Preview

Essay On The Electoral College Should Be Abolished

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
759 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On The Electoral College Should Be Abolished
The Electoral College follows a winner-take all representative system, which means that the voices of some citizens will not matter. The Electoral College is a system of representatives included in the U.S. Constitution, created by the Founding Fathers, to help ensure that voters selecting the president were qualified and knowledgeable. These voters were chosen, because they knew what they were doing, rather than possible unreasonable voting by the public. However, this system is not required anymore, and can be detrimental to citizens of the United States of America. The Electoral College should be abolished, because it favors’ the voters of small states and because it does not accurately represent the voice of the people of the U.S.
The Electoral College favors the vote of the small states, making the votes of citizens in larger states have less of an effect in the election. For example, twelve small states and D.C. have a total population of approximately 12,500,000, and Illinois has a population of 12,800,000, but the electoral vote of the small states and D.C. is more than double of
…show more content…
Several small states have a similar population as one large state, but the total electoral votes of the small state are more than double that of the large state, which is politically incorrect and unfair. Also, electors’ opinions are different than those of the citizens who voted for them. A president who the people did not want, but was elected by the Electoral College, was chosen. Citizens are not represented accurately by their electors. The Electoral College was founded for a viable reason, but this reason is not viable in today’s circumstances. We don’t need the Electoral College anymore, and without it, America can live up to its great reputation of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I feel that the electoral college system needs to be removed from our presidential elections. It causes more harm than good and, makes many voters not vote. There are pros and cons to the system but, there are too many cons for it to continue. Presidential candidates only care about big states “for the win”. Which makes voters think they're small electoral college state is worthless. So in this essay, I will convince you and, tell you the truth behind the Electoral College system.…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The electoral college is a system of voting that is completely based on the different populations of each state. This system is not based on the size of the of the state but how many people are in each state. The states with larger populations get more electoral votes and the states with smaller population get less electoral votes. The electoral collage should be changed to fit modern day populations.…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A definite benefit of the Electoral College has been the squelching of other parties, which in turn has helped to maintain the two-party system and Congress. The minimizing of these other parties also proves beneficial since many times they would draw radical political lines that would be very divisive and could give greater power to smaller groups. Yet another advantage of the system is that it forces candidates to extend their campaigning to all states, not just the major metropolises and population centers. It could also be said that the Electoral College distributes the power to the states, and forces candidates to consider the concerns of more than just the lobbyists and those in political prominence.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ever since its creation at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the Electoral College has been the most widely debated aspect in the Constitution. There have been over 700 proposed constitutional amendments aimed at fixing or abolishing this process. And Congress has on several occasions held highly publicized hearings on Electoral College reform but overall has remained fairly inactive (Best, p. vii). And while the Electoral College is a cornerstone of our Constitution and therefore a major aspect of American democracy and government, its very nature is quite unfair and undemocratic. Many of its aspects portray biases and favor certain groups of people and certain states. It is deemed archaic, undemocratic, complex, ambiguous, indirect, and dangerous by many scholars and is in direct need of reforming (Kura, p. 30). It especially contradicts Walter Stone’s instrumental voting model for the Electoral College at first makes one believe as if one’s vote counts but eventually one figures out that it is in fact quite unimportant (Stone, p. 51). For with the Electoral College, the people are not in charge but rather the system is – the Electoral College presidential election system that is.…

    • 4911 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people disagree with the Electoral College because they believe the system gives an unfair advantage to states with a large electoral vote. For example, there can be a candidate that does not get one single vote in, but they can still be elected by winning the popular vote in the bigger states, that have more number of electoral voters. Even if a candidate wins the majority of the smaller states, they will not win presidency because it does not have enough electoral votes. A candidate may have a high overall popular vote; however the one who wins is the one with the highest electoral…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College, established by the founding fathers in the United States Constitution, is a process whereby a body of electors chosen by voters in each state cast a formal vote to elect the president and vice president. Among many other things established within the Constitution, the Electoral College requires extensive reform. The Constitution itself was merely a framework for the United States government and did not take into account the extent to which society would change between 1787 and 2015. Amidst the several problems constituted by the Electoral College, the four most threatening complications consist of the possibility for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote, the inequality among the distribution of votes according to population, the exclusion of third party victors, and the consequences that arise in case of a tie.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College is an institution that may have served a purpose 200 years ago when the founding fathers needed a system that would be met with approval by both large and small states. The Electoral College is a flawed method of electing our President that has created problems in previous elections and is likely to be the source of problems in the future. The Electoral College provides an undemocratic method of choosing our president that potentially undermines the will of the voters. Not only can a candidate be elected without actually winning the most votes, it puts our elections at the mercy of electors who don't always cast their vote as pledged. I intend to demonstrate that the problems inherent in this voting method far outweigh any benefits it may provide. Replacing the winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes with a system such as proportional representation or eliminating the college altogether in favor of direct election is the best way to ensure a trouble-free and fair election…

