...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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...The electoral college is “a group of people that elect the president and the vice president of the United States (Engel Bromwich, How Does the Electoral College Work?). Each state receives a specific amount of electoral votes, this is based off of the state's population (Engel Bromwich, How Does the Electoral College Work?). The process starts with the public voting for candidates, whichever candidates wins the popular vote in that state gets the electors vote in the state capitals (Engel Bromwich, How Does the Electoral College Work?). When establishing the electoral college the founding fathers made a compromise between election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens and election of the president by a vote in congress (U.S. Electoral College, What is the Electoral College?). Almost all states operate on a winner-take-all system in regards to the electoral college, where all electors vote for the popularly chosen candidate (U.S. Electoral College, What is the Electoral College?). For example in 2012 Barack Obama received 330 electoral votes and Mitt Romney received 206 electoral votes (NBC News, Presidential Election Results). Since Barack Obama won both the popular and electoral votes, this allowed him to win the presidency. In total the electoral college attempts to balance the power of electing the president between the public and...
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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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...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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...Electoral college represents indirect popular elections. This system is an example of Federalism. Both the States and the Federal Gov't are involved in process: States are electing a federal president. Each state has certain number of electoral votes, which depends on population. As long as a candidate gets just over 50% of the popular vote in the state or just more popular votes than others candidates, he wins 100% on the electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes. According to the rules of the electoral college, every state, no matter how few people lives here gets 3 votes to start with. The rest is distributed according to the population. At this point, electoral college protects small states from the big states. It gives them voting...
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...Christian Llerena BUS 200 Dr. Lasher 3/19/12 The Electoral College is defined as “a body of electors chosen by the voters of each state to elect the President and Vice President of the United States”. The Electoral College system has been a staple in the United States since the ratification of The Constitution, however there is much debate on whether it should remain or be done away with completely. In this essay, I will give a brief history on the Electoral College, how it works, and why it was created in the first place. Despite the shortcomings and limitations of the Electoral College I believe that it should not be abolished because it contributes to the cohesiveness of the country, it maintains a federal system of government, and it maintains the interests of minority groups. To begin with, I will discuss how the Electoral College works. The Electoral College operates by having each state allocate a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) along with the number of its U.S. Representatives (varies from state to state depending on its population). Next, after all their caucuses and primaries, each party nominates their candidates for president and vice president. After that, the people from each state vote for a party’s slate of electors. Whichever party slate gains the most popular votes becomes the slate of electors for that state. Then, the electors meet in their respective state’s capitol and cast their votes for president and vice...
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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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...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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...wouldn’t let us do it”. The Electoral College is the current system for electing the president of the United States. The History Channel states, Americans do not actually directly vote for the president of the United States, when Americans vote, they are actually voting for the candidate for which their state's electors are expected to vote for. States are given the number of electors that they have representatives in congress. The number of electors that a state receives is determined proportionately, but a state must have a minimum of three electors with a total number of electors at 538. William C. Kimberly, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election...
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...The Electoral College: Is it Really Worth It? The Electoral College. An iffy subject, isn’t it? Some people support it, while others do not. That’s just how it’ll be. The Electoral College was made to give the smaller states more power as a whole, given the large population differences between some states. While it may seem fair in some ways, in other ways it seems entirely unfair. So should the Electoral College be abolished? No. The Electoral College should not be abolished because it supports our Founding Father’s views on federalism, it makes sure every state gets representation, and it gives smaller states a better representation. The first reason that the Electoral College should not be abolished is that it supports the idea of federalism....
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...The Electoral College and the Popular vote have been a part of U.S. history since the founding of our country itself even though the actually process of both systems have changed since the late 1700’s and early 1800’s when they were first implemented. The debate on these two-unique systems have been brought to light due to the recent 2016 Presidential Election between the Presidential Candidates, Senator Hilary Clinton(D) and Donald Trump(R), when Donald Trump(R) won the 2016 Presidential Election by winning the Electoral College vote, even though he lost the popular vote. The purpose of this essay is to explain both voting systems and explain both in the best and most detail possible, as well as my personal opinion on the two, and if the current...
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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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...1787 Constitutional Convention, the members debated on methods on how to pick the President of the United States. Finally the Committee of Eleven proposed an indirect election, which is the Electoral College. The voters elect the electoral college which then elects the President. However there is much room for mistakes through this process. Therefore, due to the corruption and inequality, the Electoral College is not a fair and equitable way to elect the President of the United States. Over the years, there have been times when the Electoral College elects a candidate that did not win the popular vote. For example in the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote with 152,933 votes but John Quincy Adams became president...
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...The electoral college system, what the United States of America uses to elect the President ever four years, is an outdated system that is not needed and does not make the election process any easier. We have had two instances where the popular vote has been different than the electoral college numbers. In an effort to keep the President of the United States of America popular, we must start off with electing someone who earned the majority of votes in the first place. To do this, we must use the popular vote. Accordingly, this paper will be directed toward the general audience of all voters and will discuss how the electoral college system is a bad idea to continue using and why the popular vote is the correct way to go. So, what is the “electoral college”...
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...Everything Wrong With the Electoral College The Electoral College was established in the United States Constitution to decide the President of the United States. Many people have strong opinions about the Electoral College and whether it is a system that is beneficial to the citizens of the United States. Looking at how it works, it is clear that it is an establishment that needs to be abolished. The National Archives and Records Administration gives a detailed guide to understanding the Electoral College, explaining that it “consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.” A state gets a minimum of three electors, “one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators” (“What is the Electoral College?”) Before people are even allowed to vote for either party’s electors, the incumbents draw district lines, this process is known as gerrymandering. According to Alex Konyk an incumbent “could redraw the borders so that a couple of areas just happen to encompass the majority of the Democrats in a state, while most of the districts are safely in Republican hands” (Konyk.) To do this, an incumbent would carefully draw a few districts with a high democratic majority, and draw the rest with a slight Republican majority. This...
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