...Abolishing the Electoral College Outline: I. Introduction A. Background information---When Americans vote for a President and Vice President, they actually vote for presidential electors, known as the Electoral College. Under this system, each state gets electoral votes equal to the number of its senators and representatives. The number of electoral votes per state ranges from 3 to 55, for a total of 538. To win, a candidate must receive at least half, or 270. 48 states and the District of Columbia currently use “winner-take-all” system, while Maine and Nebraska adopt the district system. B. Thesis statement---Nowadays, the Electoral College betrays American values of majority rule: a candidate can win the election without a majority of popular votes; some states are overrepresented; and a large number of citizens get left out, thus, the Electoral College should be abolished. II. First point---lose vote, but win election A. Transition---why a candidate can win the election without a majority of popular votes. B. Evidence---This can create a situation which has happened four times in American history, most recently in 2000, where a candidate wins the presidential election by close margins in enough states to win the Electoral College, but loses by large margins in other states and thus gets elected with fewer popular votes than his rival, such as George W. Bush. (Abolishing the Electoral College) C. Analysis---the Electoral College was established...
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...The Electoral College is a long-time method of electing the President that our Founding Fathers created as a compromise between the wishes of those who wanted a direct popular vote and those who preferred that of Congress. Some put their trust into the government and others put theirs into their fellow citizens. As a result of this old-time dispute, the Electoral College was made. However, as time has shown and is bound to show in the future, the Electoral College is an outdated method of choosing the President because it allows electors to betray candidates, it is undemocratic in that the US people are not directly voting for the President, and it is unfair to states that are not considered ‘swing’ states. To begin, the 538 electors that...
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...parties and the Electoral College creates the environment for subversion within the political arena undermining national security. The current American political system is no longer working! Corporations and millionaires now own the political parties resulting in political candidates representing the needs and desires of those entities instead of their constituents - the American people. “Six major corporations donated anywhere from five to seven figures to political organizations during the 2010 election cycle” (Wilson 2010). These companies include News Corp., General Electric, National Amusements, Comcast Corp., Time Warner, and Walt Disney Co. An election is impossible to win without the...
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...The electoral college is pretty Important to the United States of America. It helps us elect who our next president will be from the two candidates that are campaigning to become the next president. The electoral college provides a clear and indefinite result on who the next president would be. The electoral college was created by our founding fathers. The electoral college also makes sure that every state plays a role on who the United States's citizens new president would be. There is a lot of debate on wether the electoral college should be abolished or not but, I believe that the electoral college should not be abolished. First the electoral college provides a clear message on who the president will be so there is no confusion or conflict....
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...The Electoral College is a safe guard our founders put in place to protect the weight our votes have regardless of whether we are in a majority by race, age, gender, geographical location, education, or party affiliation. Abolishing it would result catastrophic outcomes. First, it would create an extreme racial disadvantage nationally because white people make up over 75% of our country's population. Furthermore, white voters make up more than half of the republican party vote alone. The year Reagan (the republican candidate) was elected, the white vote totaled a whopping 66%. Second, abolishing the electoral college would give the power to the states with the highest populations. That would mean disaster for voters who live in smaller states...
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...The Electoral College has been around for centuries and the longer it is around, the more corrupt it becomes. It originally started as a way for the president to be elected by a more knowledgeable party than the general public. This is because; in the 1800s people were not very educated when it came to politics. Since then the Electoral College has become essentially rigged and the only way to fix this issue is to eliminate it. People are controlling the way the Electoral College votes, whether it is by bribes or blackmail, people are somehow getting their way. Therefore, abolishing the Electoral College would give the public a more accurate representation in today’s society, along with giving the candidates a fair chance in the actual election. The Electoral College has become a very controversial topic in today’s society; mainly because many believe that it is no longer a just system and has primarily become a controlled system. Some opponents believe that it “contributes to political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system” (Kimberling 3). This statement is...
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...So, where exactly is the Electoral College? Well, surprisingly, the Electoral College is not a place, but a group of elected people, chosen to vote for the next president of the United States. There are many rules and factors in voting, therefore, the election process is very confusing. The Electoral College needs to be abolished, because it is very out-of-date, has too many steps, and it’s an inaccurate representation of the people of America. The Electoral College was established to insure a qualified president by having qualified people vote in the official election, but this has since failed and is no longer the case. “The Founding Fathers established it in the constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in...
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...Should the Electoral College be abolished? Most Americans know very little about the Electoral College, unless it’s an election year in which an increased number of Americans gain a general understanding of the system. Among Americans who have an understanding of the Electoral College system there is often debate as to whether or not America should still use the system that dates back to our founding fathers. These debates unearth topics such as how the Electoral College is the best compromise for our country, or how the system is outdated and was only created so the founding fathers could perpetuate slavery. Although the Electoral College is not a perfect system, it should not be abolished. What is the Electoral College? “The Electoral College...
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...In 1934, an attempt to abolish the electoral college failed in the Senate by just two votes. In support of the abolishment was Alben Barkley, a Democrat Senator from Kentucky who would later become the 35th Vice President of the United States. Barkley deemed the electoral college as "useless," and went on to say that, "The American people are qualified to elect their president by a direct vote, and I hope to see the day when they will.” By 1966, Democrat Senator Birch Bayh from Indiana led hearings discussing the potential repealing of the electoral college. He advocated passionately for this change for years. In 1979, the Senate debated a direct-election alternative, but it failed 51 to 48, just shy of the two-thirds it needed to pass. More...
