...The Electoral College sharply influences presidential politics. When Americans go to the polls, their votes are counted and a winner declared. Right? – Wrong. The Electoral College still needs to cast its vote. Americans elect their President and vice president not by a national vote but by an indirect device known as the electoral college (Magleby, D. & Light, P. 2009, pg 192). The system has generated criticism and discussions about various reform proposals. The framers of the U.S Constitution devised this system as a compromise for the presidential election process. They did not trust the choice of president to a direct vote of the people. Once again we arrive at checks and balance devised to stop mob rule and corruption. At the time, some politicians believed a purely popular election was too reckless, while others objected to giving Congress the power to select the president. The compromise was to set up an Electoral College system that allowed voters to vote for electors, who would then cast their votes for candidates, a system described in Article II, section 1 of the Constitution (Bonsor, K. 2000). Opponents of the Electoral College point to Bush as a reason to get rid of the current system — he was president even though he lost the popular vote. Since the distribution of electoral votes tends to over-represent people in rural states, opponents argue that the system fails to accurately reflect the popular will (Dell, K. n.d.). Several reform ideas have been...
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...The electoral college and the election go hand in hand. The electoral college is put into place to elect the president and vice president during the election process. There is debate on whether the voting system should change to a popular vote, a first past the post vote or continue with the electoral college process. The electoral college is a barrier to direct democracy.The electoral college delegates are actually the ones who elect the president. When Americans vote in the presidential election, they are in fact voting for who they want the presidential electors to vote for. Each state has a certain amount of electoral votes based the population of the state, and the votes are equal to the number of senators, and member of the House of Representatives in a state. An example of this is from the website...
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...The Electoral College is derived from Article II of the Constitution, which asserts that each state has a number of electoral votes equal to its total number of Representatives to the House of Representatives and its two Senators. The 12th amendment dives further into the Electoral College process by establishing a majority is needed to be elected president and setting the guidelines to electing a president if neither candidate has a majority (House of Representatives votes). Recently, the Electoral College has become a subject of controversy. The primary concern with the Electoral College is that it raises the importance of particular states during the election cycle. The election focuses on those states thus diminishing the impact of the...
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...is the Electoral College – an indirect voting system and not a national popular vote. This system was implemented by the Founding Fathers about 200 years ago (Shea 2005, 4-6) In recent times the debate about whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the circumstances the United States has to face now, is arising more and more. “American society is highly polarized in its perception of the existing election system” (Belenky 2012, ix). This paper has the aim to contrast the arguments against and in favor of the Electoral College and to demonstrate possible alternatives. In the conclusion an answer to the question “Should the Electoral College be reformed?” will be given. 2. How it works The Electoral College, as it is outlined in the 12th Amendment, is a body of electors chosen to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. In Article II of the Constitution the electing procedure is written down. Each state delegates a specific number of electors to the Electoral College, dependent on its representation in Congress (House of Representatives & Senate). According to the fact that each state has two Senators and at least one Representative (dependent on the size of the population in the state), each state has three electors at the minimum (for example Alaska). With 55 electors, California has the largest number at the moment (see illustration 1) (Electoral-vote.com 2013). Figure 1: Blank map of the U.S. with electoral vote ...
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...several presidential campaigns and debates. Millions of Americans go out to cast their votes in hope of choosing the best suite President. Unfortunately, not all the votes have a significant importance and not all the electoral votes are valued the same. Smaller states have more power than bigger states despite the fact of the big population differences. Despite the fact that the candidate has to have at least 270 electoral votes, the electoral vote creates more flaws by having the winner take all policy. There have been several cases in which the leading candidate has taken all the electoral votes regardless of the amount of votes received by the opposing candidate....
