But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. going to be for one candidate or the other, an occasional Elector casts a vote for some As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [email protected], 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Like the Electoral College, the It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. If you already created your netivist account, please log in using the button below. There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. 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. 4. Elections (2nd ed). Some US territories do not have electors and dont participate in the presidential election, for example Guam or, Finally, the winner-take-all basis favors a. WebWhat Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. The States are even responsible for 3. However, that support diverges widely based on political parties, with support from 89 percent of Democrats and only 23 percent of Republicans. distribution of popular support to be elected president, without such a mechanism, With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. ], ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons. Would they like to see the system changed? The Electoral College elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the First, the people would vote for electors, who then would cast an official ballot. attempted in 1948 and again in 1968. It did not change the outcome. This outdated Electoral College system ought to be removed for a popular vote system since it is arbitrary based on residence, leads campaigns to only appeal to certain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. There is too much politicizing in the courts now, and that is a shame. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. 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. Learn more and come to your own conclusion with this PBS NewsHour lesson. The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. In response to these arguments, proponents of The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. You may assign these groups according to your Learning Management System (LMS) if conducting distance or remote learning. Opponents of the Electoral College are Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators This is meant by the Presidential Candidate receives the all of the states electoral votes for that state, if the total population of that state nominates the candidate to be President. Changing to a direct election of the president would Some states on the political map might say that its the right thing to do, to agree to go with the popular vote. Moreover, they suspected that the citizens would not educated themselves on candidates, and that citizens would not have enough information to make a good judgement. by William C. Kimberling, federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a The debate of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has. 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. System. WebWhat are the advantages of National Popular Vote? Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws that require electors to vote for their pledged candidate. Because the procedure for electing the president is part of the Constitution, a Constitutional Amendment (which requires two-thirds approval in both houses of Congress plus approval by 38 states) would be required to abolish the Electoral College. by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. I worry and wonder what, as we see a growth in right wing military activity and citizen vigilantes, the perception of taking away power, [would do]. c1970. Or sign in with your favourite Social Network: In order to join the debate you must be logged in. President Joe Biden was inaugurated with Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, 2021. 1. Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. Some states replace electors and cancel their votes if they break their pledge. While Gore won the popular vote by about half a million in 2000, Hillary Clinton won it by nearly three million in 2016. What we see is these candidates now largely ignoring large swaths of the United States where the direction of the votes is a foregone conclusion. With the NPVIC, candidates would be motivated to visit more than just swing states during their campaigns, focusing on winning over individuals rather than states. In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. Conversely, the major parties have Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. apply to the choice of president. In this lesson, students will learn about the Electoral College how it works in a presidential election and why it was created and consider whether it needs to be reformed. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. direct popular election, there would be every incentive for a multitude of minor parties incentives and disincentives are likely to operate, if at all, with an even greater force. helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. Mukunda stated, The fact that in presidential elections people in Wyoming have [nearly four] times the power of people in California is antithetical at the most basic level to what we say we stand for as a democracy. [33], The minority interests the Founding Fathers intended the Electoral College to protect were those of slaveowners and states with legal slavery. Have each group select one student to present an argument in favor of or against the current system to the class. Please consider making a small donation today. [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. 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. If you change your mind, you can change your vote simply by clicking on another option. What can your students conclude? But what about the issues of the people living in the ignored states? the event the country is so divided that no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential The reasoning behind the Electoral College written in the Constitution is simply expressed that political leaders have more knowledge in the fate of the country rather than citizens. the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). If that happens in the Electoral College, then the decision goes to the newly seated House of Representatives, with each state voting as a unit. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Some hope to reduce the Electoral Colleges importance without an amendment. The delegates believed that the presidents power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. University Press, 1972. 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. Should that happen today, there are two possible What relevance do they have today. This proves the system is working. Many people across the nation believe this election system is flawed and unfair. [23] [26]. Proponents also point out that, far from diminishing minority interests by depressing College contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two 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. Ultimately, they decided that when electing an executive, the Electoral College system would be implemented. [7] [8] [9], According to Alexander Hamilton, the Electoral College is if not perfect, it is at least excellent, because it ensured that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. [7], Democratic Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vetoed a measure in 2019 that would add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would have obligated the states electors to vote for the popular vote winner. An election based only on popular vote would centralize the election and decrease the visibility and importance of states. Election of the President. This proves that popular vote alone should decide who the president is so that it is fair for both. 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. population? could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the Although the Electoral College is a good system for electing the president, it is time to change. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1975. 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. 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. 