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Elector | The Electoral College | Should it be done away with? |

Presidential election seasons tend to be an exciting and volatile time within the United States. This is made ever more true by the existence of the Electoral College. When brought up in everyday conversation, the phrase Electoral College gets danced around and avoided. That is because it is such a difficult concept to get a grasp on. Not many people exactly know how our election system works due to the cryptic language that it normally is defined with. It is safe to assume that the uneducated voter believes that whichever candidate wins the most votes nationwide is the winner, and that is sound logic. However in the case of the Electoral College, that sound logic doesn’t hold true; one of the commonly disputed deficiencies of the electoral system. Are these criticisms justified or are they merely just complaints? Another important question to ask is why this system was put into place by our Founding Fathers; there must be a logical explanation, right? In order to begin to understand the system that is currently in place, it is best to look at why it was seen as a necessary measure and some of the history surrounding it. Our Founding Fathers thought it was important that the States and the citizens residing in them should have a say in the appointment of our nation’s leader. The last thing they wanted was to have Congress deciding who would become president. They feared this for several reasons. The first is that Congress would have too much influence in politics, as well as being able to dictate the political agenda. Second, this would mean that members of Congress would have to guess how the people that they represent would want to cast their vote. Lastly, they wanted all citizens to have a say, however they did not fully trust the “common man” to be able to make an

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