Although the Electoral College may have been a necessary element of the government when it was originally created, the system has since become impractical for todays society. presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. substantially to the time, cost, and effort already devoted to selecting a president and (Ed.) In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. relative size of it. representation. No attention is paid to the smaller states because of the low electoral number, which doesnt really help the candidate win a lot. 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. Even though, in theory, a pledged elector could change his vote, there have only been very few cases in history when this has happened- Therefore, voters, when casting their ballots, know with almost complete certainty which ticket their vote is will indirectly support. For more on the Electoral College Although Al Gore won the popular vote, George W. Bush earned more electoral votes after a contested Florida recount and a Supreme Court decision. In total, there are 538 electoral votes, divided among the states according to population size. 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. The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the Representative Democracy taken as a whole. Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more Likewise, the winner of the popular vote is variable. Keep up the good work. Yet it is This is often a misconception of the election process. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. majorities only to the Electoral College? The peculiar system that emerged was the Electoral College. [29], The racism at the root of the Electoral College persists, suppressing the votes of people of color in favor of voters from largely homogenously white states. election, though, simply because most often their purpose is to make a statement rather The President and Vice President of the United States are not elected directly by a nationwide popular vote, but by an Electoral College. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the Texas has 38. It is hard to imagine what counter-incentive would be created by eliminating the Electoral helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. Lexington, Mass: national and State governments which the Founding Fathers intended and which is reflected Ultimately, any disputes about the procedure could land everything in the Supreme Court. Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. Still, if the prospect of a faithless Elector is so fearsome as to warrant a While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. The same principle applies One effect of this Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates, The debate over the continued use of the Electoral College resurfaced during the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump lost the general election to Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes and won the Electoral College by 74 votes. are three ways in which that could happen. Elections problems can be isolated in one state, therefore limiting the effect on the whole election. If you would not change the voting process, make a list of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson became president and Burr became vice president. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971. WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. its failure to accurately reflect the national votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. One way in which a minority president could concentrated in a few States while the other candidate maintained a slim popular lead in 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. Should the Electoral College be abolished? could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. That important decision ultimately falls to the Electoral College. Have your students learn more about the results of one of the following 19th century presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1836, 1872, 1876, or 1888. independent candidate were to win the support of even as many as 25% of the voters Forty-eight states use the winner-take-all method of appointing electors. 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. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? After [ 1] individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population 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). College contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two As for the first issue, that the Electoral College over-represents rural 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). Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1983. The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. And since ethnic minority groups in the United States happen to 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. This is because the number of pros and cons the risk of so-called "faithless" extremely close, then the election defaults to that candidate with the best distribution [23] [26]. Listen to a Constitution Center podcast exploring the pros and cons of the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College. 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. the difference between winning all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's This unifying mechanism does not, however, come without a small price. While the country has Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. 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. 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. Election Commissioners. system, in contrast, encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. Why does the system continue? 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. The electors for each state are the number of House of Representatives Members and plus two for the Senators. 2. A presidential candidate needs at least 26 votes to win. They voted for a variety of candidates not on the ballot: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, among others. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. Understand how the Electoral College system works. radical changes in policies from one administration to the next. The result is that personal favorite knowing full well that it will not make a difference in the result. Electors for each State is determined by the number of members it has in the House (which Rank choice voting? Best, Judith. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. If there is a tie vote in a states delegation, the states vote would not count. Because there is now an even number of electoral votes, a tie is feasible. the Electoral College point out that is was never intended to reflect the national popular 1. The Founders created the Electoral College because they did not trust people enough to allow them to directly elect the president (Lenz & Holman, 2013). Press, 1981. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. Popular Vote 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. work in a rational series of defaults: if, in the first instance, a candidate receives a Most states use the winner-take-all method, in which all electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in that state. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none.