...Presidential elections occur every 4 years, which allows United States citizens to vote for the next person who they want to run the United States. There are two ways in which United States citizens can vote for a president, either by popular vote, or electoral college vote. The next president of the United States is the candidate who “...wins 270 electoral college votes…”, but most people believe that the next president should be the candidate who wins the popular vote. Presidential elections like the 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 elections shows that candidates are able to become president if they win enough electoral college vote, but they don’t win the popular vote. The current Electoral College vote doesn’t show the true feelings of United...
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...The system that a country decides to holds elections is important because it will forever influence crucial dynamics of the government. The electoral system consist of rules that determine not only how elections and referendums are conducted, but how their results are determined and carried out. Electoral systems lay out exactly how the voting process is planned to pan out. This includes everything from when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, how ballots are marked and cast, who can stand as a candidate, how the ballots are counted, and any other factors that can possibly affect the outcome. These political electoral systems are defined and protected by both electoral laws and constitutions. Elections are crucial to a functioning democracy since It is the most efficient procedure to place someone in power that is wanted by the people....
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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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...Instructor: Kathleen Sedille The structure and function of the electoral college consist of a process that was establish in the U.S Constitution by congress and electors, in which they the people would decide on voting for the President and Vice president of the United States of America. Within the qualification of voting, each presidential candidate running to become the next president of the United States of America, must have their very own electors of the state that they reside in. The future president of the United States, must make a selection of electors, from the political party in their state. In some states laws and restrictions, may apply to future presidential candidates on what electors they may choose in their political party. The Electoral college vote was formed and established during the positioning of the 23 Amendment in 1787. During this process, the United States Constitution, which consisted of Congress, were trying to reach common grounds in how to properly to choose a presidential Candidate for the United States of America. In the methods and steps concluded to take place, in this political matter, consisted of gathering important members of congress together, which was chosen and established, by a body of people whom had a direct popular electoral election or vote. The United States Constitution plan of incorporating the electoral vote, won favor in many states, and was approved by the house of congress and has since become...
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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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...Changing the Voting System in America In the United States of America, the Electoral College system is used to elect the President. This system was created to make voting a quicker and easier process when the country was established. Horseback was the quickest way to transport votes at the time and to speed up the process of voting, the founders created the electoral college system. To eliminate the delay of travel, the electors who represent each state could be updated more quickly. Today we now have the internet and information can be easily transmitted instantly with no time delay when votes are counted and coming in from all states on the day of the election. The United States is a technologically advanced country so why do we keep using this process to elect our next president? This citizen criticizes the Electoral College system in the U.S. It must be replaced because it is outdated and unfair. The main issue that citizens have with the Electoral College is how it decreases the voting power. According to William Kimberlin, “States are given three voted regardless of their population but based on the state's population, the citizens votes are given to the states”. (uselectionatlas) This system is giving votes to citizens who are not in the states boundaries. In smaller states, a vote has more influence than a vote in a larger state because votes from larger states are distributed among the smaller states. For example, eight votes are taken away from California and redistributed...
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...The Electoral College: The Fear of Mobocracy Katherine Kinert Olympic College, Bremerton Abstract The Electoral College is a very important part of the United States Electoral System. However, very few Americans actually understand how it works. The lack of political efficacy in this country is a large reason of why some people do not think the Electoral College should be abolished. However, as Eric Black (2012) stated in an article on PBS News Hour, “Polls for many years have reliably shown that a majority of Americans would prefer a straightforward popular vote for the presidency.” Originally the Electoral College was established to prevent majority factions from having too much power causing mobocracy to occur. However, this system is outdated and the conditions that prompted the founding fathers to institute this precaution no longer exist today. Also, the fact that almost all the states use a winner-take-all system to determine which candidate gets all of the electoral votes for the state. Will abolishing the Electoral College rid the United States from mobocracy? Introduction The Electoral College is outdated and does not follow the true spirit of American Democracy. David Stewart (2013), a lawyer in Washington, D.C., states that, “Because most people knew little about public events or leaders from distant states, the convention delegates reasoned, they would not make a wise choice between presidential candidates.” Today, people have access to information through TV...
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...Relevancy of the Electoral College The President is defined as the elected head, or leader, of a republican state. A republic a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives. The United States of America has proficiently based their processes on electing these officials, known as a President, on this basis. Their process included the voting of citizens in the United States for their [the people's] preferred delegate. The Founding Fathers of the United States developed a system where for the votes of the people to be counted for at a higher rate. This system is known as the Electoral College. The United States’ electoral college system throughout the years have been seen to work exceptionally well but many perceive the Electoral College to be both unfair and controversial. The Electoral College's role throughout the years of elections was ultimately against the true morals of the election process. To identify the controversial issue brought upon by the...
