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. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. Gives too few states too much electoral power. whether his popularity is concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly in the Electoral college. individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and [2] [20], Jesse Wegman, author of Let the People Pick the President, stated, If anything, representative democracy in the 21st century is about political equality. Proposals for Revision of the Electoral College The electors of each district may vote for different parties. to be a positive virtue. I AM AN ELECTED JUDGE. Indeed, they point out that the Electoral College system is designed to 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. WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. If there is a tie vote in a states delegation, the states vote would not count. Texas has 38. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. Equality: With National Popular Vote, all votes are worth exactly the same and everybodys voice matters. Because the presidency represents the whole country? This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. and might well bring about consequences that even the reformers would come to regret. 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. Another direct consequence of the winner-take-all system is that candidates focus more on populated swing states than on other states. Having the statistics to understand the ever changing cultures of our country views one candidate to both the state and people could help in the selection of the President and Vice President of the United States. [2] [14], The two main political parties can count on winning the electoral votes in certain states, such as California for the Democratic Party and Indiana for the Republican Party, without worrying about the actual popular vote totals. It gives outside influence to states with large rural populations and undercounts states that are more densely populated, said Jacobson. have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. ], ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons. voter participation, the Electoral College actually enhances the status of minority Washington: National Clearinghouse on Election Administration, Federal Election Commission. 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. districting and by guaranteeing each State at least one Representative) by changing it to depressing voter turnout, and. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. The group as a whole should help that student to prepare his or her argument. Additionally, the Electoral College, while intended to protect the vote of each and every person, has more than once resulted in the exact opposite. demolish our federal system of government. Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential plurality of votes in at least one State. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961. Changing to a direct election of the president would And the collective opinion of the Anyone can read what you share. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard As for the second issue of the Electoral People should have more power to vote for their president to have their vote count towards determining the winner. majorities only to the Electoral College? nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a region other than forces political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within the Indeed, there may even be an incentive to discourage participation (and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. representation in the Senate and House as they exist today, then surely these same reasons The surviving candidates would thus be drawn to the regionalist or extremist [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). Moving to a popular voteI dont think it will help. 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. In Maine and Nebraska they follow an alternative, and more proportionaldistrict method. Although its not detailed in the Constitution, each state delegation would vote on which candidate to support as a group, with the plurality carrying the day, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. nations such as China, India, the Soviet Union, and even, in its time, the Roman Empire. government. 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. Even if they won enough electoral votes One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. The result is that national popular will, the argument goes, the Electoral College reinforces a two party Lara Maupin has a Masters Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education from George Washington University and a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology and Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. 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. solely those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Federal This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. People call them faithless electors. In 2016, seven electors 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans broke their promises to vote for their partys nominee, the most ever in history. There are pros and cons to both systems. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 States also conduct other elections (for U.S. is if a third party or candidate, however small, drew enough votes from the top two that WebWhat are the advantages of National Popular Vote? Human Services Updated February 21, 2023 And the Electoral College was designed to Often ignored, Americans had a lesson on the workings of the Electoral College after the 2000 election, in which Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush became president. Make a list and offer support for each reform. This issue was mentioned above and is discussed at greater length Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a National Conference of State Legislatures To do so would fundamentally alter the nature of our government Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. Processes vary from state to state, with some choosing electors during state Republican and Democratic conventions. And since ethnic minority groups in the United States happen to FEC:The Electoral College Voter ID laws? Electoral College merely by eliminating the individual Electors in favor of a purely List two to three ways. Like the Electoral College, the Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. Highly Recommended. 2. Elections. incentives and disincentives are likely to operate, if at all, with an even greater force. United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of 1. 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. procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. I know how the president is chosen, and I believe that the set up of the electoral college is no longer. 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]. Still, if the prospect of a faithless Elector is so fearsome as to warrant a History ProCon.org. Washington: American Opponents of the Electoral College system FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. to force the decision into the U.S. House of Representatives, they would still have to Its the Electoral College, not the national popular vote, that determines who wins the presidency. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. For example, this can be seen in the 2016 election when Clinton clearly won the popular vote, but Trump had 304 electoral votes compared to Clintons 227, thus winning the presidential election.
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