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...Electoral College process Institutional affiliation Date How the Electoral College works The Electoral College is a process which was put in place in order to allow a nationwide system of fairness after selecting leaders. For instance, this process works with the fact that the results of the popular vote are not guaranteed to stand as the presidential election is usually decided by this system. Under this process, if you cast your vote for the president, you also vote for an often un-named elector who will cast a ballot in a separate election that eventually chooses the president. The main pros and cons in the debate about whether to keep or abolish the current Electoral College process. There are certain pros and cons in the debate about whether to keep or abolish the current Electoral College process. For instance, the Electoral College has hampered the democracy of United States in a manner inconsistent with current American practices. Taking for example, all voters are not given equal opportunities under the Electoral College (Bates, 2004). Even though the Electoral College inflates the victories of the winners, such as establishing their legitimacy, these victories do not give presidents liberated ride in Congress, where their party may be in the minority or the politicians may not think that Electoral College landslide should be treated the same as a genuine popular majority landslide (Yale University Press, 2004). Taking for example, President Ronald Reagan won...
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...In your initial post of at least 200-250 words, briefly summarize how the Electoral College works. Explain some of the main pros and cons in the debate about whether to keep or abolish the current Electoral College process. Also explain one proposal to change how the system works without formally abolishing it. Evaluate the various arguments and the proposal. Include at least two perspectives in your assessment: According the New York Times (2008) Electoral College 101, in America how the system works in electing our commander and chief, is generally the Electoral College was created by the founding fathers and most that doubt direct democracy because they didn’t believe that the President and Vice President should be elected directly by the people and congress. The Electoral College includes 538 electors from 50 states, and the state capital calls the electors. The electors according to the constitution are responsible for electing the President and Vice President of the United States. A majority is required of 270 to win of the 538 electoral votes is needed to elect our President. The majority of the time the electors cast their votes for candidates receiving the majority votes in that particular state. Electoral votes are primarily based on the number of senators and representatives. Article II of our constitution sets guidelines on how our President should be elected and how often it states” the president “"shall hold office during the term of four years." The season...
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...It has been called anachronism that obstructs democratic principles, constitutional stupidity, and dangerous. The Electoral College, following most United States presidential elections, faces persistent calls for the passage of constitutional amendments intended on replacing the system created at the Constitutional Conventions. In every state in America but Maine and Nebraska, the presidential candidate who wins the most votes in that state receives the state’s electoral votes. A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes to be elected president. This unorthodox method of preventing a direct democracy was and continues to be a vital part of federalism. The Founders of America created a republican democracy that incorporated attitudes of compromise and efficient, decision-making. The form of the Electoral College would avoid tyranny of the majority and enable states of all sizes to exist and function peacefully. To abolish the Electoral College would mean subverting the principles that founded our country....
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...For or Against Electoral College System Introduction to U.S. Government In my opinion the Electoral College system is not the best system for electing the U.S. President today. Electoral College system has ebbed and flowed with the possibility of an election resulting in no majority winner, due to a viable third party candidate, or the possibility of a president being elected without winning the popular vote. It's not fair to the candidates running for office, not fair to the campaign volunteers and especially not fair to the American people. Although the Electoral College System was originally considered to be a brilliant innovation that cleverly solved a cluster of 18th-century problems, as we approach the 21st century, we confront different problems and our constitutional system of presidential selection does not look so brilliant. I believe that the Electoral College should be abolished and a direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States by popular vote should be established. The current Electoral College System is unfair for several reasons. One of the most obvious faults is that a president can be elected without winning a majority of the popular vote. It is an insult to democracy for a candidate, after winning the popular vote, to lose the election and the presidency. In addition, a citizen's individual vote has more weight if he or she lives in a state with a small population and a proportionately larger number of electoral seats. It also...
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...In the United States, the Electoral College is used to elect the President of the United States. However, people oppose it since the United States has dramatically changed throughout the years. Some demand popular vote, since it represents more of a direct democracy rather than a representative republic. Meanwhile, there are those who still desire the Electoral College due to the Constitution. There are at least three reasons why the Constitution shouldn’t be changed to abolish the Electoral College, which are federalism, organization, and party benefits. First of all, the Electoral College fortifies federalism. According to “The Electoral College Strengthens Federalism” by Michael M.Uhlmann, he uses Thomas Jefferson has a reference to support his perspective. “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” This quote is references to limited government and equal rights for all. It strengthens and supports states without any federal involvement. Small states receive less power than Larger states;...
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...The Electoral College Should Be Abolished The Electoral College has been around for over 200 years. It was made in a time when the population of the United States wasn’t as large as it is now so, the Electoral College helped give smaller populated areas more power in elections. There are 538 qualified electors and to become president you’ll need 270 votes from the Electoral College. The amount of electoral votes a state gets is determined by the population of the whole state. A state is given one electoral vote for every representative and two for each senator. When a person goes to vote they aren't really voting for the president they are voting for an elector to cast their vote on the candidate that gets the most popular votes in that state. So, if the population of a state votes for a presidential candidate by even 1% more than the other, all the electors in that state need to cast in their vote for the presidential candidate that won by that 1%. For years, the question of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has been floating around. The Electoral College should be abolished. It takes away voting rights of...
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