Essay On Electoral College Reform
The Electoral college system is in need of reform for the following three reasons. First, it creates the potential of having faithless electors. During an election electors may pledge their vote one way that corresponds with the party, and then cast their vote in the opposite way. Second, it gives the candidate an opportunity to win the election without receiving the popular vote. The candidate may have received the popular vote by gaining more states, but looses states that have a large amount of electoral votes. Finally, the focus is on the votes of the states rather than the individuals. Candidates campaigns are strategically placed in certain states where the goal is to win them over, rather than go across the nation to obtain every individuals
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A candidate can gain a large percentage of votes from the population, but can still loose to the opponent who has a large amount of electoral votes according to the states they gained. This creates issue because you can have a candidate, that a high percentage of voters were against still become president. We see this issue with the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. During the election Al Gore received the popular vote, which led to people announcing that Gore had one the election. However, Bush one a majority of the electoral votes (271) which in turn makes his the president. It questions the legitimacy of the election, which results in individuals being upset because the majority does not rule. Ross states "The American presidential election could allow a wrong winner to win the election."As a result this creates a large amount of political unrest, because voters believed that their votes are not important. If a candidate can win just by gaining states with large amounts of electoral votes and is not approved by a majority of the population raises red flags in our "democratic process." The electoral vote outweighs the popular vote hindering the true essence of letting the people's voices be heard. The elected president should have the support of the people. The electoral system was devised to ensure that a president will have the support of the people. Going against this which we see with certain elections harms the system, and should thus be
A candidate can gain a large percentage of votes from the population, but can still loose to the opponent who has a large amount of electoral votes according to the states they gained. This creates issue because you can have a candidate, that a high percentage of voters were against still become president. We see this issue with the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. During the election Al Gore received the popular vote, which led to people announcing that Gore had one the election. However, Bush one a majority of the electoral votes (271) which in turn makes his the president. It questions the legitimacy of the election, which results in individuals being upset because the majority does not rule. Ross states "The American presidential election could allow a wrong winner to win the election."As a result this creates a large amount of political unrest, because voters believed that their votes are not important. If a candidate can win just by gaining states with large amounts of electoral votes and is not approved by a majority of the population raises red flags in our "democratic process." The electoral vote outweighs the popular vote hindering the true essence of letting the people's voices be heard. The elected president should have the support of the people. The electoral system was devised to ensure that a president will have the support of the people. Going against this which we see with certain elections harms the system, and should thus be