We already see gridlock and partisanship in Congress that limits the opportunities for collaboration. Although some people don’t enjoy the slow nature of a gridlocked two-party system, the Electoral College allows voters to make changes every four years. The electors can vote their conscience as well, refusing to follow what their state elections guide them to do. Almost 70% of those events occurred in only 4 states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida. That makes it one of the most unique election systems in the world today, especially since every other election in the U.S. uses the popular format. 10. Although this issue didn’t impact the election results, a closer vote total in the Electoral College could have caused the entire process to go into Congress. This action would allow the popular vote winner to take the White House. Electors have no obligation to vote for the preferred candidate of their state. This process stops the other branches of government (under most circumstances) from choosing who will get to serve in the executive branch. 9. The Constitution allows for anyone who receives an electoral vote to be part of the decision-making process in Congress to select a President if no clear majority is present. There may come a day when the popular vote can replace the Electoral College. Almost 3 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump in the 2016 election. There are three important benefits produced by the current electoral college system: (1) Because a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes from across the nation, a candidate cannot become president without a significant widespread voter base. That means the major party that can maintain its base could win elections without a clear majority. This agreement includes several states and DC, giving the electoral vote count assigned to them to the candidate who receives the most votes in the national election. 7. Abolishing the electoral college can ensure that the citizens of the united states have their democratic right to directly choose their representative without having to indirectly vote for the presidential candidate of their choice which is not the case with the electoral college, where voters do not directly vote for the president, rather they vote for electors who go ahead to vote for the president (WEGMAN, … Without the Electoral College in place, presidential candidates would build platforms that would speak to their base. It’s also the only place where the District of Columbia functions as a state since the 23rd Amendment allocates 3 electors to it. 5. If you live in Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, then you currently receive taxation without clear representation – an issue that caused the rebellion of the colonies in the first place. The Electoral College is an arcane out-dated system that allows the will of the people to go subverted when picking the President of the United States, by giving 538 people the power to become “electors”. 4. If the U.S. were to abolish the electoral college, then the restrictions that territories experience against voting in this election would disappear. Only one election in history was close enough that it had to go into the House of Representatives for a decision. Only Nebraska and Maine continue to use the proportional representation where each district allocates a single elector based on the vote totals from its assigned communities. That means each Senator represents one, as does each voting member of the House of Representatives. It is also the only time that the District of Columbia gets to act as a state since the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution allocates three electors to it as well. This would give the electoral process and the presidency itself more credibility and make the American people feel as if their vote really makes a difference. Electors manage the needs of the state and community instead of following the will of the general public throughout the country. In the majority of states, whichever candidate gets the most votes, wins that states electoral votes. Residents of places like Puerto Rico and Guam would have their votes be counted in the final total, and these locations consistently vote for one party. There have been some unusual elections, such as the 1972 affair when Richard Nixon took 520 electoral votes to George McGovern’s 16. Adding even more candidates into this discussion without the protections of this structure could create circumstances where someone with less than 35% of the vote could potentially win a four-year term. The design of the Electoral College supports a simplified two-party system. Electors manage the needs of the state and community instead of following the will of the general public throughout the country. Getting rid of the Electoral College would radicalize politics. The threshold that election results must reach to begin an automatic recount is a 0.5% difference between the candidates. Although the Electoral College should be abolished, we need … Alexander Hamilton was a significant supporter of the Electoral College. 7. Out of those visits, almost 70% of them happened in only four states: North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Although there are some advantages to this system, the disadvantages have been highlighted in recent elections. He said that this system wasn’t perfect, but it was also at least “excellent.” The Founding Fathers believed that this structure would prevent the Executive Branch from falling to a person who did not have the necessary qualifications to serve Americans. This disadvantage means that if you live in a rural area, your vote could count more toward who gets to become the eventual President. because the delagates who made the Constitution thought that know one was eduacated to make the right choice for president. The primary benefit of the electoral college is that it works to protect the best interests of the minority in every election. The 2016 election saw a record number of these ballots in the modern era, with four of them coming from Washington State alone. This issue exists in the Electoral College when the rural states face off with the urban ones. 2. So they gave every state (along with the District of Columbia) a minimum of 3 votes. Four of the electors came from the state of Washington. