Running a country is no easy business. Before even thinking about running for the presidency, candidates need to be familiar with the load of work that is thrown onto their back with their new title as Mr. President. Qualifications for who is going to be next in line for running the country should be herculean. You would not want any random, everyday individual taking control of the nation you live in. You would much rather see an accomplished, knowledgeable individual whom you can trust with making decisions that directly and indirectly impact the way you live day to day. This is where the Electoral College comes into play. The Electoral College represents states as a whole, with at least 3 electoral votes given to each state. These electors …show more content…
The College votes on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, casting their votes on separate ballots for both President and Vice President. Electors are chosen at state party conventions or by a vote of the party’s central committee in each state. These electors are not just any ordinary people. They may be state elected officials, party leaders, or persons who have a personal or political affiliation with the Presidential candidate. These individuals pay attention to all of the little details going into a presidential candidate through debates and campaigning across the nation. If the popular vote was put into place for electing the president, then the people’s votes could be biased towards a certain political party, whether it be Republican or Democrat. By solely basing their vote on party affiliation, common people do not get a grasp on the issues at hand. A republican voter can vote for a republican candidate just because of the political party stance, without even considering the information and courses of action that candidate is wanting to take in …show more content…
There have been 4 occasions when a minority president has been elected: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush. While the popular vote did not win the electoral vote in these cases, the good for the country was chosen over the populations favorites. Also, a minority president could be chosen if the country was divided so deeply that three or more presidential candidates split the electoral votes among themselves resulting in nobody winning the majority vote, or over 50 percent. The Electoral College examines and dissects the facts and information on every candidate before choosing who they will be voting for. A minority president being elected into office does not necessarily mean a president with no background or expertise is being elected, it just means that the viewpoints of the Electors fall towards three or more candidates that have similar viewpoints on what is good for the
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
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. With the Electoral College in affect third parties don't have a chance to become the president, which isn't fair. Electors are expected to be honest but in the past our country has caught some untruthful ones. The electoral College was created so long ago that it is now outdated, so we shouldn't even have electors. People of the U.S. may think that they are participating in a direct election for the president, but with the Electoral College system technically, this isn't the case.
The electoral college is a group of five hundred and thirty-eight people who, every four years, decide our countries president and vice president. This number is created by taking the House of Representatives (four hundred and thirty-eight members elected per stated based upon population), The Senate (Two representatives elected per state), and three representatives from the
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 consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.
In America, voting for the President is a privilege and a lie. Many Americans think when they go to the polls in November, they are voting for the President of the United States; but really, they are voting for a group of electors who have pledged to support a nominee for the President. The Founding Fathers were concerned that presidents would always come from a populous state and wondered whether the public would have the knowledge of various candidates necessary to make a wise selection. They did not have access to technology like the internet or smart phones as we do. In most states, as the result of the election, the state awards all its electors to the winning candidate (Belenky 1308). A Presidential a candidate must win 270 Electoral
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.
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
In the United States we are all guaranteed one vote per person. Everyone has an equal voice in electing the people that serve in the government. Every four years during the month of November citizens of America go to the polls to vote for a president and vice-president of the United States. Am I right? Not really. They actually vote for electors that then vote for our president. It makes me wonder, "Are we a democracy?" Having the Electoral College defeats its purpose. I oppose the electoral college for these three reasons, in election 2000 the president that lost the popular vote actually won, everyone's vote doesn't really count, plus the electoral college has disrupted elections fifteen times!
Every four years our nation votes for the next leader of our nation; however, it is not really the citizens of our nation but rather the Electoral College who chooses the President of the United States. The Electoral College, which is the group of people who formally elect the President and Vice-President of the United States, has been part of our nation since its inception. There are 538 electors in the Electoral College, which comes from the number of House representatives and the two Senators each state has. To win the presidency, a candidate needs 270 of those electors. It is an indirect election since the people are not directly voting for the president but rather the people of voting for their elector. The electors meet in the Capital
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.
The Electoral College is a creation of the Founding Fathers that serves as a compromise between having the outcome of the presidential election decided by a popular vote of qualified citizens and a vote in Congress. The Electoral College process involves the selection of electors by the majority public voters, the former of which is given the task of casting their electoral vote so that it corresponds with their state’s popular vote. The minimum number of electors that a state could have (including the District of Columbia) is 3, and the final allotment for each state reflects the sum of the number of senators and representatives that the state has in the U.S. Congress. A candidate is elected President if they have 270 or more of the 538 total
First, the Electoral College system is not the optimum election system for the country of America because of the fact that it allows for a candidate with a minority of the popular vote to win the presidency. On several occasions, such as in 2000, a president has been elected with less popular votes than the major opposing candidate. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “I...
However, history has shown that electors have, more often than not, simply voted for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state. The electors themselves are chosen by political parties, who expect them to vote with along party lines. Some states even have laws punishing electors if they don’t vote for the winner of the state they represent. As shown in Document G, the winners of the Electoral College in 1876, 1888, and 2000, Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush, all went on to become president after the electors voted accordingly with their state results. The present form of the Electoral College is a complete departure from the Founding Fathers’
The United States of America is a representative republic. In order to sustain a representative republic, it requires an actively engaged and informed participation from its citizens. The U.S Electoral College is a process in which the president of the United States is chosen. The founders escaped a tyrannical government, installing this system to prevent corruption, and more of a federalist system. This system balances the national governments power, and the states’ power. This system varies state by state. Generally speaking, the people who make up the electoral college is made up by people who are elected by each of the state’s legislature. This federalist system proves that voters cannot simply vote for their favorable presidential candidate; they must also vote in their local elections.