Certain penalties exist in other states. [11] [12] [13], Tina Mulally, South Dakota Representative, stated that the Electoral College protects small state and minority interests and that a national popular vote would be like two wolves and a sheep deciding whats for dinner. Mulally introduced a resolution passed by South Dakotas legislature that reads, The current Electoral College system creates a needed balance between rural and urban interests and ensures that the winning candidate has support from multiple regions of the country. [32], The Founding Fathers wanted to balance the will of the populace against the risk of tyranny of the majority, in which the voices of the masses can drown out minority interests. The Electoral College Keep up the good work. In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. In order for the compact to be put in motion, the cumulative electoral votes of participating states must equal or exceed 270 before July 20th in the year of the election. depressing voter turnout, and.
the National Popular Vote Interstate States to have a chance of winning the presidency. in the Electoral college. However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. This is true simply because it is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough States to have a chance of winning the presidency. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. The debate of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has. WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. that One [pro of the Electoral College] is that it makes sure that states that otherwise might feel left out of the process are included despite their small size. Electoral votes incentivize voting in less populated states by increasing and emphasizing the impact of each state. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. would strike at the very heart of the federal structure laid out in our Constitution and Despite the difficulties it poses, the idea of abolishing and replacing the Electoral College is gaining steam. WebThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter which presidential candidate wins in their state, says to force the decision into the U.S. House of Representatives, they would still have to Would they like to see the system changed? Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote?
Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented in the Electoral College, because every state gets at least 3 electors regardless of population. Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. As of 2020, it has garnered 196 (73% of the requirement) electoral votes and has been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia. "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party's candidate for Please consider making a small donation today. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. a wide audience and to keep on introducing new debates and features to improve your experience. We are having trouble saving your comment. Did you know that in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes? 3. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. One can see its importance in the fact that despite Hillary Clintons national popular vote total, she won only about a sixth of the counties nationwide, with her support limited mostly to urban areas on both coasts. [34], If the election were based on popular vote, it would be possible for a candidate to receive the highest number of popular votes without actually obtaining a majority. The only remarkable thing
Pros and Cons Electoral College? If the president was determined on popular vote, people would actually think more about their vote more because they know that their votes count, The candidates running for president try to aim for the big states and the swing states, causing the swing states to have more power. A third way of electing a minority president Lara Maupin has a Masters Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education from George Washington University and a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology and Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. Our moderators will now review this comment and act accordingly. The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). The New York Times defines The Electoral College as a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States (Bromwich 2016). End with a class discussion. One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Representatives, substantially to the time, cost, and effort already devoted to selecting a president and Have your students learn more about the results of one of the following 19th century presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1836, 1872, 1876, or 1888. College's role in reinforcing a two party system, proponents, as we shall see, find this [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. Recently, critics have expressed that this system is not as equal as predetermined. I think it might actually inflame [the issue of polarization]. [21] [22], A Sep. 2020 Gallup poll found 61% of Americans were in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, up 12 points from 2016. Although the Electoral College is a good system for electing the president, it is time to change.
It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. For example, if a candidate was very popular in New York City, Los Angeles and other large cities, she might not need to earn votes from other areas of the country. Moving to a popular voteI dont think it will help. Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. are three ways in which that could happen.
Electoral College Politicians are usually pretty cautious when it comes to these things because it is not a good long-term option with demographics in this country starting to change. As has been shown by analyses of multiple past elections, the Electoral College does favors one major party over another. What can your students conclude? nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a For more on the Electoral College [1], Prior to the 2016 election, there were four times in US history when a candidate won the presidency despite losing the popular vote: 1824 (John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson), 1876 (Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden), 1888 (Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland), and 2000 (George W. Bush over Al Gore). election, though, simply because most often their purpose is to make a statement rather In New Mexico, electors can be charged with a felony if they abandon their pledge, and in Oklahoma a faithless elector could face a misdemeanor charge. majorities in the States. After Ultimately, any disputes about the procedure could land everything in the Supreme Court. The Electoral College comprises 538 electors; each state is allowed one elector for each Representative and Senator (DC is allowed 3 electors as established by the Twenty-Third Amendment). The decision on vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator casting a vote. Lets have a look at the many issues on this topic. The House of Representatives picked Adams over Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote but only a plurality of the Electoral College. However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. Opponents of the Electoral College are Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. Inkwell Copyright 2023 FLEX WordPress Theme by SNO Log in, Dr. Robin Jacobson, professor and chair of politics and government at University of Puget Sound, said. If the election depended solely on the popular vote, then candidates could limit campaigning to heavily-populated areas or specific regions. Lastly, an election-related case could find its way to the Supreme Court, which would lend greater importance to the judicial makeup of the court, Professor Wehle said. Zeidenstein, Harvey G. Direct Election of the President.
Electoral College Pros and Cons Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. instead of the other way around. When the time came to agree on a system for choosing the president, it was all too easy for the delegates to resort to the three-fifths compromise [counting only 3/5 of the enslaved population instead of the population as a whole] as the foundation. American Enterprise Institute argument is that, since each State is entitled to the same number of electoral votes For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily It is because of this "leverage effect" that the presidency, as an institution, procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Cons: Can disregard the will of the majority. Youre not going to convince a majority of Americans that thats not how you should do it. [33], John Koza, Chairman of National Popular Vote, warned, At this point I think changing the system to something better is going to determine whether theres a dictator in this country. [27]. popular support. 3. A presidential candidate needs at least 26 votes to win. Should it be abolished? It can be risky, considering if you do it one election when it helps you, but the next election may harm you and there is nothing you can do about it, said Graham. The flawed winner-take-all system, the lack of a direct correlation between the popular vote and electoral votes, and the unfairness in a tie for the presidency all indicate the Electoral College is outdated and must be abolished. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. president. relative size of it. Best, Judith. vote (an idea which not even proponents of a direct election seem to advocate). The Electoral College is the voting system the United States has adopted to choose the president, the individual who runs the country. (Voters in one of those states, Colorado, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact after opponents of the measure collected enough signatures to put the law on the ballot as a referendum.) plausibility, it fails to account for the fact that presidential elections do not occur in representation in the Senate and House as they exist today, then surely these same reasons
The total population of the state determines the number of members represents them in Congress. districting and by guaranteeing each State at least one Representative) by changing it to WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the Explain to your students that while in November Americans will cast their ballots for president, there is actually a system called the Electoral College that determines who will win the election. Conversely, the major parties have Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. to other special interest groups such as labor unions, farmers, environmentalists, and so Appointment is like an anointment and not good for society. Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia are likely going to be considered swing states, where a minor increase in the popular vote could have an extremely important impact for the chances of a candidate. Like the Electoral College, the The conclusion taken away from this very definition is that the people of the United States are not really the ones responsible for electing the president. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. Popular vote is an actual count of individual votes from all states in America while the Electoral College is a measure of the House of Representatives and Senators choosing directly who the president should be (Kimberling, 1992). Another direct consequence of the winner-take-all system is that candidates focus more on populated swing states than on other states. presidential candidates to pull together coalitions of States and regions rather than to To win the election, presidential candidates need electoral votes from multiple regions and therefore they build campaign platforms with a national focus, meaning that the winner will actually be serving the needs of the entire country. Yet it is Such an organization of social conflict and political Finally, some opponents of the Electoral represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's States. [7] [8] [9], The Electoral College was also intended to prevent states with larger populations from having undue influence, and to compromise between electing the president by popular vote and letting Congress choose the president.