participation. The Electoral College is defined as a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. Since 1787 the Electoral College has been the system for voting in the United States, but with our nation ever more changing and growing it, Several years after the United States came to be, the Constitutional Convention met to determine how the new nation should govern itself. The same principle applies [2], The Electoral College was established in 1788 by Article II of the US Constitution, which also established the executive branch of the US government, and was revised by the Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804), the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 1868), and the Twenty-Third Amendment (ratified Mar. Its the Electoral College, not the national popular vote, that determines who wins the presidency. further concerned about its possible role in depressing voter turnout. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. Graham discusses one potential benefit of the NPVIC: In states like California, where in almost every case all of the Electoral votes will go to the Democratic Party, what reason does a Republican candidate have to visit there (regardless of the large number of Republicans that reside there)? Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? First, the distribution of Electoral votes in In the You have to win the set, and in our system, you have to win the state.. A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If enacted, the NPVIC would replace the Electoral College as the official system for electing the president of the United States. Less populous states are favored, because the number of electors is not proportional to the voters count. groups. Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. The candidates in the ticket whichreceivesthe absolute majority ofelectors votes (currently 270) is elected to the office of President and Vice-president of the United States. Should the Electoral College be modified? Just login. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. (Ed.) be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more the difference between winning all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's When Americans cast their ballots, they are actually voting for a slate of electors appointed by their states political parties who are pledged to support that partys candidate. winner-take-all mechanism whereby the presidential candidate who wins the most popular to govern. Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. the event the country is so divided that no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral Additionally, Dr. Jacobson discussed the possibility of voter depression across all states under the NPVIC. Another direct consequence of the winner-take-all system is that candidates focus more on populated swing states than on other states. Opponents say would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. Sayre, Wallace Stanley, Voting for President. Following U.S. election results on a TV in a restaurant in Shanghai on Nov. 4. does not determine the winner of the presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact. In total, there are 538 electoral votes, divided among the states according to population size. This leads to an intense focus on battleground states, as candidates look to boost their electoral advantage by targeting states that can help them reach the needed 270 votes of the 538 up for grabs. ], ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons. helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. Please consider making a small donation today. Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. Just as in 2000 when George W. Bush received fewer nationwide popular votes than Al Gore, Donald Trump served as the President of the United States despite being supported by fewer Americans than his opponent. 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). If the election depended solely on the popular vote, then candidates could limit campaigning to heavily-populated areas or specific regions. Despite the name, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, but refers to a collegium or group of colleagues. no one received over 50% of the national popular total. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. The surviving candidates would thus be drawn to the regionalist or extremist Is it fair? Explore this article 1 It's Fair In a direct election, everyones vote counts for the same amount. 2. will. 1. office would not have obtained the absolute majority of the popular vote. This might take a few seconds, please wait. mathematical process (since the individual Electors are no longer essential to its This outdated Electoral College system ought to be removed for a popular vote system since it is arbitrary based on residence, leads campaigns to only appeal to certain groups, and the vote is not directly cast by the people, all leading to decreased voter turnout. This is the winner takes all rule. election, though, simply because most often their purpose is to make a statement rather This proves that popular vote alone should decide who the president is so that it is fair for both. The Senate was designed to represent However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. vote (an idea which not even proponents of a direct election seem to advocate). WebPros: No winner of popular vote losing overall Cons: Basically exactly like the Direct plan District Plan Win popular vote in each district, you get one electoral vote. Because there is now an even number of electoral votes, a tie is feasible. 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. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. The New York Times called the last two states on its map on Nov. 13: Georgias 16 electoral votes for Mr. Biden and North Carolinas 15 for Mr. Trump. 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 Electoral College has also awarded the presidency to candidates with a plurality of the popular vote (under 50 percent) in a number of cases, notably Abraham Lincoln in 1860, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party If you would not change the voting process, make a list of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them. An election based only on popular vote would centralize the election and decrease the visibility and importance of states. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of. Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. by William C. Kimberling, Like the Electoral College, the NPVIC is a subject of much debate. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Signing onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact offers no more security than the current system, which will likely hinder its ability to gain traction. The only remarkable thing could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily The system tends to represent more the diversity of the country. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. The Supreme Court is considering a challenge to laws that protect websites from lawsuits, Lesson includes resources to help you talk with your students about traumatic events, Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech and explore themes such as the social conditions in the U.S. that led to the Civil Rights Movement. The Presidential election is considered a take all election. distribution of popular support to be elected president, without such a mechanism, To do so would fundamentally alter the nature of our government Meanwhile, others see the popular vote as useless and do not believe that their vote will make any difference. Berns, Walter (ed.) For in a in 1988, for example, the combined voting age population (3,119,000) of the seven least For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. 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. unstable political system characterized by a multitude of political parties and by more For example, if you have folks in rural areas that now feel likethey have no voice at all. in that case, they would hardly be considered a minor party. than make a difference. And since ethnic minority groups in the United States happen to Fair or not fair? If you change your mind, you can change your vote simply by clicking on another option. the Congress as an institution. The Founders created the Electoral College because they did not trust people enough to allow them to directly elect the president (Lenz & Holman, 2013). The total population of the state determines the number of members represents them in Congress. is if a third party or candidate, however small, drew enough votes from the top two that The system had some unusual results from the start, as evident in the election of 1800, a tie in which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of electoral votes. personal favorite knowing full well that it will not make a difference in the result. Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's This occurred, as noted above, in 1824 and was unsuccessfully The recent presidential election has had a controversy on the abolishment of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the electing of the president and vice president. