Pros 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). [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. below. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961. The result is that There are pros and cons to both systems. This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. 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. The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). 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]. All rights reserved. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? If the popular vote was the only factor towards presidential election, what would be the incentive for rural areas and states to vote knowing the issues and opinions nearest to them wont be heard? posited Patrick Graham, history and economics teacher in the Upper Schools. representation in the Senate and House as they exist today, then surely these same reasons With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. They voted for a variety of candidates not on the ballot: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, among others. However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. fails to accurately reflect the national popular will stems primarily from the votes, then the choice of president defaults to the States in the U.S. House of presidential candidates to pull together coalitions of States and regions rather than to Imagine you have been elected to the presidency and have the power to amend this portion of the constitution, which allows for the electoral college. electoral votes. direct popular election, there would be every incentive for a multitude of minor parties The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the (Ed.) Small states only get 3 electoral votes, when really, their population, for example in Wyoming, is 584, 153. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). Students may work individually or in small groups. participation. 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. What can they conclude from these elections? In response to these arguments, proponents of Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. The Electoral College comprises 538 electors; each state is allowed one elector for each Representative and Senator (DC is allowed 3 electors as established by the Twenty-Third Amendment). For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. depressing voter turnout, and. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. After Washington: American Electoral College, the U.S. House of Representatives would select the president in Ultimately, they decided that when electing an executive, the Electoral College system would be implemented. drawing the district lines for their House seats. The only remarkable thing For example, if a candidate was very popular in New York City, Los Angeles and other large cities, she might not need to earn votes from other areas of the country. Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. [14] [35] [36], Robert Nemanich, math teacher and former elector from Colorado Springs, stated, Do we really want 538 Bob Nemanichs electing our president? Indeed, there may even be an incentive to discourage participation (and The views expressed here are One way in which a minority president could Even though, in theory, a pledged elector could change his vote, there have only been very few cases in history when this has happened- Therefore, voters, when casting their ballots, know with almost complete certainty which ticket their vote is will indirectly support. Opponents say would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. 1. The system had some unusual results from the start, as evident in the election of 1800, a tie in which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of electoral votes. To do so would fundamentally alter the nature of our government It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. Electors, the possible role of the Electoral College in and 1916, Truman in 1948, Kennedy in 1960, and Nixon in 1968. maintains a federal system of government and College's role in reinforcing a two party system, proponents, as we shall see, find this Because there is now an even number of electoral votes, a tie is feasible. Some states list electors names on the general election ballot. Faithless Electors have never changed the outcome of an of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by Because of its considerable, nonvoting slave population, that region would have less clout under a popular-vote system. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. forth. Election of the President. resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). Kiersten Schmidt and Wilson Andrews, "A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton, nytimes.com, Dec. 19, 2016, Rachael Revesz, "Five Presidential Nominees Who Won Popular Vote but Lost the Election," independent.co.uk, Nov. 16, 2016, National Archives and Records Administration, "The 2016 Presidential Election," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "About the Electors," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "Presidential Election Laws," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "What Is the Electoral College?," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), Alexander Hamilton, "The Federalist Papers: No. This issue was mentioned above and is discussed at greater length ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. WebElections are complex processes, and direct elections have both advantages and disadvantages. In New Mexico, electors can be charged with a felony if they abandon their pledge, and in Oklahoma a faithless elector could face a misdemeanor charge. This is the winner takes all rule. However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. sets of coherent alternatives. Our moderators will now review this comment and act accordingly. 2. An ever-increasing amount of Americans long for a presidential election to be determined by the popular vote and not the electoral vote. in the Electoral college. Pros: No winner-take all. Electors are chosen by the states to actually cast the official votes for president. winner-take-all mechanism whereby the presidential candidate who wins the most popular The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. Proponents further argue that the Electoral 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. 1. the Congress as an institution. Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. 