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...called the Electoral College. The process of the electoral college is complex and has many components to how it works. The only power the people have over the electoral college is the ability to appoint our electors through the popular vote; however, the electors have free reign, without needing consent from the people, over who is in charge every four years. Within the Electoral College is a rich history, pros and cons, how electors are chosen, how the difference of the popular vote cause Serbian states to be swing states, and why past elections have brought up questions about if the electoral college should be amended. The original philosophy behind the electoral college is what has caused the rich history of the electoral college. Everything began in 1789 when the idea of the electoral college came to elect our very first president. The Electoral College is a system of selecting the next president by electors who vote based on the popular vote of America (U.S. Electoral College). Alexander Hamilton created the original form of the...
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...The United States current election process is not a true representation of the people. There are various arguments on both sides of this debatable statement with valid points behind them. America has a representative democracy, meaning that the citizens do not directly vote for their president. Instead, a group of people known as the electoral college casts a direct vote for the commander in chief after a popular vote of the nation has been taken. There are 538 electoral votes dispersed between all 50 states. Once a candidate reaches 270 (50.18%) electoral votes they automatically win the presidential election. America’s representative democracy is not how we want our election to be handled Those in support of the electoral college may argue...
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...Political Parties and the Electoral Process Clara O Ebulu U.S. Government - POL 110 December 13, 2014 Ideological differences between America’s Political Parties Political ideology is known to be a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, myths, doctrines, or symbols of a social movement, institution, and class that explains how society should work and offers their political and cultural blueprint for a certain order. In America, we have various parties including two major political parties known as Democrat and Republican. One ideological difference between the Democrat and Republican parties is their view on personal security. The Democrat party believe that governments should not only secure the U.S. borders but to also advance on personal security. This belief has been translated into policies that extend health care access to as many citizens as possible, raising the minimum wage and expanding unemployment insurance as a result. Republicans on the other hand, vigorously opposes this use of government, insisting that we should not be compelled to our brothers’ keeper. A second ideological difference between the two parties is personal liberty. Democrats believe that governments should not only secure our borders but also advance our personal security. As reflected in recently enacted state laws, that belief translates into policies extending health care access to as many as possible, raising the minimum wage and expanding unemployment insurance (Finkleman...
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...To reform the U.S. electoral system, the government should eliminate the Electoral College and allow the citizens to choose the president in order to make the system more democratic. The function of the Electoral College is described in Article II Section 2 of the constitution, the constitution “does not provide that all US citizens may vote for presidential electors. Rather, it provides only that the electors shall be appointed as the state legislatures direct. Once a state determines that electors shall be chosen by popular vote it has wide latitude to determine eligibility to vote” (Hardaway 106). The electors are chosen based on the amount of House of Representatives and Senators each state has in Congress; the few hundred electors controls the United States vote (ABC News). This system is not democratic because the people are not the direct electors of the President, elite men and women of both political parties are in charge of choosing. If the system is kept that way, there is no real reason in having the eligible voters in voting because at the end of the day, their vote does not count causing various effects in the elections such as low voter turnout and lower voter efficacy.Citizens of the United States are discouraged to vote because they feel that their vote does not count since their government has established a group of people to “double-check” their preferred candidate. Why hasn’t the government abolish the Electoral College if more than 54% of the United States...
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...ELECTIONS, ELECTORAL REFORMS AND POST- ELECTION VIOLENCE: PROBLEMS AND WAY FORWARD BY IRABOR PETER ODION DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, IGUEBEN, EDO STATE 07037830536. p24real2000@yahoo.com ABSTRACT In the contemporary world of today, elections have become the most accepted means of changing the government. Although history has shown that it is usually difficult to hold elections that are free and fair. But the importance of a good electoral act cannot be underestimated especially in a developing country like Nigeria where elections were reported to be marred by irregularities by foreign and local observers. It is on this basis that this paper critically observed, even with the electoral reforms carried out, the reasons why there were violence after the 2011 general election and recommended that adopting the basic part of the reforms, devolvement of power at the centre are other plausible way forward to true and sustainable democratic system in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION The electoral system of any given country plays a fundamental role in sustaining and moulding the political behaviour of its citizens (Okolo,2000). The way and manner election is conducted in a country goes a long way to determine the level of poltical culture, political participation and good governance in...
