Pressuasive Essay on Why the Electoral College Is No Longer Needed

Electoral College

Have you ever wondered why the Electoral College is still needed to elect a chief executive into office? You see, the Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state to cast a vote for president. It is the majority of electoral votes, not the popular vote of the people, that determines who wins the presidency. Worse, the electors may vote however they wish; it is not required for them to vote according the popular vote of their states. When the 12th Amendment was written, our country did not have the communication abilities it does today. Communication wasn’t always accurate and at times it was very difficult. It would have been difficult for most citizens to make an informed decision about their vote, so electors were chosen for their education, wisdom and understanding of politics. Today, however, most of our citizens are better-educated and far more informed than citizens were in the 18th century. The Electoral College is no longer needed to elect our president. On the other side however, supporters of the Electoral College say its is designed to bring together the largest possible support for the winner, but this “winner take all” politics is not always reflecting what the American people want. It’s a riggable system, basically. Others might say that distribution of support is more important than depth of support, but these electors are humans and are naturally more open to vote for who they want rather than what the people want. It even states that the elector can vote for who they want. So what’s not to say it isn’t a biased election on the electors’ part? Therefore, we no longer need the Electoral College. The people can, are willing, and able to speak for themselves. One very crucial reason there should be no Electoral College is that it violates political equality. “At base, it violates political equality, it’s not a neutral counting device; instead, it favors some citizens over others (George Edwards).” Not all of our citizens are represented in this system. Rich are favored over poor in some cases, because of assumptions on their intelligence level. People should be able to speak for themselves on who the want for President. Again, the U.S. has no need for the Electoral College. The Electoral voting system is supposed to reflect the popular vote. “It’s an institution that aggregates the popular vote (Daniel DiSalvo).” You see, this is really how the College is supposed to work, but that’s not how it is at all. The electors do not have to choose for who the public votes on. The votes from the people could be 3-1 on not voting somebody for office, but for the Electoral College it could be 1-3 in not voting them to office. The system does not always go hand in hand with what society wants, and sometimes the electoral votes overrule what the people want. Therefore, the U.S. should be independent from the Electoral College. The Electoral College can at times be biased on the type over person they want to be in office. “[It] tends to favor the candidate [deemed] “next in line” (Daniel DiSalvo).”
The college will look for a certain type of person they see as fit. Sometimes though, you must look at all the candidates, even though one may be less qualified or overlooked in the public, because they could very well be better suited for office. Again, the Electoral College should have no say in who is elected Chief Executive. The people should never get the “hand-me-down” treatment the Electoral College seems to imply. The Electoral College violates political equality, its doesn’t reflect the popular vote like it’s supposed to, and it in some cases be biased on the type of person they want, and overlook other candidates. The peoples’ voice on who they want to run their country should never be overwritten by anyone. What if there comes a day when this voting system allows us no say in president?

Article #1
Website address: http://www.npr.org/templates/text/s.php?Sld=412786&m=1
Date accessed; October 24, 2004
Title of article: Debating the merits of the Electoral College
Organization: NPR Listening Panel

Newspaper #2
Title of newspaper: New York Times
Title of story: Factions have a roll to play
Author: Daniel DiSalvo
Date written: January 4, 2012