Presidential Election : The Presidential Electoral College, Civic Engagement, And Campaign Strategies Essay

Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two-party system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.

For many years since 1879 citizens of the United States wait in line to vote for the next great president who will help the country stand tall for another four years. But the mistake doesn’t lie in who you vote for, but what you are voting for and supporting. We sometimes ask ourselves, “what does each party do?” or “what are their beliefs for our country?”

Every four years that a Presidential election comes to pass the Electoral College is responsible for the formal election of both the President and Vice President of the United States. As an example of an indirect election, where people in each state at large vote in order to decide which individuals will be delegated the responsibility of casting votes for President and Vice President in accordance with the popular vote of the state which has entrusted them to provide such representation, the Electoral College works to ensure that smaller states are not denied the right to have the equal power of influence in our national election for President (Neale, 2004). The Electoral College itself has been in existence since it was introduced

The Electoral College system has been in place for over 200 years and Americans are still not sure how it works or if it is the best system. Many Americans feel they go to the polls every year and vote for the president, and in the long run they are in control of the fate of our executive branch. With the 1992 election it was clear that many people had little understanding for how a president is chosen; the 1992 election came close to having no majority of electors due to Ross Perot and his third party. However, after this last debacle over the presidency, many people are crying "foul" even though they still understand little or nothing about the benefits of the Electoral College. We

The United States is established by democracy and the will of the general population, yet in the 2000 and 2016 elections, the majority of citizens in the United States voted in favor of the losing candidate. These outcomes are on the grounds that the decision of the President in the United States hangs solely on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is obsolete and should be abrogated for different reasons. The original purposes behind embracing the Electoral College were tailored to the time of its creation and never again apply in a modern democracy. Additionally, the Electoral College prompts political imbalance as the instances of federalism, unexpected elections, and the winner-take-all broad ticket framework demonstrates. One must

The presidential election of 2000 rose great suspicion due to its call for a ballot re-count in the state of Florida. The legitimacy of this election is considerably debatable in terms who truly won between Republican George W. Bush, and Democrat Al Gore. This correlates to the fact that 175,000 of Al Gore’s votes were deemed as “uncounted” raising suspicion among the Democratic party. Coincidentally, citizens of Palm Beach Florida became outraged as they became suspicious that their votes were counted incorrectly. As many of these citizens claimed they had voted for Gore, the ballots show they voted for Republican, Pat Buchanan. Due to this, a re-count of all ballots took place, thus leading to nationwide confusion as to who truly won.

Many refer to the United States of America as a democracy: a republic that is of the people, by the people, and for the people; where ideals such as truth, justice, and equality reign. However, if one looks closer with a more cynical lens, they might find that this is nothing more than a half-truth. For America is not truly a democracy, as many say it is, but rather a strange mix of a constitutional republic with a dash of democratic ideals. Nowhere is it more evident that America doesn’t truly rely on democratic ideas than in the system of voting used to elect the “Leader of the Free World”: the Electoral College.

Voting is one of the great rights that every American citizen is entitled to. It gives Americans the chance to voice their pleasure, or displeasure, with those who represent them in public office by selecting who they believe best represents their values and beliefs. But who organizes the candidates? What are they affiliated with? The answer is political parties. A political party is an organization of people who share the same views about the way power should be used in a country or a society . It is typically accepted that political parties in america serve four functions. The first being that they selected candidates who best represent them to run for office. The second is they mobilize voters and convince these voters to vote for their selected candidates. Third, they facilitate governance by bringing some sort of order to the process of lawmaking. And finally fourth, they monitor the opposing party whenever they are in power. (Shmoop, “Role of Political Parties”) In america 's fine democracy, there are two major political parties that represent two ends of the political spectrum, The Democrats and The Republicans. The typical american voter can be starch supporter of one, or fall somewhere in between. Although the Democratic party and the Republican party have competing values, they share more in common than most people think and are a pivotal pillar of American Democracy.

