Essay On Electoral College Flaws

1090 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cons of the electoral college

The Flaw of The Electoral College The benefit of a democracy is that everyone gets a say in how the government should work and how the leaders are elected. Although most democracies are fair systems where everyone can say their piece, sometimes there can be flaws in the system. In the United States all citizens are guaranteed one vote per person and everyone has an equal voice in electing the people that serve in the government as officials. Every four years at the end of the current president’s term in the month of November, the citizens of the US are given the opportunity to go out to the polls and cast their vote on who should be the next president and vice-president. But the truth is that once the votes are cast, they go to the electors …show more content…

The system awards a number of electoral votes to each state based on its population. Each party with a candidate selects a number of men and women to be an electorate. All of the electorates then proceed to state who they will vote for. Most states will have all of their votes go to one candidate or the other in order to strengthen the voting power of the state. A candidate must win a majority of the electoral votes in order to become President. According to the Constitution, "No Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an …show more content…

In most situations, the votes of the majority party are always checked and counted, whereas the votes of the minority party are barely considered. The problem of this situation is that when a person who votes within the minority party, his /her vote will not be counted towards who the next president will be. The flaw within the system is that it favors the voters within the majority party and leaves the other voters in the dark. If the Electoral College were to be abolished as it should, then the new system will display equality to all voters, no matter what their voting preferences or which party they align themselves with. Within the democracy of the US, the government is designed so that majority rules but the rights of the minority are still protected. On the contrary, the rights of the minority are not protected and are often ignored in the system of the Electoral College. Every citizen has the right to vote and should have their vote counted fairly among others. This is something that the Electoral College does not achieve, but would be accomplished with the installment of a new

Show More
Related

  • The Electoral College Vs. Popular Vote

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States is a privileged country with freedoms and opportunities many countries strive to achieve. People come into the United States in hopes to obtain these rights and make a better life for themselves; they strive to achieve “The American Dream.” Citizens are given the chance to vote, speak their mind, and live according to their desires without prejudice. However, the same government that promises hope has flaws that frustrate the American people; the Electoral College is one topic of debate. Many feel this system is a safe way to regulate who leads the country, while others feel that issues should be left to popular vote.

    Read More

  • Electoral College is Wrong

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Electoral College is Wrong The Electoral College is the name given to a group of electors who are nominated by political activists and party members within the states. The electoral college really isn't necessary and should be abolished. There are numerous reasons why this is so important. With the Electoral College in effect, third parties don't have a chance to become the president, which isn't fair.

    Read More

  • DBQ Essay: Abolishing The Electoral College

    165 Words  | 1 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Electoral College Flaws

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every four years, the citizens of America migrate to their respective polling locations and cast their vote. On this important day, the second Tuesday of November, the next President of the United States is elected. The election race for United States presidential candidates undergo a political marathon, negotiating primaries, party conventions and an electoral college system along the way. The electoral college is one of the main aspect of a presidential election. The Electoral College is made up of electors in each state, who represent the states popular vote. Each presidential party or candidate designates a group of electors in each state, equal to the States electoral votes, who are considered to be loyal to that candidate, to each State’s

    Read More

  • Essay On The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Electoral College was created by the framers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. They believe that it wasn’t a good idea for the people to elect the president directly because they did not trust that voters would have enough information to make a good choice. The Electoral College basically chooses who the next president will be since it takes away our freedom to vote. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties. The United States of America is a democratic country that is characterized by the equality of rights and privileges.

    Read More

  • Electoral College Argumentative Essay

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Electoral College Persuasive Essay

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    The electors in each state are equal to the number of representatives that state has in Congress resulting in at least three electors per state regardless of population (McKenzie 285). Each state has two votes to correspond to the senators representing that state in Congress, and then each state has one vote to correspond to the House representative that represents that state in Congress. Smaller states comprise a higher percentage of the total electoral votes than would a popular vote for the president in those states (Muller 1257). The Founders intended the Electoral College to protect overshadowing the small states’ interests of the larger populous states by allowing at least three representative votes rather than none at all, and the smaller states were not willing to give control of the election process to the larger states, which was similar to their fight for representation in Congress (Muller 1250). However, it ignores the people who voted against the winner, since once the result is determined at the state level; the losing voters no longer have any significance nationally (Wagner 579). Wagner also points to the fact that the winner-take-all system can lead to selecting the minority candidate over the majority vote, as in the George

    Read More

  • Electoral College Advantages

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Society grants every citizen of legal age to vote in elections. The Electoral College System provides electoral votes to candidates despite losing popular votes. The Electoral College System is unfair as candidates who do not win popular vote can still win a presidential election. This system is unfair as it grants 538 electors to become the voice of 319 million people.