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...misunderstand the United States election process. When you turn 18 and hit the voting box for the first time it’s not the presidential candidates you’re voting for, but a panel of electors that cast the actual votes within each representative state; which ultimately elect the President. That individual vote is still very important because it’s the process to determine which candidate your state will vote for on Election Day. In a perfect world voting for the electoral vote should align with the outcome of the popular vote. There have been a few times in our nation’s history where that hasn’t been the case. Our founding fathers had the best intentions but fell short on predicting all the nuances surrounding our voting process. Based on the information available at the time they focused on isolating the electors at the state level thus mitigating the risk of corruption and ensuring a free and open election. Over the last 200 years we’ve seen several scenarios play out that have prompted much concern for the voting system we currently utilize today....
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...challenges to these attempts, examine the strengths and weaknesses of the electoral system in the United States. Name: Winston Walker Course Code: GOVT 1000 ID #: 607005957 No electoral system is perfect, but the strengths and weakness of the electoral system is based on the system of government used. The two most common systems of government are the Federal system and the Unitary system. According to dictionary.com, the term electoral system refers to, the legal system for making democratic choices. The United States of America operate under a federal system of government, which by definition, refers to a government in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments. The electoral system of the United States is set up in this manner, you vote for a mayor, senator, a member of the House of Representatives, you vote directly for that person. However, when you vote for president, you are really voting for an elector who has pledged to represent that candidate. The electors chosen by each state are called the Electoral College. This consists of 538 members, comprising 100 senators, 435 congressmen, and 3 members from the District of Columbia. States with large populations, like California have over 50 electoral votes, while sparsely populated states like Alaska has only 3 electoral votes. This system of government makes the electoral system highly susceptible to voter suppression. Voter Suppression is the strategy...
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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: How Our System of Elections Needs to be Changed Richard Brookman Metropolitan State University of Denver Author Note This paper was prepared for ENG 1020, Section 031, taught by Professor Clark. Abstract Article two, section one of the Constitution details the creation and operation of the Electoral College. Each representative of each state, both senators and representatives, cast a vote for the President based on the wants of their constituents. This is the basis for the Electoral College; however our forefathers had little insight into the problems that can arise from crafting a quick solution to the problem of electing the commander-in-chief. Over the past 200 years, many changes have been made to the Electoral College when a problem has risen to give us the Electoral College of today. The people of the United States have seen what the Electoral College has become and want the election process to change into a popular vote system. The popular vote system isn’t the answer. Only a combination of the two systems will help to give fair representation to all of the states, while keeping the essence of majority rule that the people desire. This system includes a single vote for districts that are won by popular vote, getting rid of the human form of electors, and using today’s technology to make it easier to maneuver through the complexities of the voting process. The Electoral College: How Our System of Elections Needs...
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...Election System The American presidential election system, is one of the most complex and confusing election systems in the world, and is only one of the many ways Americans hold elections. The United States has a number of problems related to the methods of voting for president. The who, where, when, how, of voting are very different than most western nations. These differences can cause many Americans and outside observers to believe that the system is broken, or worse rigged to keep power in the hands of those who hold it. While this is an easy conclusion to draw, it shows a lack of understanding of the complexities of the American voting system. In the United State, voting laws not being specifically given to the federal government, are therefore defaulted to the state. Essentially meaning that while most voting regulation laws from state to state are similar, with the exception of a few outliers, there are still 50 different specific sets of laws on voting, for Federal, state, and local elections. This can cause a number of problems, most notably the possibility for states to discriminate against whomever they determine to be ineligible, or possibly unworthy of voting; the most common example are felons. Each state...
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...Imagine sitting at a table and drafting a document that is going to govern and choose the United Stated president every four years for the rest of history. Overwhelming and exciting, right? In 1787, the value and thought of our founding fathers was to provide a fair and balanced way of choosing the leader of our nation. Now, as a citizen of the United States, we go into booths and either press a button or mark with a pencil who we would like to be our president. After we make a choice an elected group of people take our choices and select our next president. We hope that as they vote, they are truly representing the vote that we just completed in that booth. We can all agree that while the process created with 13 states in 1787 was fair and...
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...About Voting).” This statement is not true when it comes to the United States’ presidential election, even though Americans perceive it to be. The United States of America has a president that gets elected every four years. Every American citizen that is at the age of 18 or older has the choice to vote for the president. There is a common saying that goes along the lines of, “Everyone’s vote counts.” Americans like to think that if they vote, then their vote will make a difference in the election. But in actuality, one vote...
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