    • 2120 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proponents for the Electoral College to remain the same argue that the Electoral College contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president, enhances the status of minority interests, contributes to the political stability of the country by encouraging a two-party system, and maintains a federal system of government and representation. They argue it contributes to the unification of the country because without the Electoral College system, the most populous states would hold all the power in selecting the president and the small states would not matter. With the Electoral College, every state matters in selecting the president. The Electoral College also enhances the status of minority interests. Candidates know that because minorities tend to concentrate in areas with a large number of votes, the minority can make the difference between receiving all the votes from that state, and receiving none of the votes from that state. In continuation, The Electoral College contributes to the political stability of the…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The founding fathers were not gods. Consequently, they were not perfect, and neither were the systems they set up to run the country. Nevertheless, they knew that things would change, and they set up ways to fix the government when needed. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the American people have the right to alter or abolish the government if it does not fit their needs. The Electoral College is flawed, and the American people need to replace it because this system does not fairly represent the people, it forces people to vote a certain way, and it does not always guarantee that the winner of the popular vote will win the election. These imperfections in the Electoral College make voters feel like their votes…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the years the Electoral College has been proven to be outdated. People wonder constantly if their vote counts anymore or, if this method is affective any longer. There are three main reasons why the Electoral College is outdated and should be abolished. The presidential candidates only pay attention to the states with the most Electoral votes, we also have a larger and more educated population then when this was originally set up, lastly it does not seem as if your vote really counts since there have been at least four occurrences where the president with the popular vote has lost the election.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the founding of the Constitution, it was assumed the general population would be far too uneducated to properly elect their representatives. From this unfortunately accurate presumption, came the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a gift from the founding fathers that has, in turn, counteracted the impact of low voter turnout.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College always has it’s print on the elections and more importantly on the very close elections. It has done it’s job the over 200 plus years and throughout fifty presidential elections. So the electoral college is promising and durable. Both parties Republican and Democrat candidate feel at times as if they win the popular vote they win the election, but that’s when the electoral votes play their part. The electoral votes are combined by states…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first reason is that the Electoral College focuses on more smaller states than big states. Not only does the Electoral College pay more attention to small states but they also focus more on small swing states. States like Nevada or Iowa have more power on voting. Because of the states unequal amount of electoral votes candidates give more attention to these states. The other states get barely any attention.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are numerous negative points to having the Electoral College. The Electoral College weighs the votes from smaller states more than larger ones because each state's electoral votes are equivalent to the number of House and Senate seats it has, thus giving one of those smaller state’s votes the power to really make a difference. Secondly, the Electoral College only acknowledges majority votes of the states and ignore the minority votes. Those who do not agree with everyone else are not represented at all.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Electoral College Benefits

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Those in favor of the college, lean on the certainty of the outcome, as its vote protects the interest of small states. In the election of 2004, for example, President Obama received a majority of the electoral vote, but only half of the popular vote. While all of the United States reward the winning candidate with all of the electoral votes, a mere plurality would create a landslide victory of the electoral vote. Author, Tara Ross writes, “…appears to retain the small advantage, while giving greater weight to the popular vote. In reality, it would devolve into constant disputes about who gets the last electoral vote in each state. The Electoral College, by contrast, tends to magnify margins of victory and give certain election outcomes,” (Ross pg. 159). Lastly, just as those that favor the Electoral College believe that the President should have the support of the people, those that oppose it feel like the people should then be able to pick the President. The idea is that the personal vote does not mean anything because citizens may vote one way while the Electoral College votes another, thereby making the popular vote obsolete. In the Academic Journal “Who Should Elect the President? The Case Against the Electoral College,” the author writes, “In the minds of some, there is a question of whether our form of government as a federal republic is safeguarded by having the Electoral College. According to this view, the fact that this country is a federation of states, and that the Constitution assigns certain powers to the federal government while others remain with the states, is of more importance than direct election of the President based on the principle of one person, one vote,” (Jenkins pg.176). Nevertheless, the rules are fair and the objective is…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays