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What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

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The Electoral College Emily Ballou Contrary to popular belief, America’s presidents are not elected by direct democratic vote of the people. Rather, the United States Constitution declares that they are to be elected by what is called the Electoral College. Established in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention, our Founding Fathers formed the Electoral College as a compromise between majority rule and congressional representative appointment. The Founders created the Electoral College for protection. A pure democracy has the power to become too dangerous by giving the majority all the power. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors from the various states who cast ballots for the candidate receiving majority support from their particular …show more content…

The process was never intended to be too democratic, per se. Originally designed to expedite the voting process, many people no longer see a need for it, especially since it is possible for a presidential candidate to lose the popular vote and still win the election. A recent example was in 2000 when George W. Bush and Al Gore ran for presidential election. Gore secured about 48.38 percent of the popular vote and Bush with 47.87 percent. It does not seem morally correct that in a democratic country, securing the majority vote can still result in losing the election. There are positive effects of the Electoral College though, especially for small states such as Vermont. The Electoral College weighs the votes from smaller states more than larger ones because each state's electoral votes are equivalent to the number of House and Senate seats it has, thus giving one of those smaller state’s votes the power to really make a difference. The Electoral College also only acknowledges the majority vote of states and ignores the minority votes. Those who do not agree with everyone else are not represented at all, which is not …show more content…

For example, if a presidential candidate wins the popular vote in California by 47 percent, the candidate gets all 55 of California's electoral votes. The other candidate could have 49 percent of the popular vote but lose all 55 electoral votes. However, if the candidate with 51 percent of the popular votes was given 51 percent of the electoral votes (about 28) and the other candidate received 49 percent (27), it would be much more representative of the voters. The same applies for Vermont: If a candidate receives 33 percent of the popular vote and the other receives 66 percent, the second candidate would garner all three of Vermont’s electoral votes and the first candidate would receive none. Even though the first candidate would still be behind, this would be more

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