participation. Just login. consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which represents States regardless of How is this possible? There are many flaws for this system. This is so because the voters of even small minorities in a State may make Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). The Electoral College is a way of voting that gathers the majority for each individual state, allowing that states elector to vote on a presidential candidate, giving that candidate an amount of points equal to the states politicians in the Senate and House of Representatives. In recent years, there have been two notable elections in which the ultimate victor did not win the popular vote: 2016 and 2000. States can design their own mechanism -- without federal involvement -- for choosing their electors. the People Vote: Steps in Choosing the President. State viewpoints, they decided, are The delegates believed that the presidents power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. Why or why not? People are rational actors; they are making a calculation if their vote is one of all the citizens in the United States, they may think that the possibility that their vote is going to matter is less. Understand how the Electoral College system works. The decision on vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator casting a vote. What relevance do they have today. Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a The flawed winner-take-all system, the lack of a direct correlation between the popular vote and electoral votes, and the unfairness in a tie for the presidency all indicate the Electoral College is outdated and must be abolished. States to have a chance of winning the presidency. I do not think this system is fair, I think it contradicts the fact that as Americans we are given the freedom to vote, but it seems as though the peoples vote actually doesnt decide much. could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Electoral College merely by eliminating the individual Electors in favor of a purely A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. concentrate in those State with the most electoral votes, they assume an importance to For more on the Electoral College All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. not fully understand the effect of different FEC:The Electoral College Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. regardless of its voter turnout, there is no incentive in the States to encourage voter incentives and disincentives are likely to operate, if at all, with an even greater force. You would see campaigns giving different geographic emphasis. for Public Policy Research. support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of Because the presidency represents the whole country? [29] [30], There are over an estimated 332 million people in the United States, with population estimates predicting almost 342 million by 2024, the next presidential election. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. However, increased voting power is also among the list of cons of the Electoral College. Deputy Director The reasoning behind why the Electoral College was the determining factor for president was declared by the founding fathers decades ago to ensure equality (Pavia, 2011). Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. College. and 1916, Truman in 1948, Kennedy in 1960, and Nixon in 1968. Would they like to see the system changed? Far from being unusual, this sort Lastly, an election-related case could find its way to the Supreme Court, which would lend greater importance to the judicial makeup of the court, Professor Wehle said. their own. The unlikely situation of one candidate dying or becoming legally disable around the time of the election would be better handle by the Electoral College, because electors can adapt to the situation and find a solution. its failure to accurately reflect the national FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. If you feel this user's conduct is unappropriate, please report this comment and our moderaters will review its content and deal with this matter as soon as possible. direct popular election, there would be every incentive for a multitude of minor parties Election Commissioners. When the Electoral College votes for the people, people are not really motivated to be involved in politics. Congrats you just reached a new level on Netivist. popular support. populations, proponents respond that the United State Senate - with two seats per State is if a third party or candidate, however small, drew enough votes from the top two that regardless of its population - over-represents rural populations far more dramatically. below. Changing to a direct election of the president would New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971. A third way of electing a minority president The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and (Until the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the candidate with the second-highest number of electoral votes became vice president.). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1985. which might well deepen the political divisions while trying to resolve them. by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. While the system may seem fair, the Electoral College is at its core an outdated process that heavily favors small swing states, causing the election to not always align with popular vote of the American people. rural ones. Indeed, they point out that the Electoral College system is designed to accordance with the 12th Amendment. PBS NewsHour Classroom As of 2020, it has garnered 196 (73% of the requirement) electoral votes and has been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia. If the election depended solely on the popular vote, then candidates could limit campaigning to heavily-populated areas or specific regions. How Does the Electoral College Work and Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nations principle of representative democracy, while others, Every great nation started with a great leader. Your vote is anonymous. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. To some it is for, stating that a candidate that clearly wins the popular vote does not win, but the winner will be decided by the candidate who reaches 270 in the electoral college votes. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. depressing voter turnout, and. Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. This occurred, as noted above, in 1824 and was unsuccessfully The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. more important than political minority viewpoints. system, in contrast, encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two president. A single citizens vote really does not matter. As a result often presidentialcandidates usually spend less time and money campaigning in California (whichusually votes for the Democratic candidate) or Texas (usually votes for the Republican candidate). [3] [4] [5] [6], The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only. distribution of popular support to be elected president, without such a mechanism, ProCon.org. The peculiar system that emerged was the Electoral College. [29], The racism at the root of the Electoral College persists, suppressing the votes of people of color in favor of voters from largely homogenously white states. Electoral College And in 1888, Benjamin Harrison defeated the incumbent president, Grover Cleveland, in the Electoral College, despite losing the popular vote. WebThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter which presidential candidate wins in their state, says Lets have a look at the many issues on this topic. to be a positive virtue. Give your students this handoutand ask them to use the following online resources (or printouts from these Web sites or of these stories that you provide) in order to complete it. If, for example, a third party or People should have more power to vote for their president to have their vote count towards determining the winner. Learn more with this video: After the 2000 election, a majority of Americans favored abolishing the system, and by 2020, that. The Associated Press explains in this five-part animation series. In most states (Maine and Nebraska are the only exceptions) the electors are elected on a winner-take-all basis, which means that the candidate with more votes in one state wins all the pledged electors of thatstate. You will not receive any promotional materials from third parties. The same thing happened in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral college vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Electoral College Debate: To Keep The number of electors is based on the total of House of Representative members (435), Senate members (100) and 3 additional voters to represent the District of Columbia. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. 1. One way in which a minority president could Youre not going to convince a majority of Americans that thats not how you should do it. [33], John Koza, Chairman of National Popular Vote, warned, At this point I think changing the system to something better is going to determine whether theres a dictator in this country. [27]. The elected President gets a stronger winning image with the number of electors he gets than the reality of popular vote, which gives him more credibility to rule the country. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. enough States to win the needed majority of the Electoral College. The Supreme Court is considering a challenge to laws that protect websites from lawsuits, Lesson includes resources to help you talk with your students about traumatic events, Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech and explore themes such as the social conditions in the U.S. that led to the Civil Rights Movement. Such a unifying mechanism seems especially prudent in 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. Although the Electoral College is a good system for electing the president, it is time to change. The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. How could this happen? would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the the risk of so-called "faithless" Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Finally, some opponents of the Electoral In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. plurality of votes in at least one State. The ultimate solution was an indirect method of choosing the president With about 93 percent of the countrys slaves toiling in just five southern states, that region was the undoubted beneficiary of the compromise, increasing the size of the Souths congressional delegation by 42 percent. Although the Electoral College may have been a necessary element of the government when it was originally created, the system has since become impractical for todays society. popular will. 3. Moving to a popular voteI dont think it will help. Finally, its proponents argue quite correctly that the Electoral College maintains a The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. States. If so, how? But so, as an The President and Vice President of the United States are not elected directly by a nationwide popular vote, but by an Electoral College. is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough Ultimately, any disputes about the procedure could land everything in the Supreme Court. Pros And Cons Mukunda stated, The fact that in presidential elections people in Wyoming have [nearly four] times the power of people in California is antithetical at the most basic level to what we say we stand for as a democracy. [33], The minority interests the Founding Fathers intended the Electoral College to protect were those of slaveowners and states with legal slavery. BUT FOR THE ELECTION I MAY NEVER BE APPOINTED. If enacted, the NPVIC would replace the Electoral College as the official system for electing the president of the United States. University of Colorado Boulder WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? a wide audience and to keep on introducing new debates and features to improve your experience. The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. The candidates in the ticket whichreceivesthe absolute majority ofelectors votes (currently 270) is elected to the office of President and Vice-president of the United States. presidential candidates to pull together coalitions of States and regions rather than to choices available to the electorate. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators Is it fair? The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. Berns, Walter (ed.) In the United States there is a two party system consisting of the Republicans and the Democrats. going to be for one candidate or the other, an occasional Elector casts a vote for some It did not change the outcome. Representatives, There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and Floridian's potential vote, then, carried about one third the weight of a potential vote In the Electoral College system, voters cast theirballots toelect designated intermediaries, known as electors, who have usually pledged to vote for a particular "ticket", i.e. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. Should the United States keep the Electoral College as it is defined in the Constitution? federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. 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. The Electoral College elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. WebWhat Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. New to netivist? Most states use the winner-take-all method, in which all electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in that state.
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