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Essay about electoral college
Essay about electoral college
Essay on the significance of the electoral college
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The Electoral College today is a very complex system of voting and campaigning. When it was first created, the Framers thought the average citizen of their day was not intelligent enough to know who should be leading their country. So they created the Electoral College which was run by people who knew what they were doing. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent each state and they determine the president. The real question is: Has the Electoral College gotten too far out of hand where it needs to go? The answer is yes. The reasons are because any third party candidate running in the election has no chance of winning any electoral votes. Also, it gives too much power to the big states in electoral votes. Finally, it creates problems on majority electoral votes and equality of smaller states is diminished. In the presidential elections of 1980 and 1992, in both cases, the third party received a good amount of popular vote (Doc B). This should mean that they should receive electoral votes. But that’s not the case. This shows a dominance of our 2-party system. Even bet...
2016 is slowly approaching as 2015 comes to an end and thus ushers in a new president at the end of the year! The 2016 election will be held on November 8th, 2016 and will be the 58th quadrennial presidential election. With each presidential election comes the controversy on the basis of how they were elected. Primarily, the public’s opinion on the Electoral College and how it is the actual determining factor, in who is chosen for the presidency. The problems that may spring forward will be what the Electoral College actually is and how it works, why the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College, major criticisms on the Electoral College, and why it should be abolished.
Through these almost 2 and a half centuries since the beginning of the Electoral College there has been a large change in population. Since then, the U.S. has grown from a mere 4 million to a looming number of around 300 million people. It is because of this population increase that the Electoral College has become obsolete and is beginning to fail at its duties. Alexander Hamilton was a Federalist and a supporter of the Electoral College who was quoted as saying “It was also desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder/ promise an effectual security against this mischief” (Document #1). The College would have prevented tumult and disorder for
Abolishing the Electoral College is the best option for our democracy because keeping it slim the chances for independent candidates to win and unfair voting distribution to exist. In Document B, the 1992 presidential election shows Ross Perot with 19,743,821 votes but 0 electoral votes. Independent candidates like Ross Perot don’t get any electoral votes but millions of popular votes. This proves my claim to be true because major party candidates are receiving all electoral votes and are not allowing independent candidates to have a fair election. In Document F it states, “Because each state casts only one vote, the single representative in Wyoming, representing 500,000 voters, would have as much say as the 55 representatives from California,
The Electoral College is an outdated and unrealistic arrangement that caters to eighteenth century federalist America in a way that is detrimental to modern democracy. The electoral college gives too much power to the government, overlooks equal representation, and creates loopholes that do not serve to help America thrive.
The Electoral College allows a candidate to win the presidency without winning the majority of popular votes. Additionally, the unequal representation created by the number of electors each state has leads to a differential worth depending upon a voter’s state of residency. Moreover, the winner-take-all rule of the results in votes which are essentially rendered worthless if they are contrary the state majority. Finally, the system places much of the focus and power to effect elections in the hands of so called swing states that are not historically aligned with only one party. (Dahl, 80-83) These aspects of the U.S. political system are utterly counterintuitive and stand in stark contrast to many of the cardinal ideals of
Voting is at the center of every democratic system. In america, it is the system in which a president is elected into office, and people express their opinion. Many people walk into the voting booth with the thought that every vote counts, and that their vote might be the one that matters above all else. But in reality, America’s voting system is old and flawed in many ways. Electoral College is a commonly used term on the topic of elections but few people actually know how it works.
A two-party system is a political system in which only two parties have a realistic opportunity to compete effectively for control. As a result, all, or nearly all, elected officials end up being a member in one of the two major parties. In a two-party system, one of the parties usually holds a majority in the legislature hence, being referred to as the majority party while the other party is the minority party. The United States of America is considered to be a two-party system. A two-party system emerged early in the history of the new Republic. Beginning with the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans in the late 1780s, two major parties have dominated national politics, although which particular two parties has changed with the times and issues. During the nineteenth century, the Democrats and Republicans emerged as the two dominant parties in American politics. As the American party system evolved, many third parties emerged, but few of them remained in existence for very long. Today the Democrats and Republican still remain as the dominant parties. These two parties hav...
Even though the Electoral college worked in the past it isn’t working for the present. The Electoral College was created to help elect a president. How that works is the 50 states are assigned so many voting representatives depending on population in that state. This worked in the past due to most states population was equal but in present times its not so some states have more of a say so in electing the president of The United States. Even though the Electoral College worked in the past, it needs to be change for the present and these reasons are; it gives bigger states more votes and is unfair to smaller states (Clayton)
Lastly, I don’t think that the Electoral College is a very good idea because each person in this country matters. If they chose a president, even if by popular vote, it was their choice and they will be the ones who have to live with whatever promises that president chooses to make or break to them. If they made a mistake on which president to choose it will be their own fault and they won’t have anyone else to blame but themselves.
