Electoral College Should Be Abolished Essay

The Electoral College: a system that the U.S. has used over the years to choose representatives and is a compromise between election by a vote. The Electoral College should not be abolished for three reasons. These reasons are: The system helps candidates who struggle with winning the Popular Vote; with Electoral Votes, it gives the little states enough power and votes, and if we abolish The Electoral College, we weaken the Political Two-Party-System. And if not weakened, then destroyed. These reasons will show that the Electoral College should not be abolished, and should be kept.

Some people may believe that having the electoral college takes away the rights and needs of the states, but it does the complete opposite; it allows the president to meet the state’s needs and give them the power that is promised “The Electoral College makes sure that the states count in the presidential elections. As such, it is an important part of our federalist system...”(Document C). Document C shows us that the states are represented and have been represented for centuries due the to system in which certain powers are given to the states in order to keep the federal government in check. Consequently our states rely on the Electoral College to

Your vote should mainly matter! Yes, the electoral college should be abolished. The delegates did not believe the president should be chosen by a direct population vote (of the people). They didn’t trust voters would have enough information to make a good choice. The Electoral College is where the president and vice president are chosen indirectly. This system is where all states and the District of Columbia get one electoral vote for each of their US senators and representatives. Also, each state has a slate of electors for each presidential candidate. Another way this system works is by winner-take all method. The winner-take all method is where whichever candidate wins the most votes in the state, wins the state electoral votes. Lastly a candidate must receive a majority (one more than a half) of the electoral votes to be declared president. That is how everything goes in the electoral college. The electoral college should be abolished because 12 states and D.C. total have double the amount of electoral votes but less people than Illinois. Also, the winner of the 1876 presidential election isn’t what people wanted, it was based on the number of electoral votes. Another reason the electoral college should be abolished is that the states with the same representatives dont have the same number of voters. All these issues that continue to happen, need to be resolved by getting rid of this system.

The Electoral College is a group of people who are “appointed by a larger group” of people to represent each state in the U.S. who then vote for the presidential elections (Dictionary.com 2015). The founding fathers created the Electoral College so that qualified citizens could vote for the president. They believed that the average American is uniformed, so they decided that a few educated people would make the correct choice for the entire population. The founding fathers also thought the Electoral College would be effective because at that time the only way of communication was through word of mouth and through letters. With the Electoral College, it was a more simple way to get the votes to one place and count them. A major criticism of the Electoral College is the popular candidate may lose to the electoral vote. This means that if majority of the population voted for candidate A, but majority of the electoral votes were for candidate B, the president of the nation would become candidate B. This situation has occurred four out of the fifty-six presidential elections that have been held in the United States. I believe that the Electoral College should be abolished so that the popular candidate would win the election, people would feel that they are making a difference in the society they live in, and we should replace the Electoral College with popular choice or allow our house of representatives to vote for the presidents instead.

The Electoral College has been around since 1787 and is how the United States elects the president and vice president. Many people support the Electoral College because the Founding Fathers thought it was the only way to have a democracy without completely trusting the people to elect the president. The Electoral College process is stated in the Constitution so many people think it is the only way to elect the president. Many critics of the Electoral College call it out on the fact that a candidate can win a popular vote but not the presidency. This actually contradicts the fact that the United States is supposed to be a democracy. Many people, including myself, think that the downfalls of the Electoral College vastly outweigh the benefits, so the Electoral College should be abolished. Instead the United States should elect the president based solely on the national popular vote.

The popular vote and electoral vote are two different things. Popular vote, shows how many people in the state wants the candidate. For example, The results from the Election of 1824 shows that the popular vote for each candidate differs by a large amount. The smallest popular vote candidate was William Crawford with 11.2% and his electoral vote was 41 then take a look at candidate Henry Clay with a popular vote of 13% and his electoral vote was 37. (Doc 3)This shows that the Electoral vote trumps the popular vote and it really should be the opposite. The more people that vote the more say you should have to who is the

    One reason the Electoral College should be abolished is that if someone was to win the popular vote but, the other candidate won the Electoral vote then, they would most likely win the election.

