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The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

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The election of a United States president happens every four years on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. The election may seem simple, but when you take a closer look it is very complicated. The elections have many different aspects and flaws. So far in United States history there have been 43 presidents, some serving for more than one term. Most people running for president are either previous politicians, such as a governor or senator. Most strong candidates are well known before they run for president because if no one knows a president, they are less likely to vote for them. Something else that helps presidents get elected are political parties. There are two main political parties, the Democratic and Republican parties. …show more content…

The Electoral College is a group of 538 votes used to decide the president. The number, 538, is the number of senators plus the number of representatives in the U.S. These votes are given to states depending on that state's population. California has the most electoral college votes, they have 55. While places like Wyoming and Alaska have only three electoral college votes. When people go to the polls to vote, they aren’t voting directly for who should get elected, instead they are telling their state how they want it to use its electoral college votes. 48 states use the “winner takes all principle” This means that in these 48 states, if one candidate wins the majority in that state, then that candidate gets all the electoral votes in that state. These “Votes” are actually electors. Each elector has one vote, and although they are supposed to vote for the candidate their state supports, they are not required to. Most of the time the electors vote for the candidate of their state, but 87 times in the past, electors have voted for the other candidate. Another problem with the electoral college is that some states have different population to elector ratios. Each state has a minimum of three electoral college votes because each state has two senators and at least one representative. Because of this, it may take three Californians votes to be equal to one person in Wyoming's

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