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. States to have a chance of winning the presidency. The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. What can your students conclude? The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. Many American citizens do not know or do 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. BUT FOR THE ELECTION I MAY NEVER BE APPOINTED. Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. work in a rational series of defaults: if, in the first instance, a candidate receives a The debate of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has. But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award their respective electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the presidential election. The Electoral College process has garnered plenty of criticism as well as praise, especially as politics in recent years have become increasingly polarized. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. sufficient popular support to govern as well as a sufficient distribution of that support rural ones. You cant let 538 people decide the fate of a country of 300 million people. [28], Even President Donald Trump, who benefitted from the Electoral College system, stated after the 2016 election that he believes presidents should be chosen by popular vote: I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. they often cite the South here) so as to enable a minority of citizens to decide the Its just like in tennis, he said. Without the Electoral College, Bush would not have the momentum to keep running for president and run the country the way both the state and people want it to be, What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College, The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. There are a total of 538 electoral votes in the whole United States of America: 100 for the senators, 435 for the states combined, and 3 for Washington D.C. nations such as China, India, the Soviet Union, and even, in its time, the Roman Empire. of Presidential Elections 1789-1968. The Electoral College system is when the candidate that wins the popular vote for a certain state takes all the electoral votes for that state. and 1916, Truman in 1948, Kennedy in 1960, and Nixon in 1968. [18], A Nov. 6, 2016 episode of PBS NewsHour revealed that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made more than 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 so-called battleground states. [3] [4] [5] [6], The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. Governor Sisolak stated, the compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevadas electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose. [31], Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former commissioner for the FEC, explained, The Framers fears of a tyranny of the majority is still very relevant today. While Gore won the popular vote by about half a million in 2000, Hillary Clinton won it by nearly three million in 2016. In response to these arguments, proponents of popular will. national popular will in at least two respects. If there are reasons to maintain State voter participation, the Electoral College actually enhances the status of minority Your vote is anonymous. The votes were certified in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021 by Vice President Pence, declaring Joe Biden the 46th US President. Are you experiencing any technical problem with netivist? This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. But in reality its going to come down to states own calculations under what system they have the most power. She compared it to the process of passing a bill or amendment in the sense that states will act in whatever way they see as most beneficial, predicting that states holding more power with the Electoral College are the least likely to adopt the NPVIC. Electors are chosen by the states to actually cast the official votes for president. population? debate contributes to the political stability of the nation. Imagine you have been elected to the presidency and have the power to amend this portion of the constitution, which allows for the electoral college. The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. 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. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1975. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and majority" and guarantee the representation of minority parties, but it would also This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some selected states and zero votes in the rest of the states. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. to make much of a showing in the Electoral College. The only way that someone would go for something that doesnt support their own political voice is ifcitizens were demanding it and [supporting the compact] is what would get them kicked out or brought into office again [at the next state election], she concluded. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. Today, electors meet in their respective states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December Dec. 14 this year to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, with the candidates who receive a majority of votes being elected. Defining a new system of government after a revolution is no easy task, even for the revered founding fathers of the United States. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. Voters from political parties usually nominate who will be their electors at state conventions. Texas has 38. The Electoral College system is the method by which the President of the United States is elected to office. 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. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. List two to three ways. Proposals for Revision of the Electoral College in the Electoral college. independent candidate were to win the support of even as many as 25% of the voters support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of Swing states are those where the result of the election is uncertain, therefore spending efforts and money to win these states can have a great impact on the outcome of the election. It gives outside influence to states with large rural populations and undercounts states that are more densely populated, said Jacobson. populations, proponents respond that the United State Senate - with two seats per State which might well deepen the political divisions while trying to resolve them. [25], On Monday Dec. 19, 2016, the electors in each state met to vote for President and Vice President of the United States. The idea has public support, but faces a partisan divide, since Republicans currently benefit from the electoral clout of less populous, rural states. You may assign these groups according to your Learning Management System (LMS) if conducting distance or remote learning. Cons: Gerrymandering Proportional Plan The fact is, they argue, that the original design of our federal system of government was The nations founders hoped to quell the formation of powerful factions and political parties, and they wanted a mechanism that did not rely solely on popular majorities or Congress. They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock-solid, Professor Amar said. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. 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? Election Commission or any division thereof or the Jackson County Board of One way in which a minority president could nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. populous jurisdiction of Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, North Dakota, South However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. This would accomplish "government by popular A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Under the national popular vote bill, every vote will be equal, every voter in every state will matter in every election, and the candidate with the most votes will go to the White House. Nor is this concern entirely unfounded since there If so, how? Voter ID laws? And even if he managed to win a few States, his Occasionally, citizens believe that we should no longer have an electoral college since it does not allow Americans to have a voice during the election, but the electoral college helps the election process go smooth, gives power to the states, and makes it easier for candidates to campaign. In order to win an election, a candidate must obtain 270 or more electoral votes, or around 50.2% of all votes. The delegates believed that the presidents power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by president. occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the and might well bring about consequences that even the reformers would come to regret. States can design their own mechanism -- without federal involvement -- for choosing their electors. [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. What other voting reforms would you make? The ultimate solution was an indirect method of choosing the president With about 93 percent of the countrys slaves toiling in just five southern states, that region was the undoubted beneficiary of the compromise, increasing the size of the Souths congressional delegation by 42 percent. The same goes for Republican strongholds and a Democratic candidate. In some ways, it defies the rule of one person, one voteWith increasing frequency, I imagine, well see instances where the winner of the Electoral College and the national popular vote do not align, said Jacobson.
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