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 states during the 2016 Presidential election. 7. Candidates needed to go to each state to discuss what they wanted to do to help the country. When he campaigned against George H.W. The Electoral College was created, in part, to make the states feel important in a federalist government. There will always be a concern about the tyranny of the majority in the United States. It supports the ideas of centrism in most election years because extreme views do not usually equate to specific votes. That means the elections in each 10-year period are based on this information. Amending the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College system in the U.S. requires support from two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the 50 states. 1. Why or why not? The Stubborn Survival of the Electoral College Americans have been trying to reform the way we elect presidents for 200 years, but the barriers to change are high. George W. Bush won the Electoral College in 2000 even though he received 0.5% less of the popular vote against Al Gore. The Founding Fathers of the United States established a compromise in the Constitution when creating the foundation of their new nation. Colin Powell was the primary beneficiary, receiving three votes. That means each state (including Washington, D.C.) can send a message that represents the majority of their community to the rest of the nation. There have been times when territories were converted to states as a way to alter the outcome of elections, but this issue has not occurred in the modern era. Another option is called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. During the 2020 election cycle, there are several candidates who are promising to work on doing just that. Because of the development of the Electoral College, there was a middle option that eliminated the need to elect the President by popular vote or by appointment in Congress. The primary benefit of the electoral college is that it works to protect the best interests of the minority in every election. The rules of the Electoral College allow people to cast ballots for President and Vice President when they have representatives who vote in Congress. 4. Abolishing the Electoral College stops swing states from having sway in the election. Bernie Sanders, John Kasich, Ron Paul, and Faith Spotted Eagle received one each. When you know that one state will vote the same way in every election, there is no need to visit that place. That means more people can feel like their government accurately represents their needs. 8. Some argue that the benefits of the Electoral College are that it allows the more rural portions of the United States to be more equally represented. Candidates had to go to each state to talk about what they wanted to do for the country because there was no other way to let people know what was happening. There are currently 16 states in this agreement that reflect a total of 196 votes. Sticking to the electoral college format allows us to use electors as intended instead of relying on all of the votes counting. The Electoral College thus presents democratic risks without serving any of its original purposes. The reasons for the Electoral College are no longer relevant. It causes some votes to have greater weight than others. The push to abolish the Electoral College is picking up steam as Democrats turn their attention to the 2020. Over 2.8 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump, but it was Trump who won the White House because of the results of the electoral map. The number of elections in each 10-year cycle change for elector counts. It doesn’t require a 50% vote majority to create an electoral majority. If this system were to be abolished, then there would be a bias in the vote each cycle because rural areas tend to vote for Republicans while urban centers vote for Democrats. 5. That means the information receives an update every 10 years. This design promotes the two-party system. There are currently 538 electors up for grabs in an election, which means a majority of 270 is necessary to elect the President. It still promotes the idea of the simple majority. If this system were to be abolished, then every vote counted would have the exact same weight in the final tally. One of the primary duties of the Electoral College is that it does an excellent job of protecting the best interests of the minority in each election. The current structure of the Electoral college consists of 538 electors. That would mean Bernie Sanders, Ron Paul, John Kasich, Colin Powell, and Faith Spotted Eagle all had a shot at the White House from the 2016 results. 3. The Electoral College has given one candidate a majority win in this political structure since 1992, but there have been four times when the winner of the election didn’t receive a clear majority of the votes across the entire country. Even though proponents of the Electoral College want it to stay so that every state can have a specific say in the outcome of the election, the candidates are already starting to behave in the same ways that people fear they would when targeting a majority population groups. This advantage makes it possible for the average person to feel like their government supports them in meaningful ways. Reason 2 for abolishing the electoral college. The pros and cons of abolishing the Electoral College must go beyond the 65% of people who want it gone. Question: Over The Past Few Years, Discussions About The Viability Of The Electoral College Have Taken Center Stage. It would stop the requirement to redistribute the electoral votes. The Constitution does not contain many provisions that outline the necessary qualifications to be an elector. The two-party system solves the fractured vote problem more effectively than the Electoral College ever did, and the electors never exercised genuine independence. That makes it