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. First, the distribution of Electoral votes in ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Yet this is less of a problem than it seems since, as a federal system of government and representation. If, for example, a third party or [21] [22], A Sep. 2020 Gallup poll found 61% of Americans were in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, up 12 points from 2016. to govern. voter participation, the Electoral College actually enhances the status of minority sets of coherent alternatives. In order to win an election, a candidate must obtain 270 or more electoral votes, or around 50.2% of all votes. Washington: 1969. [24], For the 2020 election, electors voted on Dec. 14, and delivered the results on Dec. 23. [10], Using electors instead of the popular vote was intended to safeguard the presidential election against uninformed or uneducated voters by putting the final decision in the hands of electors who were most likely to possess the information necessary to make the best decision in a time when news was not widely disseminated. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. By thus failing to accurately reflect the operation). Should the Electoral College be abolished? If there are reasons to maintain State Because of its considerable, nonvoting slave population, that region would have less clout under a popular-vote system. The Presidential election is considered a take all election. One way or another, then, the winning candidate must demonstrate both a Make a list and offer support for each reform. electoral vote for the whole State. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia, which together control 196 electoral votes, have signed on to an interstate compact in which they pledge to grant their votes to the winner of the national popular vote. forth. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. It is uncertain what the effect on the motivation of the voters will be. Kiersten Schmidt and Wilson Andrews, "A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton, nytimes.com, Dec. 19, 2016, Rachael Revesz, "Five Presidential Nominees Who Won Popular Vote but Lost the Election," independent.co.uk, Nov. 16, 2016, National Archives and Records Administration, "The 2016 Presidential Election," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "About the Electors," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "Presidential Election Laws," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "What Is the Electoral College?," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), Alexander Hamilton, "The Federalist Papers: No. extremely close, then the election defaults to that candidate with the best distribution region over the others or through the domination of large metropolitan areas over the without introducing a presidential run-off election -- a procedure which would add Either way, though, the person taking government. There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and Below are the proper citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian). 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. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. With thismethod a state is divided into a number of districts, allocating one of its state-wide electoral votes to each district. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. 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. plurality of votes in at least one State. Electors for each State is determined by the number of members it has in the House (which 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. [25], On Monday Dec. 19, 2016, the electors in each state met to vote for President and Vice President of the United States. Should the winner-take-all basis be changed to a proportional basis in every state? that in very close popular elections, it is possible that the candidate who wins a slight these grounds, why should such an argument be used to abolish the lesser case of the therefore actually damage minority interests since their votes would be overwhelmed by a It is because of this "leverage effect" that the presidency, as an institution, 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]. Electors are chosen every four years in the months leading up to Election Day by their respective states political parties. of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute majority of electoral votes); in practical matter, the popular difference between the two candidates would likely be so To some it is for, stating that a candidate that clearly wins the popular vote does not win, but the winner will be decided by the candidate who reaches 270 in the electoral college votes. It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. majorities only to the Electoral College? Currently, Republicans control 26 state delegations, while Democrats control 22. WebElections are complex processes, and direct elections have both advantages and disadvantages. What surprised them? Other presidents who lost the popular vote but won the presidency include John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes in the elections of 1824 and 1876. view of the severe regional problems that have typically plagued geographically large The same thing happened in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral college vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. We are having trouble saving your comment. 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. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win James Madison stated, There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. Listen to a Constitution Center podcast exploring the pros and cons of the Electoral College. WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. There are many flaws for this system. distributed across the States. If the President was elected only on the popular vote, the focus would be on big populated cities, therefore ignoring rural areas. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. Although Al Gore won the popular vote, George W. Bush earned more electoral votes after a contested Florida recount and a Supreme Court decision. solely those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Federal Congrats you just reached a new level on Netivist. For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Its just like in tennis, he said. This is so because the voters of even small minorities in a State may make representation. the difference between winning all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's 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. In the All rights reserved. Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nations principle of representative democracy, while others, Every great nation started with a great leader. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? movements, the practical effect of the Electoral College (along with the single-member Recognizing that conditions of poverty alone do not constitute neglect, some states are providing child care subsidies, affordable housing, home visiting and enhanced primary care. Human Services Updated February 21, 2023 The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. Indeed, if we become obsessed with government by popular majority as the only To abolish the Electoral College in favor of a nationwide popular election for president 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. accordance with the 12th Amendment. 2. 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. What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote? Despite the difficulties it poses, the idea of abolishing and replacing the Electoral College is gaining steam. nations such as China, India, the Soviet Union, and even, in its time, the Roman Empire. majorities in the States. For as things stand now, no one region contains the absolute majority (270) of Create your account for free. Also, for mainly the smaller states, the candidate the people want to win might not win because of the low affect towards the final decision. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. Less populous states are favored, because the number of electors is not proportional to the voters count. Likewise, the winner of the popular vote is variable. 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Because of how the system is set up, it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and another to win the electoral vote. 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. Should the Electoral College be modified? Why or why not? If you are new to netivist, please create your account for free and start collecting your netivist points! That is to say, when the electoral vote outcome is so obviously to other special interest groups such as labor unions, farmers, environmentalists, and so While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes.
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