After a year of voting and much debate the final decision of electing the 45th president of the United States was once again down to the Electoral College. (history) The Electoral College system was established by the founding fathers around 130 years ago and basically a process used to select the President and vice President of the United States of America (Procon). So when you went to the polls on November 8th and casted your vote for the next president, something else happened behind the scenes and you may not like or if you are trump supporter you may love (Procon). For example, lets say you’re a Hillary Clinton supporter that lives in Washington, due to a certain amendment of the United States constitution, the Electoral College, you’re not actually voting for Hillary Clinton. (Procon)If you’re familiar with the process you are actually voting for a guy named Robert Satiacum and eleven of his peers. So who is Robert Satiacum? (Procon) He and 11 others were selected by the Washington state democratic party to represent them in Electoral College if their candidate, Hillary Clinton, wins the popular vote (Procon). If that happens, then Robert and the eleven electors will officially become electors of Washington, and they will earn the right to vote in the real election (Procon). On the real Election Day, the five hundred and thirty eight members of the Electoral College can technically vote for anyone they want (Procon). This process was thought of and finally agreed upon

The framer's intent of setting up the American government will never be known for sure, but it is gathered that they preferred a republic to a democracy. In the constitutional convention the drafters had to decide how much power they would entrust with the people of the United States, and how much should be controlled by representatives. They chose to have Congress make the laws, and congress would be selected directly by the people. But another branch of government, the executive branch, needed a sole president and the framers had to decide how to choose this president. They chose from three main systems: elect the president by congress, the people, or electors. Many debates were made over this topic in the

I choose to agree with the Electoral College. I don’t want a direct popular election because I want the smaller states to still have a voice, but, if America switches to direct popular election, the way things are, might just go worse. There are some good reasons for a direct popular election, and there are not good reasons for one too. I like the Electoral College a lot, and I would like the voting system to keep it that way. However, our founding fathers created the Electoral College, being the geniuses they are, created a good way to elect a president that would not cause chaos or havoc in the country.

The United States has always seen political disputes between both ends of the liberal/conservative spectrum. However, this polarization has increased significantly within the past few decades. As the graphs show, there has been a noteworthy rise among “consistently liberals” and “consistently conservatives” since 1994. In addition, the placement of “median” Republicans or Democrats on the spectrum have distanced themselves farther apart (Pew Research Center). This is the ultimate gap visible within the entire entity of polarizing politics. Republicans and Democrats are becoming further apart, thus creating a lack of understanding and compromise between the two parties.

In the Electoral College system, as presented by Hamilton, every voice is heard and there is a greater guarantee that the elected will effectively represents those voices in office. During election season, the people in the states vote for the representatives that will make up the Electoral College. The people within the states will votes for the prudent few that they believe best conform to their political interests, just as they do for those voted into the House of Representatives. As a result, the few elected representatives in each state mirror the average person within their state. The desires, beliefs, and interests of those representatives hold the same desires, beliefs, and interests of those within the state. The only difference is that the votes of those few would hold more weight than if everyone in the states vote. Each representative in the Electoral College casts his vote with the knowledge that their vote will change the course of their country and affect the lives of their fellow countrymen. The gravity of such a responsibility would push each representative to give great consideration into who should be elected as president. They would scrutinize over their decision, debate the merits of each candidate, and ultimately elect one prudent man to lead the country. In stark contrast, the process of voting in modern day America is treated with less importance than given most mundane tasks. Today, Americans give little thought to whom they will vote for as

Overall, when we analyze the three different elections, voting actions are consistent. It is common for groups to stay true to a particular political party. Though, when the final results of the votes are revealed, sometimes it is shocking. There are many factors that play into people’s opinions and reasoning for their voting process. This includes factors such as religious affiliation, race, gender, and

The political system of America is very different from other developed and developing democracies. Most notable is the increased power bestowed on the upper house of the parliament, the extensive power held by the Supreme Court and the dominance demonstrated by only two major parties. In the United States, third parties have the least influence on the world’s most developed democracy’s political structure. In this democracy, people are under the US Constitution of the governmental system as well as state government and other units of local government. Local government entails counties, districts and municipalities. The evolution of the American political party system has come a long way; with Hamilton and Jefferson being regarded as the founder fathers of the modern party system. These were heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups in the 18th century of American politics. Ever since, the country has maintained a party system that has two main parties that are relatively stable. These are Democrats and Republicans and have remained in contest for election every time since the 1860 presidential elections. Initially, the Republican Party was the dominant party but the Democrats later gained dominance. However, the two parties became closely competitive and neither of them has been notably dominant since the 1970s (O'Connor & Sabato, n.d).