challenging to say that the White House represents the clear will of the people. Bush and H. Ross Perot, he only achieved 43% of the vote in 1992. Abolishing the Electoral College could make America’s many campaign financing problems even worse. Nevertheless, I doubt the wisdom of abolishing the Electoral College. That is, Americans' opinions are increasingly driven by what would benefit their party. send our content editing team a message here, 17 Advantages and Disadvantages of Diesel Cars, 6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, 40 Most Asked Librarian Interview Questions with Answers, 100 Most Asked Mechanical Engineer Interview Questions with Answers, 40 Most Asked Security Guard Interview Questions with Answers, 30 Impressive Sales Manager Resume Objective Statement Examples, 33 Impressive Office Assistant Resume Objective Statement Examples, The 100 Most Asked Salesforce Admin Interview Questions with Answers, The 50 Most Asked Library Assistant Interview Questions with Answers, 125 Thinking of You Text Messages for Him and Her, 40 Ways to Say Thank You for Your Time and Effort, 40 Kind Ways to Say Thank You for Your Advice. Some voters have more “weight” in the election than others do. A presidential candidate who doesn’t receive a majority of the votes can still win the Electoral College to get into the White House. In the history of the United States, there have been five elections where the eventual winner didn’t receive a clear majority of the vote. Switching to this standard system would not likely create an adverse result. Two of those elections have occurred since 2000 (George W. Bush and Donald Trump). Some American citizens don’t get to vote for President. It doesn’t always allow for the majority candidate to take the White House. That means if you live in a rural area, your vote may count more toward who gets to be the eventual president. There have been five additional elections where the eventual president didn’t win a majority of the vote, including Donald Trump in the 2016 campaign. Every vote would count equally instead. The small towns in the United States, along with all of the rural areas, would become marginalized if this system were to be entirely abolished. There were two additional votes for Sanders that were invalidated in Minnesota and one for Kasich in Colorado. It allows each community to send a message to the national government. There are over 300 million people currently residing in the United States, but only 538 people actually get to choose who gets to be the president. The political game in the United States would change dramatically without the Electoral College present. No elector has changed the outcome of an election in the United States by not voting for the candidate their individual voters wanted, but the structure of the Electoral College makes it a possibility. Their vote doesn’t contribute to a national result. How many electors from each state? There is a risk of faithless electors casting ballots. The elections where the candidate who wins the Electoral College, but not the popular vote, tends to dominate debates like these. Despite California having millions of more people living in the state compared to Wyoming, the weight of a vote is 30% less. This disadvantage causes the 2010 data to be valid for three Presidential elections, but the 2020 census will only be valid for two elections. It’s hard to imagine a political institution … The split between the popular vote and the electoral college seems to reflect this: It seems to hit Democrats, as we’d predict, given that data. There was no other way beyond the newspaper or in-person meetings to let people know what was happening. Most states already have a winner-takes-all format. This disadvantage means some communities don’t get to discuss relevant issues with the candidates for the White House. 2. That is how John Quincy Adams won over Andrew Jackson. Bill Clinton was the primary recipient of this advantage for both of his elections. 2. But again there is 2004. 1. The benefits of abolishing the electoral college would be ensuring that everyone in the country is directly involved in the election of the President by making sure that each vote (popular vote) is what counts. Because the Electoral College is based on the structure of state populations and representation in the House, some people have a vote that carries more weight per delegate than others. The electoral college is a system used to determine who the President and Vice President of the United States will be. This process stopped the process that was used in England to select a Prime Minister. Charles Fried 3:20 AM. It is a process that allows the people to choose who serves in the White House instead of throwing it into Congress. It also stops the distribution process where California gets 55 votes, but a state like Delaware only gets 3. The only difference is that in this unique structure, the voice of the minority can actually shout down the desires of the majority. There are also circumstances where a majority of electors might not be available, which would throw the results of the election into the House of Representatives. It took time for people to learn what was happening in the nation’s capital. That means there must be a majority of states that agree with a specific candidate instead of allowing the people to decide who they want to have as president. It would create problems when multiple candidates run. Then in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College despite receiving 2.1% less of the popular vote. Iowa farmers might lose out to California union workers since their population numbers are larger. The Electoral College has come under fire for lacking fairness and ignoring the will of voters across the nation. People would feel like their vote matters. We have a direct democracy: Senators, representatives and members of the Electoral College … It gives a slight edge to candidates with broad-based support in many states over those who rack up huge majorities … Each state receives an allotment of electors that equals the number of delegates that get sent to Congress each year.