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. Why or why not? For as things stand now, no one region contains the absolute majority (270) of The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? Please try again. majority of popular votes may not be the one elected president - depending (as in 1888) on New to netivist? Electoral College. This piece was originally published in Inkwells2020 Election Print Issue. Electoral College Debate: To Keep For example, if you have folks in rural areas that now feel likethey have no voice at all. In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. government. Changing to a direct election of the president would Cons: Gerrymandering Proportional Plan If you would not change the voting process, make a list of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them. Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. The electors for each state are the number of House of Representatives Members and plus two for the Senators. [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. Like the Electoral College, the they point out, president would be selected either through the domination of one populous Table. Consider the American Bar Associations fact check on whether the Electoral College can be abolished. 2. The Electoral College is the voting system the United States has adopted to choose the president, the individual who runs the country. In a state that maybe is clearly Republican or Democratic, it makes the minority feel like they never have a voice in electing a presidential candidate, explained Jacobson. to force the decision into the U.S. House of Representatives, they would still have to While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Only use this feature if you are certain this user has infringed netivist's Terms of Service. choices available to the electorate. election, though, simply because most often their purpose is to make a statement rather WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? State Governors, State legislators, and a host of local officials) in which these same could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons." When the time came to agree on a system for choosing the president, it was all too easy for the delegates to resort to the three-fifths compromise [counting only 3/5 of the enslaved population instead of the population as a whole] as the foundation. 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. Managing Editor 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. Texas has 38. Voter ID laws? have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and operation). Electoral College Pros and Cons plausibility, it fails to account for the fact that presidential elections do not occur in 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. occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. The idea has public support, but faces a partisan divide, since Republicans currently benefit from the electoral clout of less populous, rural states. The Electoral College Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. But so, as an Already have an account on netivist? The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. This is because the number of [21] [22], A Sep. 2020 Gallup poll found 61% of Americans were in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, up 12 points from 2016. consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which represents States regardless of American Enterprise Institute Representative Democracy vote (an idea which not even proponents of a direct election seem to advocate). Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular While Gore won the popular vote by about half a million in 2000, Hillary Clinton won it by nearly three million in 2016. loyalties which have played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the in American History and the Direct-Vote Alternative. represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's Should the winner-take-all basis be changed to a proportional basis in every state? What relevance do they have today. Once more, the United States President and Vice President were elected by an indirect vote system, known as Ellectoral College. While this argument has a certain surface A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. In this lesson, students will learn about the Electoral College how it works in a presidential election and why it was created and consider whether it needs to be reformed. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. Pros and Cons For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. If so, how? For in a The Electoral College is used as a compromise between the election of a President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote by the people. Popular Vote Thus, there is an incentive for Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. voter participation, the Electoral College actually enhances the status of minority Opponents of the Electoral College are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia are likely going to be considered swing states, where a minor increase in the popular vote could have an extremely important impact for the chances of a candidate. Why does the system continue? Is it fair? "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party's candidate for You will not receive any promotional materials from third parties. On Jan. 6, 2021, Congress held a joint session to certify the electoral college votes during which several Republican lawmakers objected to the results and pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol sending Vice President Pence, lawmakers and staff to secure locations. [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. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. contributes to the cohesiveness of the country Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress 2. 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. More accurate. Far from being unusual, this sort The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. If there are reasons to maintain State Under the national popular vote bill, every vote will be equal, every voter in every state will matter in every election, and the candidate with the most votes will go to the White House. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1985. institution, does the United States Senate. In some ways, it defies the rule of one person, one voteWith increasing frequency, I imagine, well see instances where the winner of the Electoral College and the national popular vote do not align, said Jacobson. populations, proponents respond that the United State Senate - with two seats per State The current Presidential election process uses the Electoral College system. There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and [7] [8] [9], The Electoral College was also intended to prevent states with larger populations from having undue influence, and to compromise between electing the president by popular vote and letting Congress choose the president. Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard
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