Why Is The Electoral College Necessary

The presidential election is the biggest and most important election held in the United States. In fact, during the Presidential election of 2012, approximately 57.5% of the registered voting population exercised their voting rights, while the 2014 congressional election turnout rate of 41.9 percent has been its lowest turnout rate since 1978. However, what these citizens who vote in the Presidential election may or may not know is that their votes do not directly influence who is chosen as president. What it does count toward is the number of Electoral College votes that a candidate receives, which would ultimately secure their presidency. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, whom each candidate needs at least 270 of their votes

Although many have made their case against the Electoral College system, it is a necessary institution in the Presidential election because it preserves Federalism and encourages the two party system.

One reason why the Electoral College is a necessary evil is because it secures the power of the states in the election, thereby upholding Federalism. As previously indicated, when citizens vote, they are voting for the amount of electors in their state to vote for their candidate of choice. The number of these electoral votes varies from state to state due to the fact that they are made up of the sum of its state’s Senators and House Representatives. This means that larger states have more power in elections because they have greater number of Representatives, while Senators play a smaller role due to the fact that every state has two Senators. However, the means in which this advantage over small states is combated is that the population of small states would count toward more electoral votes than the population of the larger states like Texas or California. Although the aforementioned states would have an advantage regardless of this clause, small states would still be respected as participants and maintain some power because Presidential

This is an issue that occurred in the aforementioned 2000 Presidential election, which created several controversies. During that election, George W. Bush of the Republican Party attained 50,456,002 popular votes and won 271 electoral votes, while his competitor Al Gore of the Democratic Party won the popular vote by 50,999,897 votes and only won 266 electoral votes. With such a small margin of victory in both the popular and electoral votes, there is no wonder why this election is highly contested. Considering this particular event, without the ability for citizens to see their vote directly influence an election, some consider not voting at all. In fact, it is well known that on average 40% of the U.S. population choose to opt out of participating on Election Day. Although many have debated on their reasoning, the Electoral College system may be a noteworthy cause. As a democratic nation by the people and for the people, citizens feel betrayed when they believe that their vote isn’t worth anything. Therefore, the system they thought they knew and loved fails them. It is essential for citizen’s voices to be heard in a sea of dispute and many see their vote as a method for this to take place. However, when an unpopular candidate is elected President by a small margin it is understandable to believe