    Read More

  • Electoral College Should Be Abolished Essay

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    This process of electing a president is unjust and is not based off of the people’s views. In Document D the chart provided illustrates how some of the electoral votes favor some states over others; for example the twelve states listed and the district of Columbia seem to have a bigger say in the presidential election process than the citizens of Illinois. This itself is unfair because Illinois deserves to have an accurate representation of their votes, the same as other states do. This shows that the Electoral College undercuts the principle of one person, one vote, and therefore violates political equality. “It is not a neutral counting device... it favors some citizens over others, depending solely upon the state in which voters cast their votes for president” (Document D). Political equality means all citizens are equal and it also allows citizens to partake in state affairs, including the right to vote and the right to challenge elections. However the Electoral College violates the principle of this for the fact that it weighs some citizens’ votes more heavily than others (video). Generally it makes no sense for the people to vote if they’re not even counted, and either way it violates their rights.

    Read More

  • The Electoral College: The Value Of The Electoral College

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Electoral College was a compromise between those at the Constitutional Convention who wanted the US president elected by popular vote and those who wanted congress to select the president. They believed that having it where each state would get a certain number of votes based on population would keep a manipulative and charming person out of office. They thought it would prevent bribery and corruption along with secret dealings. I don’t think that this is the case and it one of the reason I feel that the Electoral College should be abolished.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay on Electoral Colleges

    378 Words  | 1 Pages

    Finally, these consequences go far beyond simple "fairness" issues. Too many times in American history the Electoral College has single-handedly defeated the purpose of democracy in our country. Since the first presidential election, there have been more than a dozen instances in which somebody has been elected president without a majority of the votes. The following are examples from how the electoral college has disrupted an election: Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, and now George Bush.

    Read More

  • The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    Americans do not vote for their presidential or vice-presidential candidate. Instead, they indicate their preference of candidate. Whichever candidate gets a plurality of the vote in a state gets all the Electors for that state. Each state's number of Electors is based on the number of Representatives and Senators it has in Congress. Once a candidate gets a plurality, the Electors vote in the "Electoral College" (a sort of caucus in their state six weeks after the election) for that candidate. So a candidate who gets just one more vote than the other in a given state wins all the votes from that state. Notably, although it is called a College, the Electoral College is a process administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It is not a particular place (NARA 1).

    Read More

  • Electoral College Reform

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Electoral College was established in a compromise between a direct election system, supported by James Wilson, and a system whereby the President would be chosen by congress, supported by Edgridge Gerry, in Article II, Section I of the United States Constitution (Houser, 2). It is a group of ‘electors’ who are nominated or appointed by each party within each state however they choose, who have pledged their loyalty to one candidate. In fact, it is the electors for whom we vote on Election Day. The Electoral College is comprised of 538 members representing the number of the total number of members of the House of Representatives and Senate and three electors representing the District of Columbia. A presidential candidate must have a majority of electoral votes in order to become president.

    Read More

  • Process Essay: The Process Of Becoming A President

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    The candidate who crosses the threshold of 270 electoral votes wins the presidency. In almost every state, a candidate who wins 50.1 percent of the popular vote is awarded 100 percent of its electoral votes. (Only Maine and Nebraska don’t follow the winner-take-all rule;” for each state has a certain number of votes in the electoral college,depinding on the size and population,witch ever person running for president reaches the amount of 270 electoral votes will win the presidency.also each person who reaches 50.1 percent of popular votes is awarded 100 percent of its votes .maine and Nebraska do not follow the winner-take-all rule. also “Every four years, Americans select a president on a Tuesday in November. The two candidates representing the Republican and Democratic parties on Election Day will have survived a long series of state-level contests. Each state holds either a primary (votes by ballot) or a caucus (votes by a show of hands or by clustering all the candidate’s supporters in one place in the room). These initial elections are held from February through June.;”every four years, Americans select a president on a specific Tuesday in November.also there are a Republican and a democratic parties on election day that will overcome a series of state-level contests.each state holds a primary or a caucus votes or ballots with

    Read More

  • Should Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq Essay

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    This has made it very unfair to many people, because the Electoral College has the most advantage for candidates. The Electoral College is a very unfair system that causes any candidate to win easily if he or she has the highest votes, and makes the number of voters feel pointless. This has always been a big thing for the United States, as it’s people are bringing in a new person who would eventually lead their country into a good path. When it comes to actually doing the rough work, like voting for a new President, that would be an entirely different story.

    Read More

More about Essay On Electoral College Flaws

Open Document