The decision on how to choose who these electors would vote for was left up to the states. Most states eventually decided to use the general ticket system where all of that state’s votes go to one candidate, whoever receives a majority of the votes in that state. The system for solving ties or failure to win a majority in the electoral college is to send the vote to the House of Representatives. There, each state is given one vote to cast for president. A vote is taken until one candidate has a majority.

But as we cleared what was one of the biggest hurdles that forced the creation of the electoral college (Lack of technology to keep up with politics and candidates effectively), there is no purpose of one. Too many times has this system that is supposed to fairly decide our president failed because presidents won despite American people voting for their opponent. This system is proven to be inherently flawed, and especially after this election it is time to consider a new system of election our next presidents. When we put our faith in mysterious electors who aren’t even obligated to respect our voting preference, we lose an integral piece of democracy. We lose the voice of the

Although this is true, the wide selection of canidates would also allow the American people to have a better selection of canidates. Instead of selecting two canidates which the electoral college promotes, they can choose from a lot more, selecting a canidate which they can identify with, and supports the issues they also support. The popular vote system presents a flawless way of electing a president, with absolutely not threat of electing a minority president. It is the best voting system for the United States and should be instated in place of the outdated electoral college.

Democratic theorist, Robert Dahl once said, “…every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal.” This quote greatly summarizes what the Electoral College system means; every person in the United States is guaranteed one vote. Everyone should have an equal opportunity to elect who serves in the government, and we are given that opportunity through this system. This is what the Founding Fathers came up with in order to solve the problems they faced over 200 years ago. However, some have opposed this system is not fit for this democracy, and argue that other systems would work more fairly. On the contrary, I strongly believe that the Electoral College system should be kept because it is the fairest way to elect the President.

In the popular vote, every vote contributes in an equal way. This means that people know that their vote will count. This is unlike the Electoral College and that is why people like the Popular Vote much better. This method will guarantee that there will be a higher voter turnout than 60% of the people eligible to vote. Everyone has an equal say in things. This is what our country values. It says “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence and people say that we should follow those values and give everyone an equal say in things. States are not predetermined in a popular vote because a democrat candidate can still get a lot of votes from a highly republican state. Also, presidential campaigns won’t focus on different states or people, the candidates will focus on everyone because each vote counts. There will be no more labels such as swing states or one party heavy states. Every state will get equal attention. People believe that there are many benefits for our country's future if we put in the Popular Vote system to vote for our presidents such as a higher voter turnout and no more states getting more attention than another. People say that the earlier this system is put into place the better America will be, but others

Although the electoral college is supposed to be a system to help citizens pick the president, the system itself only considers the opinion of the citizens. The electoral college is made of electors from each state. There are five-hundred-thirty-eight electors in total, who are the ones who actually pick the president. In most states the most popular candidate among the electors of that state receives all of the votes for that state. The candidate who wins all of the votes doesn’t necessary have to be the winner of the popular vote for that state, as it is the elector's choice who they get to vote for in forty-eight states.

There are three major problems to the current Electoral College system. First, a President can be elected to office even if he does not win the popular vote of the nation, which is a direct indication of what the people want. Another problem is that all electors are not restricted by law to vote for the candidate who wins their state, and therefore they have the privilege to put their states electoral votes towards any candidate they so choose. Finally, the system for electing a President if no electoral majority is reached defeats the whole purpose of the Electoral College, by giving every state one vote (The Electoral College 11-13).

When the Electoral College was put in place as part of the voting process it seemed a good idea. “Our framers distrusted democracy and saw the Electoral College as a deliberative body able to correct bad choices made by the people.” (Anderson 519). Times have changed and today’s society is a lot different that it was when George Washington was President. It’s about time that the U.S eliminates the Electoral College and makes America more of a democracy by making the popular vote the deciding factor in electing the president.