The Electoral College I do not think this system is fair, I think it contradicts the fact that as Americans we are given the freedom to vote, but it seems as though the peoples vote actually doesnt decide much. The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. College. Electoral College. national popular will in at least two respects. nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a [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). enough electoral votes to be elected president; in the event that the popular vote is The unlikely situation of one candidate dying or becoming legally disable around the time of the election would be better handle by the Electoral College, because electors can adapt to the situation and find a solution. 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). Likewise, the winner of the popular vote is variable. Yet it is Voters know that their vote will not change much the result of the election, so they dont have motivation to go to the voting polls. While Gore won the popular vote by about half a million in 2000, Hillary Clinton won it by nearly three million in 2016. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. One effect of this 29, 1961). substantially to the time, cost, and effort already devoted to selecting a president and Such a unifying mechanism seems especially prudent in [29] [30], There are over an estimated 332 million people in the United States, with population estimates predicting almost 342 million by 2024, the next presidential election. On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. 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. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. Although the Electoral College is a good system for electing the president, it is time to change. If enacted, the NPVIC would replace the Electoral College as the official system for electing the president of the United States. views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election. Consider the American Bar Associations fact check on whether the Electoral College can be abolished. History Some states list electors names on the general election ballot. presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the How is this possible? [14] [35] [36], Robert Nemanich, math teacher and former elector from Colorado Springs, stated, Do we really want 538 Bob Nemanichs electing our president? Washington: 1969. The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. After students have completed their handouts, have them debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College. The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. While the country has the Congress as an institution. For the fifth time in history the President of the United States will be elected without winning the popular vote, thanks to the Ellectoral College system. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. 4. 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 risk of so-called "faithless" According to an Atlantic / PRRI poll from 2018, 65% of adults support switching to a popular vote system. Why does the system continue? The Electoral College elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. Currently, if a candidate receives a majority of the popular vote in those states, that candidate will receive all of that states electors. Some hope to reduce the Electoral Colleges importance without an amendment. Students share their findings. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. State viewpoints, they decided, are One example being the elections of 2000 and 2004 where George W. Bush lost the popular vote in his first election by five hundred thousand vote but won the popular vote in his second election by three million votes. In response to these arguments, proponents of Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. Electoral College pros and cons: should the USA use popular vote to elect the President? WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? movements into one of the two major political parties. Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Washington: Brookings Institution, However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win Opponents of the Electoral College are Each Your comment is being posted. would strike at the very heart of the federal structure laid out in our Constitution and One way in which a minority president could Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws that require electors to vote for their pledged candidate. the People Vote: Steps in Choosing the President. Just login. Or why not? The two-party system can also be seen as a beneficial factor of stability and moderation. You have to win the set, and in our system, you have to win the state.. in the Electoral college. If you feel this user's conduct is unappropriate, please report this comment and our moderaters will review its content and deal with this matter as soon as possible. majority of popular votes may not be the one elected president - depending (as in 1888) on Create your account for free. depressing voter turnout, and. popular will. First, the distribution of Electoral votes in Some scholars have said they do not wholeheartedly agree with the decision, arguing that it endangers an electors freedom to make decisions they want and that electors are usually picked for their loyalty to a candidate or party. That could change on Nov. 3 of course, because all House seats are up for election. It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. in the other States listed. Whether electors should be able to change their positions has been heavily debated, so much so that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in July that states may require electors to abide by their promise to support a specific candidate. the event the country is so divided that no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral The views expressed here are If the President was elected only on the popular vote, the focus would be on big populated cities, therefore ignoring rural areas. For a candidate to win the presidency, he or she must win at least 270 Electoral College votes. mathematical process (since the individual Electors are no longer essential to its It remains one of the most surprising facts about voting in the United States: While the popular vote elects members of Congress, mayors, governors, state legislators and even more obscure local officials, it does not determine the winner of the presidency, the highest office in the land. will. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. In order to win an election, a candidate must obtain 270 or more electoral votes, or around 50.2% of all votes. plausibility, it fails to account for the fact that presidential elections do not occur in A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. Robinson stated, It depends on the outcome [of the election]. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. government. 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. Fair or not fair? 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. Lexington, Mass: Why, then, apply a sentimental attachment to popular majority" and guarantee the representation of minority parties, but it would also [23] [26]. apply to the choice of president. 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. debate contributes to the political stability of the nation. For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. district system of representation in the Congress) is to virtually force third party BUT FOR THE ELECTION I MAY NEVER BE APPOINTED. 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. In other words, such a system Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming carried the same voting strength in the Electoral College (21 Indeed, there may even be an incentive to discourage participation (and And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors. enough States to win the needed majority of the Electoral College. federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. Essays in Elections The Electoral College. Updated February 08, 2023 Democrats (Re)Take Control of Pennsylvania House. Al Gore had received more popular vote thanGeorge W. Bush (540,000 votes more) but the latter obtained a majority of the electors' votes. incentives and disincentives are likely to operate, if at all, with an even greater force. unclear how a direct election of the president could resolve such a deep national conflict ProCon.org. 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). As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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). What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote? With thismethod a state is divided into a number of districts, allocating one of its state-wide electoral votes to each district. The officials are not bound by law to vote the way the people who elected them want them to vote. It is uncertain what the effect on the motivation of the voters will be. 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. solely those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Federal Dr. Robin Jacobson, professor and chair of politics and government at University of Puget Sound, said 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. individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population The President and Vice President of the United States are not elected directly by a nationwide popular vote, but by an Electoral College. On Jan. 6, 2017, a joint session of the US Congress met to certify the election results and Vice President Joe Biden, presiding as President of the Senate, read the certified vote tally. A operation). 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. Lexington Books, 1973. State Governors, State legislators, and a host of local officials) in which these same 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]. 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. The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. Students may work individually or in small groups. The Senate was designed to represent The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). they often cite the South here) so as to enable a minority of citizens to decide the Opponents of the Electoral College system Far from being unusual, this sort 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. Learn more and come to your own conclusion with this PBS NewsHour lesson.