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...(DelReal). Voter participation has been a problem the early twentieth century. America won the revolution and broke its ties with Britain’s monarchical ways for very specific reasons. Reasons clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence (Jefferson 259-267). The American people wanted a government that protected their rights and gave them the ability to select someone who represented them best to lead them. The ability to vote on our representatives and add or changes laws is what America started for. Low voter turnout is preventing any sort of change in our government system. Voter turnout can be split into two problems- attitude and accessibility. Voting is a key part in the democratic system and it is important to address and attempt to reform the system to benefit the citizens of the United States. When the Constitution was ratified in 1787, the voting policies and presidential regulations were set. According to section two of Article two of the Constitution, in order to be a president her or she must be over 35, a natural born U.S. citizen, and must have lived in the United States for at least fourteen years ("The Constitution of the United States " 85). If the president meets the requirements, he or she is allowed to run for office. The first thing a candidate usually does is develop a political action committee to help the candidate to come up with and plan their political campaign. In these beginning steps, the candidate needs to make sure he or she appeals nationwide and...
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...The Electoral College Andie Downs ENG 105 Research Paper Final Every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, the election for the next President and Vice President of the United States takes place. Although thousands of individuals cast their vote for their candidate of choice on this day, it is really Electors that they are voting for. The electors that are selected will go on to choose the next President and Vice President of the United States. For example, the candidate that could win the popular vote of a state is not guaranteed because election is actually decided by the group of electors, called the Electoral College. The U.S Electoral College is the division of the government that selects the President and Vice President of the United States. It consists of 538 electors, where the amount from each state equals its number of members in its congressional delegation. In two states, Nebraska and Maine, the candidate is determined by majority vote and the winner of the popular vote receives 2 electoral votes (“What is the Electoral College?”). Allotting a number of votes to each state in this way is inaccurate and doesn’t properly represent the vastly larger or smaller states. Although the use of an Electoral College during a presidential election is considered a key element to democracy, its application to the process makes it unrepresentative of the voters and elections should instead be based on the popular vote of the people. When the constitution...
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...The electoral college is an institution that every four years is in charge of electing our President, and Vice President. Going as far back as elementary school, students are brought up on how the electoral college works and why its not just the right, but fair system. From being taught about when the Founding Fathers created the process in seventeen eightyseven, to certain founders such as James Madison arguing that the process would hurt the south thus creating the three fifths compromise. As students we learned it all, especially about the prior agreement that was set by southern slave states allowing those states to count thier slaves as votes. After passing a bill that would give Southern States the majority in the electoral votes, the...
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...The 2000 presidential election in which Al Gore won the popular votes and George W. Bush, the electoral vote, dramatized that parties care more about your vote depending upon where you live. Cuban Americans have a huge influence in national politics because of their concentration in the state of Florida. Florida is the state where the 2000 presidential election hung in the balance. The 2000 presidential election was one of the closest races in history. The original design of our federal system of government was thoroughly and wisely debated by the founding fathers and proposing a process that has been around for the last 150 years is probably more complex than any of us think. In the majority of states, the candidate having the majority of votes acquires all the electoral votes of the state. A few states hold the history of voting consistently Democrat or Republican. The system of the Electoral College offers power to the small, less populated states and traditionally those smaller states have privileged the Republican Party. I am in favor of replacing the Electoral College because currently it violates the principle of one person, one vote. "One person, one vote" or "one man, one vote" means legislative districts need to be divided according to population, so that each person (and each interest) has an equal amount of representation in government. Furthermore, the addition of two electors to each state, for its senators produces significant distortions in how much...
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...national level and continues to make strides today in the political landscape through its evolution as a document. However, our Constitution is far from complete. Discrepancies between contemporary times and those in which our founders live in are cause for the changes and redress of our Constitution as to better fit it to the standard of the times. One such dated concept is the electorate system of the electoral college. Though necessary at one point, our current time of information sharing has rendered it ineffective in its task and I would argue, best replaced through the administration of a test to the voters in order to ascertain their...
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