Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq

Now, when I had heard the name Electoral College, I knew that it wasn't an actual university, but I didn't think it was as complicated as it is. The Electoral College is actually a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election president and vice president. Now, I know that sounds like the most interesting thing in the world, of course it does, but it's actually really controversial, which I believe is interesting considering the fact that even people who want nothing to do with politics, are willing to state their opinions on this matter. Both sides of this discussion give very valid points as to why this should or shouldn't be abolished or defended.

John Adams won the election but had approximately 40,000 less popular votes than Jackson. This shows that the electoral college vote will trump popular vote, which limits the say of the people to pick their

To prove this claim, some states with a smaller population (the 12 states and the District of Columbia) had more electoral votes than the states with a larger population (Illinois), as stated before. This causes the power among the states to be uneven. The Founding Fathers created a system that allows the citizens to help control the government. But how can they if the Electoral College blocks all the people’s votes? The only thing standing in the way of the people having a say in their country, is the Electoral College. Therefore, the Electoral College must be

The electoral college works as a winner-takes-all system, when a president wins a simple majority in a state, they get all electoral votes from that state. Then, whichever candidate gets the most electoral votes wins the election. The electoral college should be abolished because it makes popular vote not matter,

The result is that in 1988, for example, the combined voting age population (3,119,000) of the seven least populous jurisdictions of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming carried the same voting strength in the Electoral College (21 Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the state of Florida.(Longley) Each Floridian's potential vote, then, carried about one third the weight of a potential vote in the other states listed. Shouldn't each individuals vote carry the same amount of weight regardless of where they live? Another result of the Electoral College is that it tends to give a false representation of victory. In 1980 Ronald Reagan won just 50.7 percent of the popular vote but won the electoral vote by more than 90 percent making it appear as a landslide.(Gregg) Is this fair representation for the American people to believe?

The electoral college should be abolished because candidates can win with very minimal popular vote, electoral college votes are not evenly distributed throughout the states, and many states are ignored by the candidates.

The electoral college has a major corruption through the fact that each vote is represented by a different percentage of a state’s population. Wyoming has one vote for every 187,875 citizens, while California has one vote for every 677, 345 citizens.(Document 2). This turns away any constant in the amount of voters

This can be found when during the 1980 election, when it was republican candidate Ronald Reagan was against democratic Jimmy Carter who were also against the independent candidate John B. Anderson. Each candidate won votes from the People, but when you focus on the third party candidate, you’ll notice that he received over five million votes from the United States citizens, but received zero votes from the Electoral College. The same thing happened during the 1992 election when democrat Bill Clinton was going against republican George H. W. Bush and independent Ross Perot. Mr. Perot received over 18 million votes from the People, over ten percent of the overall People’s votes, but zero from the Electoral College (Document B). Even though many citizens of the U.S support third party candidates, the Electoral College rarely ever votes for them, which is unjust to those who favor third parties over the two main parties. One of the only times the Electoral College voted for more than two different candidates was in 1824, which was only because all four of the candidates were democratic republicans (Document G). Supposedly, the Electoral College wants what is best for our country, but sometimes, third party candidates actually have very good ideas as to where to take our country, and take the time in thinking about what’s best for us when the two main parties are just trying to get more votes and recognition. In today’s world, there is no reason why the Electoral College should still

One of the greatest accomplishments in the history of the United States was the creation of the Constitution. It was created by the Framers who included many important and specific rules to make sure that the government would be able to sustain itself. The Idea of the Electoral College was first introduced in this constitution as a way to make sure that there was a buffer between the population and the selection of a President. They did not want a dictatorship to arise due to a manipulative candidate. In recent history, the Electoral College has been a very controversial topic. Many people do not agree with it and believe that it should be abolished due to varying factors such as the unequal distribution of votes per state. When the Framers first created the Electoral College, I believe that there hopes of what it would become have not been met and that they would not be pleased with it in today's government.

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.

California receives 55 electoral votes, and each singular vote accounts for 712,000 people. However, Wyoming receives 3 electoral votes, and one of those singular votes accounts for 195,000 people. Based on the way the Electoral College is supposed to work, Wyoming is slightly over represented and California is extremely underrepresented. No states get an accurate amount of votes (H). This completely defeats the purpose of “equality among states”. “While the electoral college is based on population, only a fraction of that population is eligible to vote — and even a smaller portion actually votes” (M). The way this system works, leaves out almost half the population, making the Elected President most likely false. Due to the fact that many people have strong opinions on both sides of the argument, there are those that will say the Electoral College encourages coalition building (G). But, what is coalition building anyway? The word ‘coalition’ defines as an alliance in order to achieve a common purpose. Throughout the entirety of the 2016 Election, there has been continuous riots, marches, and protests online or in person that prove that statement to be false. If there was a time that the Electoral College should have worked, it would be

The Electoral College, first instituted in 1787, is designed to give all states in the United States a say in who the president will be. The Electoral College works by giving a vote to each House Representative and Senator for the state. The senators and representatives for a state cast their ballot based on the popular vote in the state. Whichever candidate gets the most electoral votes in the state gets all the electoral votes for the state; this is called the winner take all system. Many people believe the Electoral College is flawed and should be changed while others believe it should be thrown away altogether. There are many things about the Electoral College that should be changed but the system is not completely broken. The Electoral College is a flawed process, but one that is needed for a fair election. The way electoral votes are given is fair but, how a President is chosen with no majority, which is a requirement to become president, and the winner take all system are ineffective and must be changed because they do not reflect the true will of the people.

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.

There have been several elections in the past where this has occurred. In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush, won the Electoral College votes while Al Gore won the popular vote. George W. Bush was declared President based on the electoral votes.(Document 5) Also, in the election of 1824 Andrew Jackson had the majority of popular votes and electoral votes but he was not elected President. Because no one received at least fifty one percent of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives voted on the President. John Quincy Adams was chosen as President.(Document 3)

But the result of the Electoral College today is to give too much power to the small states. In fact, they have more power than the largest states in the union. For instance, California's population (the largest) is approximately 70 times that of Wyoming's (the smallest). But California only has about 18 times the Electoral College votes (55 to 3) (Raasch 1). According to writer Chuck Raasch, that means a vote in Wyoming has potentially four times the impact in the Electoral College (1). Also, in 1988, the combined voting age population (3,119,000) of the seven least populous states (Alaska, Delaware, D.C., North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming) had the same number of Electoral votes (21) as the 9,614,000 voters in Florida (Kimberling 1).