Electoral College Should Be Abolished

A beacon of hope and freedom in the world today is the United States, and perhaps this image of the United States is not unwarranted. The reason for this is that the U.S. holds itself as the model for how democratic nations should be run. Democracy, as most people should know, is a system of government where the people are responsible for determining the course action their nation will take by voting. In theory, this can occur through direct democracy where the people vote on nearly every issue that arises. However, there is no true direct democracy that exists in the world, the other alternative is indirect democracy, where people vote to elect representatives who then in turn make the decisions for the country. However, a problem exists for

Every citizen has a Social Security number, so why is it that every American is not automatically eligible to vote. While voter registration is easier today than ever before, removing the registration burden altogether could do no harm to turnout numbers. If anything, universal registration would make higher turnouts much more likely. Second, in an effort to stop the disenfranchisement felt by some Americans, the electoral system in the United States needs an overhaul. To begin with, the Electoral College should be put to rest. Perhaps the institution served its purpose initially, but it has now become a relic. Instead of relying on electors, the United States should adopt a national popular vote, where the candidate with the most votes actually wins. In this way, each person has an incentive to go out and vote for the candidate of their choice. No longer would Democratic voters in Tennessee want to stay home on Election Day because of feeling that they could not make a difference in such a red state. The same could be said about Republican voters in traditionally blue states. In any case, abolishing the Electoral College would at least make every potential voter feels as if his or her vote counted. Third, perhaps the best way to solve the problem of low voter turnout would be to make voting compulsory. It was shown above that the nations which have compulsory voting, enforced or not, consistently have much higher voter turnout than those countries in which voting is optional. While perhaps the best way to fix the problem, this is also the solution least likely to come about in the United States. In conclusion, the problem with voter turnout is stemmed from many problems, but has many solutions that are probable and that we can put into effect to