Preview

Electoral College Vs Popular Vote

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1599 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Electoral College Vs Popular Vote
The Electoral College is a group that consists of electors who determine the succeeding president. The system has been functioning ever since the Founding Fathers established this in the Constitution. The Electoral College system has never been changed, nor has it been disregarded as a whole, but should it? The Electoral College should no longer be kept as a means to decide who the next president should be, instead the popular vote should be used for the task. The popular vote directly reveals the candidate that the people want as president. The Electoral College is not a democratic system to use in a nation that exemplifies itself as the most definitive democracy. The system also discourages people from taking part in the right to vote. The …show more content…
The electoral system is “regarded as an anachronism, a non-democratic method of selecting a president that ought to be [overruled] by declaring the candidate who receives the most popular votes the winner” as pointed out in the article In Defense of the Electoral College: Five reasons to keep our desired method of choosing the president. The United States was founded upon the ideologies of freedom and representative government, which begs the question, why would we have a non-democratic method to decide the most powerful person in a nation where democracy remains as a provocative principle? The Electoral College is not a true democratic way to choose a president as a popular vote is. Equally importantant, is the belief of “faithless” electors. The article that was previously cited choosing against the Electoral College states that “’faithless’ electors have occasionally refused to vote for whomever they please”. These “faithless” electors are chosen to choose president that the people want them to choose but they ultimately change their minds. Getting rid of the Electoral College would ensure that untrustworthy electors would never betray the people putting the voting power in the hands of the people. According to the article, that was previously mentioned defending the Electoral College, it states that the electoral system “is not democratic in a modern sense… it is the electors who elect the president, not the people”. People cannot specifically elect the president, instead that job goes to the electors. Many people believe that we are voting for the president but in actuality we are not. A group of electors versus an entire nation in the choice of the president would obviously be determined by the peoples’ choice based on a belief of a democracy, but we still cling onto the Electoral College as the primary process. Many people have argued that if the popular vote were to be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When citizens vote and cast their ballot for the candidate that they believe will be fit for president, they are not voting directly for their favored candidate. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of elected electors who represent a certain states votes. The Electoral College was established by the constitution to protect minority interests and reduce the possibility of a regional candidate. However, some believe that the advantages of a direct popular vote election, such as its consideration of democratic values, outweigh the disadvantages. While others believe that the Electoral College has been put in place to hinder regional candidates not allow it to happen.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pt1420 Unit 4 Study Guide

