riana Roberson
December 4, 2014
POL315
Professor Russo
The United States has been well known for its democracy since the 1700s. The country has presidential elections every four years. In elections almost every American citizen over the age of 18 has a right to cast a vote for the president excluding United States territories such as Guam. The process in voting for the president of the United States is by no means straightforward. In the 2000 presidential election the candidates were Al Gore and George Bush, Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote but however lost due to Bush receiving a majority of the electoral votes. Al Gore lost because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is voting system extremely outdated, and should be replaced by the Popular Vote system. The Popular Vote system is a system that allows the American people to directly select the president based on the majority vote. The Electoral College is a system in which the United States uses in electing the country’s next president. …show more content…
The system was constitutionally established in the 1700s by America’s founding fathers. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors. The electors are all the members of congress (both Senate and House of Representatives) in addition to the District of Columbia’s three electors. When eligible United States citizens cast their votes in presidential elections they are not voting directly for the president. By voting the public is telling the state how they want the electoral votes casted. It is ideal that electors vote in favor of the public’s popular vote, however, electors do not have to vote corresponding to the public’s popular vote. All electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. When the electors cast their votes for the presidency in their state they cast their votes separately. Once electors cast their votes for their state the candidate that receives a majority vote wins all of the electoral votes for that state. In the 1700’s when the Electoral College was designed, the fastest way to send any sort of information was to write it down and have it sent by horse. This method of communication took a very long time and it wasn’t always guaranteed that the information would make it to its destination. Because information moved so slowly and because the country was large and just developing the idea was to send all the electors to Washington where they could have all of the up to date information to make decisions for the people back home who wouldn’t know the latest news. It makes clear sense to have established the Electoral College during this time where there is no advanced digital technology, therefore no truly accurate way of having an election based off of popular vote. When looking deeper into the Electoral College it is clear that the system is outdated. As a country we have the resources and technology to due away with the system as a whole. The Electoral College is a political injustice, which lacks democracy and can give presidential candidates advantages that they would not have if the presidency were based upon popular vote. In this course we have learned that members of congress, more specifically members of the House of Representatives, will usually make decisions in which mock the wants of their district’s constituents. Mayhew tells us that members of the house will in other words imitate the views and ideas of their constituents in effort of being reelected. It seems as thought it would not be an issue as to whether or not the Electoral College be terminated if electors actually voted exactly the same as the popular vote, but they don’t always. William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration states, “Opponents of the Electoral College system also point to the risk of so-called "faithless" Electors. A "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party 's candidate for president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. There have been 7 such Electors in this century and as recently as 1988 when a Democrat Elector in the State of West Virginia cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for
December 4, 2014
POL315
Professor Russo
The United States has been well known for its democracy since the 1700s. The country has presidential elections every four years. In elections almost every American citizen over the age of 18 has a right to cast a vote for the president excluding United States territories such as Guam. The process in voting for the president of the United States is by no means straightforward. In the 2000 presidential election the candidates were Al Gore and George Bush, Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote but however lost due to Bush receiving a majority of the electoral votes. Al Gore lost because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is voting system extremely outdated, and should be replaced by the Popular Vote system. The Popular Vote system is a system that allows the American people to directly select the president based on the majority vote. The Electoral College is a system in which the United States uses in electing the country’s next president. …show more content…
The system was constitutionally established in the 1700s by America’s founding fathers. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors. The electors are all the members of congress (both Senate and House of Representatives) in addition to the District of Columbia’s three electors. When eligible United States citizens cast their votes in presidential elections they are not voting directly for the president. By voting the public is telling the state how they want the electoral votes casted. It is ideal that electors vote in favor of the public’s popular vote, however, electors do not have to vote corresponding to the public’s popular vote. All electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. When the electors cast their votes for the presidency in their state they cast their votes separately. Once electors cast their votes for their state the candidate that receives a majority vote wins all of the electoral votes for that state. In the 1700’s when the Electoral College was designed, the fastest way to send any sort of information was to write it down and have it sent by horse. This method of communication took a very long time and it wasn’t always guaranteed that the information would make it to its destination. Because information moved so slowly and because the country was large and just developing the idea was to send all the electors to Washington where they could have all of the up to date information to make decisions for the people back home who wouldn’t know the latest news. It makes clear sense to have established the Electoral College during this time where there is no advanced digital technology, therefore no truly accurate way of having an election based off of popular vote. When looking deeper into the Electoral College it is clear that the system is outdated. As a country we have the resources and technology to due away with the system as a whole. The Electoral College is a political injustice, which lacks democracy and can give presidential candidates advantages that they would not have if the presidency were based upon popular vote. In this course we have learned that members of congress, more specifically members of the House of Representatives, will usually make decisions in which mock the wants of their district’s constituents. Mayhew tells us that members of the house will in other words imitate the views and ideas of their constituents in effort of being reelected. It seems as thought it would not be an issue as to whether or not the Electoral College be terminated if electors actually voted exactly the same as the popular vote, but they don’t always. William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration states, “Opponents of the Electoral College system also point to the risk of so-called "faithless" Electors. A "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party 's candidate for president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. There have been 7 such Electors in this century and as recently as 1988 when a Democrat Elector in the State of West Virginia cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for