Today, political parties can be seen throughout everyday life, prevalent in various activities such as watching television, or seeing signs beside the road while driving. These everyday occurrences make the knowledge of political parties commonly known, especially as the two opposing political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. Republican and Democrats have existed for numerous years, predominantly due to pure tradition, and the comfort of the ideas each party presents. For years, the existence of two political parties has dominated the elections of the president, and lower offices such as mayor, or the House of Representatives. Fundamentally, this tradition continues from the very emergence of political parties during the election of 1796, principally between Federalist John Adams and Anti-federalist Thomas Jefferson. Prior to this election people unanimously conformed to the ideas of one man, George Washington, and therefore did not require the need for political parties.1 However, following his presidency the public was divided with opposing opinions, each arguing the best methods to regulate the country. Ultimately, the emergence of different opinions regarding the future of the United States involving the economy, foreign relations, ‘the masses,’ and the interpretation of the Constitution, led to the two political parties of the 1790s and the critical election of 1800.
Since the beginning, the Electoral College is a controversial method for electing the next President of the United States. To be the next President, one must accumulate a majority of two-hundred seventy electoral votes out of five-hundred thirty eight. The Electoral College also distributes the amount of electoral votes by the sum of the House of Representatives and Senators for each state. This allows a big difference in the amount of electoral votes one state has over the other. For example, Texas has a population over twenty million people and Wyoming is just shy of six-hundred thousand people. The population difference allows Texas to overcome Wyoming’s electoral votes by a difference of thirty five which can cause a major effect on an
Imagine if there was a group of people that all brought in money to buy pizza, but only the person that brought in the most money got to eat the pizza. This is sort of how our electoral college works. Everybody votes but only the votes that get the majority actually count and mean something while the votes for the other person running are basically thrown away. The electoral college should be abolished because it takes away the basic rule of our country that majority vote wins and it makes people feel like their votes mean less because the candidates are only focused on a very minimal amount of states that they need to get to win and finally it gives big cities all of the power.The electoral college was formed in 1788. It was made to give the smaller states equal power. Multiple canidates that have run for president have lost because of this system.
The popular vote is one of the largest issues that is present in the Electoral College. Many times a candidate will lose the Electoral College vote, but be victorious in winning the popular vote by an overwhelming number of votes. An example of this has recently occurred in the election for the presidency in the year 2017. Is it a weird, but agreed upon concept that the result of the Electoral College will determine who to give the presidency to which candidate. According to the Amendments and the Framers’ creation of the Electoral College, it is by the Constitution supposed to go to the candidate winning the Electoral College. “… the electors showed that they are nothing but a formality, a relic that has cast away the final chance to justify its
The Electoral College, friend or foe? The answer behind this question is in the minds of those that understand it. Whether it be a "friend" or a "foe" there will always be opposing sides and a controversial verse. Since the political circumstance of today, the Electoral College seems to be the topic in every conversation and the thesis to every essay. The uncontrollable desire to know the truth behind the mystery is stirring in the minds of the people in the United States of America. With the 2000 Elections underway sides are beginning to be taken among the people. Many oppose the Electoral College because of the fact that unknowing electors choose their leader and many support it because it was created by the founding fathers. Both sides are arguable and not one side is right. The question is: Can a system be created to satisfy both sides of the American public?
As the United States of America gets older, so does the presidential election voting system. The argument to change this method of voting has been becoming more and more popular as the years go on. It has been said that the Framers of the Constitution came up with this method because of the bad transportation, communication, and they feared the public’s intelligence was not suitable for choosing the President of the United States. Others say that the Framers made this method because they feared that the public did not receive sufficient information about candidates outside of their state to make such a decision based on direct popular vote. My research on this controversial issue of politics will look into the factors into why the Electoral College exists and if it is possibly outdated for today’s society. It will look into the pros and cons of this voting system, and it will explore the alternative methods of voting such as the Direct Popular vote. Many scholarly authors have gathered research to prove that this voting system is outdated and it does not accurately represent the national popular will. Many U.S. citizens value their vote because they only get one to cast towards the candidate of their choice in the presidential election. Based on the Electoral College system their vote may possibly not be represented. Because of today’s society in the U.S. the Electoral College should be abolished because it is not necessary to use a middle-man to choose our president for us. It is a vote by the people, all of us having one voice, one vote.