The Electoral College is a system that has been setup to elect the President of the United States. Over 200 years ago, a committee was formed to determine the best way to elect the President. The three main methods debated for electing the president were by congress, the people, or electors. It was decided that in an effort to keep the checks and balances of our government in order, congress could not elect the president. Although majority felt that the citizens of the United States should elect the president, they felt that the citizens would easily be misinformed and not familiar enough with the candidates to choose the right person. Due to this, it was decided that a group of electors would decide on the President. Each state casts a number of electoral votes equal to the number of senators and representatives they have. Small states are given at least three votes and the largest state, California, has fifty-four votes. The District of Columbia is also included in the College Electoral process and has three votes, as well. The electors are supposed to cast their votes based on the popular vote in state, but this does not always happen. If a candidate wins a number of big states, even if it is by close margins, and loses other states by wide margins, the candidate could lose the popular vote and still win the electoral vote. Three United States Presidents have already won based upon this scenario. In 1876, President Rutherford B. Hayes received and won the presidency by one more electoral vote than his opponent. In 1888, Benjamin Harrison defeated President Grover Cleveland with one electoral vote, although President Cleveland won the popular vote. It has once again happened, as George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 election. Al Gore won the popular vote and George Bush walked away with the electoral vote and the Presidency. Is it no wonder that the actual people who vote in the presidential elections is so low? We constantly hear your vote could be the one that counts. How is that possible in a system that does not always take in a count the popular vote? It is doubtful that we will actually change the constitution to a vote by popular demand, although it is in my opinion that today citizens of the United States have a better understanding and ability to vote for the President themselves without having to rely on electors to get the job done.
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 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.
As stated by Jamin Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University and a Democratic state senator in Maryland, “…It simply calls for an interstate compact among all states to agree to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. It becomes effective and binding when states representing at least 270 electors enter the compact. This is the way we will get to elect presidents as we elect governors and senators: everyone acting together, without games and subterfuge”. So really what happens with national popular vote is when a person votes, their vote is going directly towards their choice of president, unlike where in the Electoral College, a persons vote is going towards electors whom is a group of people who have pledged to work for their chosen candidate. The founding fathers thought that people directly voting for their chosen candidate would be too problematic and a disaster, which is why they came up with the Electoral College. So technically with the Electoral College, a candidate can win the most votes yet he can still lose the election, which is one of the reasons the Electoral College System is confusing and hard to understand to some people, and may even discourage citizens to vote because one may think their vote will not count towards their candidate in
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
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.
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.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of the System of Choosing Presidential Candidates It seems reasonable to conjecture that the Achilles' heel of the modern presidency is one of recruitment. The long-winded delegate nomination process could in theory be replaced by a daylong direct election of presidential candidates. Instead, tradition dictates that the presidential race is drawn out quadrennially over the pre-primary, primary, Party Convention and campaign seasons. All four phases influence the outcome of candidate selection and much also depends on campaign finance, the role of the media and the nominees themselves.
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.
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...
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 votes are what really matter in the election process. Citizens who decide to cast votes for the upcoming presidents do become very upset when it comes to their opinions in the electoral college, because they feel that their opinions and beliefs are neglected from the electors, and that they have no say in their country’s upcoming
The United States Electoral College is a process of electing the president and the vice president of the nation. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors: 435 members of house of representative, 100 senators, and 3 electors from District of Columbia. The Electoral College started when the founding fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution in which many laws and the presidential election laws stated. Most states use the “winner-take-all” system, that is, the winner of the state popular vote gets all of the state’s electoral votes. This system allows some candidates to win presidency even if they lose the national popular vote by a small margin. Another voting system is called the congressional district plan. This method divides the state depending on the number of its district then distribute its electoral votes to each district. The winner of each district will have that
The Electoral College, friend or foe? The answer behind this question is in the minds of those that understand it. Whether it be a "friend" or a "foe" there will always be opposing sides and a controversial verse. Since the political circumstance of today, the Electoral College seems to be the topic in every conversation and the thesis to every essay. The uncontrollable desire to know the truth behind the mystery is stirring in the minds of the people in the United States of America. With the 2000 Elections underway sides are beginning to be taken among the people. Many oppose the Electoral College because of the fact that unknowing electors choose their leader and many support it because it was created by the founding fathers. Both sides are arguable and not one side is right. The question is: Can a system be created to satisfy both sides of the American public?
There are many steps in running for president. Running for president is said to be one of the longest campaigns. Running for President consists of mainly two different parties and which consist of: the presidential primary campaign and the general electoral campaign that follow the party’s national convention. Generally both campaigns take place within the first 10 months of the election year. The primary campaign was mainly used for opening the nomination process to ordinary party members and to delay and postpone the influence of party bosses. During this time there is a process where the candidates go through a “beauty contest” where they are competing for popular votes; however the “popular” votes do not have