Should Electoral College Be Abolished Essay

Imagine a system where the ruler of a country is chosen indirectly and the minority is valued more than the majority. This is how the United States Electoral College operates and this is why many wonder whether or not the Electoral College should be abolished. The Electoral College is a system in which the a portion popular vote in each state counts as Electoral vote. Whichever candidate wins the most votes wins the states electoral votes. So, should the Electoral College be abolished? The Electoral College should be abolished for 3 main reasons; The Electoral College is undemocratic, it over-represents small states and it hurts third parties.

One reason the Electoral College should be abolished is because it is an archaic, erroneous and undemocratic

In an electoral College the number of Electoral votes allocated to each state is dependent on the states population. If they state has a greater population then the state has more representatives, thus more electoral votes. In spite of this, which seems to be an advantage, states with larger population have a much harder time generating Electoral votes for the mere fact that they are underrepresented. Because states with lower populations have less representatives, they require less votes to acquire one Electoral vote. For example, a state with about 500,000 voters would have 3 representatives and therefore represent about 16,666 people each. By the same token, A state with about 35 million voters would have around 55 representatives, meaning the each representative represents 636,363 people.This means that two regions with the same population can have different amounts of Electoral votes because one region is a state and the other a group of them.(DocD) This imbalance of power highlights the fact that the Electoral College should be abolished because it expresses how the amount of votes you get does not determine whether or not you win. It also expresses how smaller states have more impact in the electoral college because they are not only easier to generate but also they have more value. It is unfair for larger states to have less votes than a group of states with similar

Traditionally, there are two main candidates; a democrat and a republican. They often have very opposing views and disagree on most topics. But there is frequently a third party candidate who is neither a democrat nor a republican but is an independant. Independants often struggle when it comes to getting votes because many people don't acknowledge their stance and normally follow the main parties, democrat or republican. The Electoral gives third parties a harder time acquirring votes. Third party candidates normally get 0% of the electoral vote despite getting a respectable amount of the popular vote. (DocB) Third party candidates are already at a disadvantage because they already are struggling to get the support of the faithful democrats/republicans. By keeping the Electoral College we are putting third party candidates at a worse disadvantage because it gives them virtually no chance to win