Electoral Reform in Canada The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough
Electoral College Reform Since the fiasco that was the Presidential Election in the year 2000, many Americans have been calling for a reform of the Electoral College. Most of these people were Gore supporters; disillusioned by the fact that Bush won the office of the President while, in fact, he lost the popular vote. The American people did not elect George W. Bush; the Electoral College did. Last year’s circumstance was the first of its kind in over a century. There have been many close elections
first when seeing Electoral College in high school, I thought it was a place that you go to school. Silly me, I didn’t know anything about the government and how it was ran or what makes up the government. I really didn’t start learning about the government until the 10th grade, when I took American Government with Mr. Evans. If he never did anything else, he made sure that we knew about the government and how and why it was ran the way it was ran. He taught us that Electoral College is something
Why its time to reform the Electoral College Even though the Electoral college worked in the past it isn’t working for the present. The Electoral College was created to help elect a president. How that works is the 50 states are assigned so many voting representatives depending on population in that state. This worked in the past due to most states population was equal but in present times its not so some states have more of a say so in electing the president of The United States. Even though the
Electoral Reform When looking at Electoral Reform it is important to understand that there are many factors that effect whether a particular electoral system is effective in producing the results it is needed to. For example, in some situations it is important for the results to be conclusive, to sway in one particular direction so that things can be implemented. Yet in other situations it does not matter because people are only voting for one of two options and results are therefore
limited to two parties, like the United States, many times over 50% of Canadians do not want the party that won, to win. In this current electoral system, votes are wasted, smaller parties are terribly misrepresented and, in some cases, a party with a lower percent of the vote has come into power. Already, three provinces have attempted to vote on electoral reform; however, the vote did not pass in any of them. British Columbia (BC) and Prince Edward Island (PEI) both held their first referendum on
questions about electoral system reform, representation and the rate of veter turnout.(Howe & Northrup, 2000) After reading, this report it is clear that many Canadians find many issues of their government to be unacceptable. One of the most menacing concerns is in the form that government attains office. The voting process, the form in which Canadians are represented by their Members of Parliament, and the first past the post method of election. The debate about electoral reform is not a new issue
In the wake of the 2016 general election, Michael Lind published a piece on The Smart Set entitled: Can Electoral Reform Save America? This piece centered around a single question on the ballot of a single state, question 5 in Maine, and the impact on electoral reform it could have for the country according to Lind. Using deconstruction, Lind analyzes the idea of a Ranked Choice polling system, rather than the first-past-the-post system that is currently in place in the United States. His allusions
UK's Option to Reform its Electoral System for General Elections In the UK the current voting system for electing MP's to the House of Commons is called First Post the Post. Within the UK alone there are 659 separate constituencies across the UK each electing only one single Member of Parliament. Different voting systems were used within the UK up to 1950. Then in the years after there have been many other, sometimes fairer voting systems like the Single Transferable Vote (STV) used in the
this is largely due to the number of reforms passed in the six year period and the vast variety of the reforms. Indeed there were thirteen reforms during this ministry and they covered areas such as: education; the armed forces; trade unions; Ireland the electoral system and many more. Despite this to truly gauge how great a reforming government this was one must consider what ‘a great reforming government’ is. For instance, was the large number of reforms unusual to ministries of this time
Parliamentary Reform There were numerous reasons that accounted for why the campaign for Parliamentary reform failed in its objectives in the period 1780-1820, with arguably the most significant factor being that those in Parliament did not actually feel the need to reform the electoral system because of the lack of unified pressure from the British public. There was a substantial call for Parliamentary reform between 1780 and 1820, but the separate groups which were pressing for reform did not
The Controversy Over the Electoral College System A number of Americans fail to realize that when they vote they are not voting for the president and vice-president directly, but for electors who then cast their ballots in the Electoral College. Until the recent battle between Gov. George W. Bush and Vice-president Al Gore for the presidency, this new generation of American voters has never witnessed a controversial election. Historically, there have been problematic elections allowing voters
Analysis of the Electoral College Many people argue that the Electoral College is an outdated system. After all, many things have changed in the last two centuries. For one, technology is much more advanced now than it
the initial College of Electors. Although some individuals cherish this firm establishment, I firmly think the Electoral College fails to balance power and politically sustain our nation. In order to address the issue whether the Electoral College should be thrown away or not, the reasons why it was first established in the first place must be discussed. Generally speaking, the Electoral College’s main intent is to deliver ‘the people’s choice’ in regards to choosing the president. In addition, it
Every four years, the century-old debate over the Electoral College rekindles. Currently, as the contest between the Republican candidates intensifies and the remaining four rush toward the finish line for nomination, speculators are turning their attention toward the Presidential Election that is right around the corner. Predictably, the legitimacy of the Electoral College is once again under scrutiny. Although the Electoral College was an ingenious compromise establish by Framers of the Constitution
In the United States, the Electoral College determines the victor of a national election. Each state has its own number of electoral votes, which is determined by state population. This system is a “winner takes all” system. Which means the candidate with 50 percent or more of the votes in an individual state gets all of that states electoral votes. The 2016 presidential election will have 538 electoral votes, this means that the election will be decided who is the first candidate to 270 votes. Some
Presidential election comes to pass the Electoral College is responsible for the formal election of both the President and Vice President of the United States. As an example of an indirect election, where people in each state at large vote in order to decide which individuals will be delegated the responsibility of casting votes for President and Vice President in accordance with the popular vote of the state which has entrusted them to provide such representation, the Electoral College works to ensure that
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. Every ten years after a census, politicians redraw the district boundaries that determine the house and state legislature. The problem with this
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE- IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON The next President of the United States, the successor to William Jefferson Clinton and man who will lead America as the first President of the new millennium is George W. Bush, the Republican governor of Texas, the son of a former President. Or it’s Democratic Vice President Al Gore, President Clinton’s right hand man for the past eight years. One of these gentlemen is the next leader of the free world. Who that gentleman is will in all likelihood
counted, they are voting for the 538 individuals who make up the Electoral College. Most states award their electoral vote to the candidate who has won the popular vote. Let me emphasize, “Most.” The campaign for 2004 that was directed towards my generation was “Vote or Die” (MTV 2004), with words as strong as those, a person like myself, would assume my vote actually counted. But, as I learn more about politics, and the whole Electoral College process, I am stunned and quite aggravated. Honestly I