The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

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In recent years, the election process, more specifically the electoral college, has sparked up controversy and has caused many citizens to question how well they are truly being represented by the executive branch of our government. One representation issue involves the population in which the number of electoral college votes is based. The main question that arises is, “Should having a higher non-voting population really give a state more votes in the electoral college?” Also, there is an issue with the way the electors cast their votes. In two of the last five elections alone, the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency. The winner-take-all approach taken by the majority of states in regard to their electoral college votes …show more content…

Here is where the first problem with representation lies. An article, written by Derek Muller (2012) regarding the electoral college, points out that the population taken by the census bureau should not be used at face value to determine the number of votes given to each state. This is because of the varying population of minors from state to state as well as the population of ineligible voters. In 2012, for instance, over 31% of Utah’s population was under the age of 18 whereas only 20.3% of Maine’s population was made up of minors (Muller, 2012). This issue applies to noncitizens as well. According to Muller’s (2012) article, 14% of California’s population in 2012 consisted of noncitizens over the age of 18 while only 1.1% of Ohio’s population did not have citizenship (Muller, 2012). The winner-take-all nature of the electoral college votes is also an outdated practice. The popular vote is taken too lightly and candidates focus mainly on swing states with high amounts of electoral votes. Voter turnout is also suppressed in some states because voters that don’t align with the popular political opinion of that state feel as though their vote is “wasted.” (Lienhardt,

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