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The reason why the Electoral College was created was because our Founding Fathers were distrustful in allowing the president to be elected directly by the people. As a result, the Electoral College would be a system to determine who will be the next president and who will be the next vice president of the United States though the votes of electors from every state. This would create an indirect way for votes to elect their president.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College, established by the founding fathers in the United States Constitution, is a process whereby a body of electors chosen by voters in each state cast a formal vote to elect the president and vice president. Among many other things established within the Constitution, the Electoral College requires extensive reform. The Constitution itself was merely a framework for the United States government and did not take into account the extent to which society would change between 1787 and 2015. Amidst the several problems constituted by the Electoral College, the four most threatening complications consist of the possibility for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote, the inequality among the distribution of votes according to population, the exclusion of third party victors, and the consequences that arise in case of a tie.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College was established in 1787 as a compromise between having Congress select the next President of the United States, and having a direct democracy in which the popular vote selected the next President. The system has worked for over 200 years, so why change it now?…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The founding fathers were not gods. Consequently, they were not perfect, and neither were the systems they set up to run the country. Nevertheless, they knew that things would change, and they set up ways to fix the government when needed. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the American people have the right to alter or abolish the government if it does not fit their needs. The Electoral College is flawed, and the American people need to replace it because this system does not fairly represent the people, it forces people to vote a certain way, and it does not always guarantee that the winner of the popular vote will win the election. These imperfections in the Electoral College make voters feel like their votes…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The last problem with the Electorial College is that it seems as if our vote does not count. One of the things that is supposed to be so great about America is that we, as Americans, get to choose our leader. The sad thing is with this system the probability of your vote counting is very…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imagine if you cast a ballot in the last election and after you cast your ballot you find out that the President was chosen by 538 delegates each from all different states. This is reality and that process is called the electoral college. The electoral college should be abolished because it does not reflect the common Americans opinion, also the process has not worked as there were many unqualified Presidents, finally, the delegates that elect the President are all very partisan towards their party…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral college isn’t needed or wanted for some people because they want full control through their peers in the state and from the entire population worldwide. The uneducated people feel as if their vote doesn’t count which it does, but just not to their standards. When people felt their votes didn’t matter they were depressed, which then fuels them to vote badly the next election. Depressed voters could affect the election because it is a honest and loyal vote being given at the time. So, if people got the feeling that their vote counted it would be in their favor and they wouldn’t be depressed but a little satisfied. Basically the bottom class and unwealthy want more power, this would corrupt the world. The rich and wealthy wouldn’t agree with the others vote, but through popular vote majority rules. Without the electoral college the election would be all popular vote and if that was to be a split decision it would then force the House of Representatives to select a president. Also the people will have their power, but they would choose a minority president which means the wrong guy is in charge all because of a very uneducated vote. Next the votes wouldn’t be direct at all it would be hard to choose two overall candidate to vote and support the republican and democrat party. With no electors and their education…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The system of electing our president has been fairly consistent throughout the past 50 years and one thing that has not changed since our constitution was written is the use of an electoral college to elect the president. By using an Electoral College voters do not directly vote for their next president, instead they submit a vote that is then tallied by the electors and whichever party has the most votes at the end gets all of the Electoral College votes from that state. The use of an Electoral College has been the topic of a lot of debate in recent years, especially after the election in the year 2000 in which Al Gore won the popular vote, but failed to become president because George W. Bush won the electoral votes. There are people whom favor the use of an electoral college and there are people who think that it should be abolished and that voters should be able to directly vote for their president. For my paper I want to present both arguments, each side’s pros and cons, and ultimately whether or not I think we should or should not change the use of an electoral college.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College should not be abolished, because if it is then the election process would collapse. The Electoral College was created because “normal citizens” were not deemed worth of voting because they would not know what or who they were voting for. The system is built in a way that is complicated, but it works, here is how it works: all US states and DC get one electoral vote for each of their US Senators and Representatives. The Representatives’ votes are determined by the decennial census, and the US Senators have 2 per state. There are 538 votes in the Electoral College and all the candidate needs to get to win is 270 votes. This is a system that has been around since the Constitutional Convention, so why is there any reason to change it. The reason that it has been around for so long is because the Electoral College was made so that the two major political parties would have an advantage against the minority or third parties. They did this because the third parties focus too much on one issue and that would be disastrous for our government. But third parties do deserve to still be in the…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Electoral College system was first established in the constitution by the Founding Fathers. The creation of Electoral College is to make sure every states is a viable participant in electing the president, in which giving the small population states a chance. In the day of election, people cast their votes for their candidate and who wins it determines the electors of the state. The system was great when it was first introduced because of how people before relied more in the electors who are very educated and wise, but now people are different has gained more knowledge and can determine who will be a good president. Although electoral college has served the United States since 1787, it has become unfair because it ignores the will of the people, it creates faithless electors, and it gives too much power to the smaller states.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Electoral College has been a topic of discussion ever since the election of 2000. When you rely on this system, there could easily be a different outcome in the electoral vote and the popular vote. With the Electoral College in place, some of Americans’ votes are basically worthless. When the Electoral College was put into place it was a solution to a problem of the 1780’s, now in the 21st century, all Americans should have a voice. Although some people feel the Electoral College is just, the Electoral College is an unfair and outdated way of picking a President; the popular vote is the best way to elect a President in the best interest for the public.…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is the Electoral College a fair and true system? The Electoral College is the system in place to pick the next president of the United States. The issue with the Electoral College people think it is not fair because majority vote wins a whole state and it cancels like the rest of the votes. Every state has at least two votes. Votes or points are calculated by the amount of representatives the state has.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dear Mr. Senator, the Electoral College may be a former method in our changing world, but it still plays an important role in our government. To date, it has been the best method in choosing our president and that should not change. This style of voting is the most organized style to elect important officials and has proven again and again how effective it is. It evades the hassle of runoff elections, makes it up to larger states that have fewer votes and requires a trans-region appeal to all candidates to make campaigning fair. To get rid of the Electoral College would be like removing a piece of a crucial part of our past and future.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States Electoral College is an integral part of America’s political system. In 1787, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention decided on the creation of the Electoral College, or a system under which a body is elected with the expressed purpose of itself electing a higher body. The College was established by Article Two, Section One of the United States Constitution. (Lesson 2: Political Participation, n.d.) The Founding Fathers wished to provide the people of each state the ability every four years to choose the number of electors who would vote in the Electoral College, who would in turn determine which candidate would enter the White House as the nation’s next president. (Watts, 2010) For the past 200 years, the Electoral…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays