are best. (Lenz and Holman, 87) Many people feel that this system is undemocratic because they are not able to directly vote for their candidate and because the winner of the popular vote can lose the electoral vote. This happened in the 2000 presidential election between George
Show More
Related
181 Words | 1 Pages

The current system is undemocratic. The electorate does not officially elect the president, those who are apart of the electorate college elected the president. No other country holds their election in such a convoluted manner.” “Our nation witnessed the result of allowing the Electoral College to determine the

Read More
1594 Words | 7 Pages

In 1824 the election resulted in the presidency of John Quincy Adams as a result of the 12th Amendment. After the Federalist party disintegrated, this election was run solely by Democratic-Republicans. “Adams appointed Henry Clay as Secretary of State which resulted in charges of corrupt bargain” (Martin). Rutherford B. Hayes became president in 1876 after winning one of the most “controversial presidential elections known to date” (Martin). The Compromise of 1877 gave electoral votes to Hayes, marking the first presidential election in “20 years in which a Democratic candidate won majority of popular vote” (Martin).

Read More
1570 Words | 7 Pages

Ever since the election involving Bush and Gore, the viability of the Electoral College has become a heatedly debated topic. The question is whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the conditions the United States faces today as opposed to the conditions that the Founding Fathers faced when they created it. For over one hundred and fifty years, the United States has used this system, and controversy has followed it ever since. It was created in an effort to protect the people and institution of America by putting the final vote of the presidency in the hands of a trusted and respected few. These few have the power to disregard the popular vote due to the fact that there is still no federal law demanding electors

Read More
1338 Words | 6 Pages

If we somehow happened to be a capable vote, then we ought to have the capacity to really pick who might be president. The Electoral College removes that from us. The Electoral College is not by any stretch of the imagination reasonable for our rights and our opportunity. It, for the most part, takes away the ability to vote the president. The Electoral College was made in a period when votes were harder to gather and number.

Read More
391 Words | 2 Pages

The Electoral College had an interesting part in the election of 1824. By this time, the Federalist Party was no longer, which meant the United States was being dominated by the Democratic-Republicans, who led the one party system. There were four candidates running for President in the election of 1824. These candidates were Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, William Crawford and John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson was the winner according to the Electoral College, with ninety-nine votes.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
87 Words | 1 Pages

The results of the election of 2000 will have implications on the United States for at least four years, and perhaps more. The day after the election, calls were already ringing out for the abolition of the Electoral College, along with as many calls defending it. This could indicate a sea change to how we elect our President - or it could amount to nothing at all. If nothing else, the election of 2000 renewed the prominence of the Constitution in the minds of the common

Read More
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

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

A sad truth comes to light as the results of a tight race for the next president starts to roll in. The truth is that the dysfunctional system that demonstrates the whole voting process takes the future of America 's leader, the one who will set many precedents and lessons for future generations to come, into the hands of former politicians and notable political figures, who take on the careless and unnecessary role of an elector. These electors are part of a voting system called the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a group of 538 people that are elected at state conventions to officially vote for the next presidential candidate based on each state 's popular vote. This structure is old and should be banned for several reasons.

Read More
162 Words | 1 Pages

This week’s lesson gave me more clarity on the-the Electoral College. It was confusing at first to hear that the popular vote does not win an election. Bush lost the popular votes, but won the electoral vote in 2000, cleared by the Supreme Court (POLS201). I think it is better for the candidate to worry about the crucial electoral votes than the popular votes.

Read More
1237 Words | 5 Pages

The president of the United States is of utmost importance to the nation’s progress and success, both domestically and internationally. Hence, it follows that presidential elections are quite a popular event on a national level. Since the nation’s creation in 1776, it was clear that the president must be chosen wisely as well as fairly in order to preserve a democratic character in the United States and also to ensure an incapable president is note elected by the people. The solution that followed in response to these considerations was the establishment of the Electoral College, a method of indirect election of the president and his or her running mate for the vice presidency. The Electoral College establishes a group of electors who pledge to vote for the candidate of a specific political party.

Read More
826 Words | 4 Pages

Electoral College has maintained for hundreds of years and it’s time for a change because of the more and more serious problems it is causing. These are some reasons why we should consider replacing this system with a new more efficient one. Firstly, Electoral College creates the possibility for the candidate who loses the popular vote but wins the electoral vote to become president. In the much-publicized election of 2000, Vice President Al Gore beat Governor George W. Bush by more than 500,000 votes in the national popular tally but lost in the Electoral College because of a last-minute, 537-vote margin in Florida .

Read More
975 Words | 4 Pages

The Electoral College is the process to which the United States elects the President, and the Vice President. The founders of the Constitution came up with this process. This was done to give additional power to the small states, and it was done to satisfy them. It works by the citizens of the United States electing representatives called electors. Each state is given the same amount of electors, as they are members of congress.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

The Electoral College is a group of people that cast votes for the presidential election, every 4 years, on behalf of the states. This means that the US is not really an absolute democracy, as frequently believed. The president isn't chosen through the popular vote, but rather through individual representatives who cast votes on behalf of the citizens. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, and this way of doing things does not need to be put to an end.

Read More
761 Words | 4 Pages

The Electoral College is a crucial component of how the President of The United States is elected. The votes cast by the Electoral College can outweigh the popular vote of the American public, so it would be consequential for the American public to be aware of the Electoral College and have at least a basic understanding of how it works. This, however, is sadly not the case. Even some of today’s elected officials are not up to date on how the government works. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute ran a poll of twenty-five hundred randomly selected Americans, out of the members of that poll that were elected officials only fifty-three percent of them answered correctly when asked if they knew what the Electoral College’s function was.

Read More

More about The Influence Of The Electoral College

Open Document