Electoral College vs. Popular Vote
When given this assignment I had no clue what topic I might choose. I waited and waited until the recent elections blew up in my face. This past election was a learning experience for me because I just turned 18. This was the first year I could ever vote and a weird election like this occurred. I noticed how many people were actually very disturbed with how Gore won the popular vote but will most likely lose the election only because he couldn't win enough electoral votes in one state.
The Electoral College was designed in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention. A variety of ideas were originally brought to attention. Two significant and highly regarded options were a) Congress selects the President and b) the popular vote. Both ideas were disregarded. Having Congress elect the President would give the legislature complete control over him (6: 159-162). The idea of the people and only the people voting for the President was eliminated because the founding fathers of the U.S. Government felt that normal people would not be able to vote for the best President in an intelligent manner. Despite the fact that many of the original convention members thought that the popular vote would be the best option, there were still too many that opposed the idea (Glennon 7). George Mason, a former political officer in the 1800's, states that a it would be "as unnatural to refer the choice of a proper character for chief Magistrate to the people, as it would, to refer a trial of colours to a blind man" (qtd. In Glennon 7).
I became very interested about the whole system of the college and thought that I could present an argument about how it's really outdated and could use a big change. And so ...
... middle of paper ...
...Democracy 23 October 2000
Glennon, Michael J. When No Majority Rules: The Electoral College Presidential
Succession. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1992.
Kesler, Charles R. The Federalist Papers. Ed. Clinton Rossiter. New York: Penguin Inc.,
1961.
Longely, Lawrence D., and Neal R. Peirce. The Electoral College Primer.
New Haven: Yale University, 1996.
MacBride, Roger L. The American Electoral College. Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1953.
Margasak, Larry. "Florida Voters take to Web." Times Union 10 Nov. 2000: A16
"Electoral College." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2000. 10 Nov. 2000
Wechsler, Alan. "Election Drama a Great Lesson." Times Union 10 Nov. 2000: A16
"Electoral College." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1990 ed.
Yancey, Roy. "States' Gore Electors Question Electoral College system."
Times Union 10 Nov. 2000: A9
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
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 Electoral College is a process, not a place. 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.
Throughout the years, there has been much controversial concerning the Electoral College and whether or not it should be abolished. There was multiple way that were being considered at the time of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Some including election of the President and Vice President by the Congress, by the governors of each state, by the state legislation, and by direction popular vote. Each idea was found to have some flaw which then lead to the creation of the Committee of Eleven which was is currently known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is defined as “a body of people representing the states of the United States of America who formally case votes for the election of the President and Vice President”. The process
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
Originating in 1787, the Electoral College was created as the official body within American politics that elect 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
When the Constitution was written, the typical voter had few opportunities to learn about the presidential candidates, so the job of choosing the President was given to the Electoral College: Electors, who were appointed by their states, were better educated than average citizens, who were not thought capable of making an informed
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.
Understanding the factors that warranted the creation of the system is essential. When the constitution was being created, the framers wanted to avoid creating a strong executive branch. One idea the framers created was to have congress directly choose the president. However, the idea was rejected because some felt that making this choice would be too divisive and leave animosity in congress. Others felt that such a procedure would invite unseemly political bargaining, corruption, and perhaps even interference from foreign powers. An alternative reason why this idea was rejected is, “others felt that such an arrangement would upset the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government” (Kimberling 2). This idea was also rejected because many felt that it would ruin balance between the legislative and executive powers. A second idea for presidential elections was to have the president elected by the popular vote. The idea was discarded because the framers feared that the citizens would not have sufficient knowledge of candidate outside one’s state. T...
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.
Beginning in America in 1787, the Electoral College was originally created during the Constitutional Convention to help make a fair way for the president to be elected without giving too much power to either the national government or individual states. Over the years, the Electoral College has undergone a few changes in attempt to make it more fair, but there is still much debate about whether or not the Electoral College is the most effective way to elect a president. Some people believe that the Electoral College does an excellent job of creating an equal distribution of votes across all ethnicities and social classes of America. In contrast, others think that the Electoral College does not give an accurate portrayal of the popular opinion of Americans, believing that the Electoral College is no longer necessary for the election process in our society. The issue of whether or not the Electoral College should be a part of our government is important to our society, because it has had a dramatic effect on who is elected as president. Several times in American history a potential presidential candidate has obtained the presidential office only because of the Electoral College, despite the fact that they lost the popular vote. Therefore, the Electoral College should be removed from the government and replaced with an election system based on the popular vote.
The Electoral College was created by our founding fathers as a part of “The Great Compromise”. There were two parts to this. First, there would have to be two separate houses of congress, One based off of the population, and the other “upper “ house would have equal representation.The second part of “The Great Compromise
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 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.