Preview

What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
657 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College
When citizens vote and cast their ballot for the candidate that they believe will be fit for president, they are not voting directly for their favored candidate. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of elected electors who represent a certain states votes. The Electoral College was established by the constitution to protect minority interests and reduce the possibility of a regional candidate. However, some believe that the advantages of a direct popular vote election, such as its consideration of democratic values, outweigh the disadvantages. While others believe that the Electoral College has been put in place to hinder regional candidates not allow it to happen.
The Electoral College is a process not a place. It is a group of people that represent the state, and they formally elect the president and the vice. The
…show more content…
If their candidate loses they get none. This is called the winner-takes-all. States determine how the electoral votes will be distributed. Most states award all of their votes to the presidential candidate who wins popular vote in the state. Only two states do not go by this method, the winner-takes-all, Nebraska and Maine, for them there could be a split of electoral votes.
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

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A major flaw with the electoral college system is a failure to accurately reflect the national popular will. Meaning that if a president wins by popular vote and doesn't win “270” with the Electoral College point they will not be the president-elect. This…

    • 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

    Each state has a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators (2 in each state) plus the number of its U.S. representatives, which varies according to the state's population. Currently, the Electoral College includes 538 electors, 535 for the total number of congressional members, and three who represent Washington, D.C., as allowed by the 23rd Amendment. On the Monday following the second Wednesday in December,…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electoral college is a process that is set up by our founding fathers in the constitution; it is a “compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens” (U.S Electoral College). Electoral college is an example of indirect democracy; therefore, we do not choose our president directly. Thus, electoral college is not democratic.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 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

    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

    Ever since the constitution has been written, the president of the united states has been elected via the electoral college. Despite its long-time usage, the electoral college has many critics. Various people, wish for the president to be elected via a popular vote. While others, continue to be happy with usage of the electoral college. Others, simply are confused by the process of the electoral college all together. This leads to many political scientists to question if the electoral college is in fact effective, or if a popular vote would be better. However, both the popular vote and the electoral college have pros and cons.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 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
  • Better Essays

    The electoral college works as such: Every American citizen (In theory) puts forward one ballot in the respective state they live in. On this ballot, the individual votes for a Presidential Ticket, United States Senator (If the state’s Senate Election falls on a election year), State Judicial Representative, State Senator(s),…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better 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

    The system of electing our president has been fairly consistent throughout the past 50 years and one thing that has not changed since our constitution was written is the use of an electoral college to elect the president. By using an Electoral College voters do not directly vote for their next president, instead they submit a vote that is then tallied by the electors and whichever party has the most votes at the end gets all of the Electoral College votes from that state. The use of an Electoral College has been the topic of a lot of debate in recent years, especially after the election in the year 2000 in which Al Gore won the popular vote, but failed to become president because George W. Bush won the electoral votes. There are people whom favor the use of an electoral college and there are people who think that it should be abolished and that voters should be able to directly vote for their president. For my paper I want to present both arguments, each side’s pros and cons, and ultimately whether or not I think we should or should not change the use of an electoral college.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College system is arguably biased to small states and ignorant to the overall popular vote of the American citizens. The Electoral College system that is used in America in order to elect presidents is unjust because it ignores larger states that should have more electoral votes and gives states with small populations more electoral votes. This is because the popular vote is not distributed according to population in specific states. However, this also gives smaller states a chance of being equally represented and it protects the interests of minorities such as certain religious or racial groups.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Electoral College is a group that consists of electors who determine the succeeding president. The system has been functioning ever since the Founding Fathers established this in the Constitution. The Electoral College system has never been changed, nor has it been disregarded as a whole, but should it? The Electoral College should no longer be kept as a means to decide who the next president should be, instead the popular vote should be used for the task. The popular vote directly reveals the candidate that the people want as president. The Electoral College is not a democratic system to use in a nation that exemplifies itself as the most definitive democracy. The system also discourages people from taking part in the right to vote. The…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays