As a compromise between electing of the President by a vote in Congress and by a popular vote of qualified citizens the founding fathers established the Electoral College. They feared that the people would be unable to vote for an appropriate candidate. The Electoral College is a winner take all structure were the candidate that receives the majority of the votes in a state, even if it is only by one single vote, acquires all that state's electoral votes. Under the winner-take-all system, the majority of voters can be made a minority, if the candidate wins the right states, leaving everyone else effectively without appropriate representation.
According to The Columbia Encyclopedia the amount of electoral votes each state receives is equal to the number of members in the House of Representatives plus one vote for each of its two Senators and three for the District of Columbia. Currently there is a total of 538 total votes and a candidate has to reach at least 270 to win. If there was a strong third party this could be a problem as there would be the potential to have a tie every election. William Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration sates in the event that no one obtained an absolute majority in the Electoral College or in the event of a tie vote, the U.S. House of Representatives, as the chamber closest to the people, would choose the president from among the top five contenders. This would cause the usually republican house and democratic senate to elect a republican president and a democratic vice-president. A split of these offices could divide the nation and to quote President Lincoln "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Meaning our nation would crumble around us.
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""House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln." "House Divided" Speech by Abraham Lincoln. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014. .
Kimberling, William C. "The Electoral College - Origin and History." The Electoral College - Origin and History. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014. .
"U. S. Electoral College: Frequently Asked Questions." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014. .
Originating in 1787, the Electoral College was created as the official body within American politics that elects the president and vice president. The decision of who will win is based off the vote totals in each state, and “the founding fathers established it in the constitution as a compromise between election of the president by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.” (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, “What is the Electoral College?”). During this time, the job of the Electoral College was to make peace between differing states and federal interest groups, provide popular participation in elections, give a vote to less populated states, and keep the president’s powers separate from Congress.
The Electoral College started in 1789, even then controversy arose. Key factors supporting the Electoral College are representation in states with a small population, prioritizes the organization of campaigns, and provides equality throughout the United States. Candidates would campaign in the major populous regions, overlooking rural area. Virtually placing emphasis in the major cities, neglecting small towns leaving them obsolete. Keep America a two-party system intact in important, how could a candidate win the majority with four or five parties. The South would vote their candidate, California their candidate, East Coast their candidate, causing an enormous problem, avoiding a recount, saving time and
Having only two candidates running for the leader of our country restricts our choices for president. If a third part wins the majority of the popular vote, that doesn't necessarily mean they will be the president because it's all up to the electors. If the candidate doesn't win the electors' votes then they will not h...
The Electoral College has been the favored method by the United States to elect the president for many years. When the College was first created in 1787 it was seen as an efficient and reliable way to vote the president into office. It has been more than 2 centuries since this method of electing was chosen and many things have changed in U.S. society. The Electoral College is failing to keep up with these advancements in society and a new method must be chosen soon.
The Electoral College can be a bit confusing to understand. It was created by the founding fathers and according to the History, Art & Archives, U.S House of Representatives, “…established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States.
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 away. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties.
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
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 gave birth to the Electoral College system. The Electoral College system can be briefly described as a system where voters are able to vote for candidates(electors) on election day. Electors then cast their vote for a candidate in their respective party. Our Founding Fathers described the electoral college system in Article
The Electoral College Should Be Abolished Many years after the United States was founded, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself; they later came to settle on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a system in which the president and vice president are chosen indirectly. In general, the delegates did not believe that a direct popular vote was acceptable, however that it should be decided by the US senators and representatives instead. The way in which it works: a candidate must receive a majority of the electoral votes to be officially declared president. If no candidate obtains a majority, the US Representatives selects the president from the top three contenders; this means each state receives
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.
The Electoral College is not important in choosing the president of the United States. I agree with this because it should matter what the voters say, this is a democracy and it should be the people’s final choice, and if the Electoral College changes the voters’ choice then they will be the ones to blame if our country goes haywire.
The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular v...
There are many positive arguments for the Electoral College like- encouraging a two- party system and having a federal system of government. The two political parties, Republicans and Democrats, dominated the United States government positions especially the President of the United States. There has been a total of thirty four presidents that are affiliated by either Republican or Democrat party. The reason is due to the, Electoral College. The Electoral College votes are based on the popular vote. Therefore having a minority party or faction win the presidency, all depends on the voters. Lastly, the United States government uses a federal system which the Electoral College is able to maintain. By sharing government powers between local and national, the votes to elect the next chief of staff is fair. The presidential election in 2000 was a very close race between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The marginal difference in Electoral College votes was five. This meant that states with low population like, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Utah, had a major impact on choosing George W. Bush as the forty-third president. (Sheppard 2001, 344) Without the Electoral College, the enforcement on a two-party system and a federal system of government would not be
The Electoral College is a system where the President is directly elected. This process has been used in many past elections as well as the current 2016 election. This process also helps narrow down the large numbers that were made by the popular votes, into a smaller number that is easier to work with for electing the President. Some states use a system called “winner-takes-all”, which is another system that is connected with the Electoral College. This allows a candidate with the most electoral votes, to get the rest of the votes that the state provides. 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
This was created as a form of compromise between the opposing ideas of how the President should be elected. The Electoral College is comprised of electoral voters by a total of 538 electors. This number comes from the number of representatives in congress for each state, 1 for each member in the House of Representatives and 2 for the senate plus 3 more voters in the District of Columbia. This means that the total eligible voting population in the United States is represented by 538 votes to elect their leader. This dilutes the representation of each citizen to the majority in its area, which is unjust and unfair for the minority, which should still be able to voice their opinion and let their voice be heard. The Electoral College was put in place because it was believed a popular vote gave too much power to high-populated areas. How is that different from creating representation in the Electoral College based on the representatives in Congress, since the House of Representatives is also based on population? Signifying that the population still has an effect on how the President is elected. Another view is that not every citizen, at the time white male, was knowledgeable enough to elect the Head of State without the Electoral system. This, even though some might still agree with that previous notion, should not be the basis why the Citizens of the “free world” do not hold the equal power in electing their