The Trouble With The Electoral College

Improved Essays
An additional source that I used for my research was a YouTube video called “The Trouble with the Electoral College” by a channel called “CGP Grey” and was published on November 7th 2011. This source gave me insight into the background of the electoral system in addition to the disadvantages of the electoral college. The video was extremely beneficial as it provided me with insightful information regarding the issue, while also being easily accessed and simple to understand. However, as indicated by the title of the video, it had a majorly biased attitude towards the issue. The video only discussed the negatives of the system and did not reference any positives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the article, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Electoral College, Steve Neumann of the Monmouth Magazine interviews Chris DeRosa, chair of the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University, about the Electoral College. DeRosa tells why the Electoral College was created and is asked what he believes are the advantages and disadvantages of this system. DeRosa starts by giving a very brief description of what the Electoral College does, casting votes for presidential elections, and how one receives electoral votes. He also explains that there are occasionally faithless electors who do not vote for who they are pledged to. However, these electors have never affected the outcome of an election.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Electoral College was necessary when communications were poor, literacy was low, and voters lacked information about out-of-state figures, which is clearly no longer the case.” is what Gene Green once stated. Over the few past elections it has seems as if the Electoral College is being used more, and more to win elections. I have now grown to oppose the Electoral College, and think that it is time that we no longer use It. Considering that the Electoral College was created in the first place to prevent the newly founded American from getting manipulated, by electing tyrants, and also that the Electoral College was designed so that each would have equal representation based on population. However in some cases it does not work because no…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should the united states continue to elect its president through the electoral college system? To ease some of the tension with this decision let me lay down some facts and information. In a presidential election, the popular vote simply means an aggregate of all voters from all states in America. The candidate who gets the most votes nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. But the winner of the popular vote may end up losing the election, like “Al Gore did in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College is a flawed system in which decides America’s presidential fate. According to Google, the Electoral College “consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.” In many elections in the past, Presidential candidates who did not win a majority of the popular vote, or even a plurality, were elected president because of the electoral college. Take Bush vs. Al Gore for example.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One main pro of the electoral college, said by defenders of the system, is that it is, “a healthier constitutional form that values the capacity to carry numerous,” political ideals across the nation. Secondly, the electoral college system, “[requires] candidates to assemble multistate and multi regional coalitions rather than focusing,” on large states and urban communities. In a direct election, the largest concentration of voters would be in the large states and in dense metropolitan areas. One main con of the electoral college is that though the small states are overrepresented due to, “the senatorial bump, some persuasive legitimating principle other than the fact that the framers endorsed the idea,” should continue to exist today, but does not (Rakove). According to Gallup Poll in 2011, 62% of americans preferred a popular vote system for electing the president, while “barely a third, 35%, say they would keep the electoral college” (Inc).…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abolish Electoral College

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Abolish the Electoral College? Democracy, a noun defined as “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives”. The Electoral College was established in 1787 in order to choose a President. Unfortunately though, the college was not able to make wise choices on presidential candidates.…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Electoral College Flaws

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dear State Senator, the electoral college is an obsolete system of election. Although the electoral college was an idea set by the founding fathers in the constitution, this form of election is not effective any longer. People have the right to vote, but this form of election is not directly voting for a representative. The electoral college essentially makes the people vote for electors who then have the opportunity to vote for whom ever they would like. The electoral system is an archaic system that needs to be exchanged for the popular vote because the people do not vote for an actual representative, the system has failed before, and the system has the opportunity to have an even greater mishap.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Electoral College Unfair

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the 2000 presidential election between George Bush and Al Gore, Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral college; this had only happened four times in history. This brought out a lot of controversy between people who didn’t understand how the electoral college worked. The electoral college is made up of representatives of each state, who vote for the president and vice president. Each representative is voted for by their individual state voters, whom they will represent. Currently, there are 538 total electors, 271 votes needed to win the electoral college.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College works and provides a stable form of federal government that cannot change and provides a plan that has little amounts of disorder. In Article 2, section 1 of the United States constitution it states, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors,equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress:” (Document 2)…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College The Electoral College is a process made by the founding fathers in the Constitution as a compromise between the votes of the people of the United States, and the electors of the United States, where citizens vote to assist their electors who will hopefully vote as their state did. But the main question a majority of voting citizens asks, is the Electoral College fair, and is the Electoral college trouble for the United States as a country built on democracy? Even greater, is it time to dispose of the process? With that being said; yes the Electoral College is definitely ready to be disposed of due to the conflict it causes within the election process. To begin, the Electoral college should be eliminated because the…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Electoral College Dbq

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Electoral College The President of the United States of America is the most powerful man in the world. As the Commander-in-Chief, Leader of the represented party, and peacekeeper among the world, the President’s job is up for grabs every four years. Article II of The Constitution states, any natural born citizen who has been a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years, and above the age of thirty-five can become the President (Posner 1). In order to be elected, the candidate must first win a majority of the state’s representatives and secure the party nomination.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abolish Electoral College

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Many have concluded that the Electoral College should be taken away completely or just in some states. There have been cases where Electoral College has actually been bad for us, but there has also been equal amount of times were it worked in are favor. There have been a few cases where they try to abolish the Electoral College and even just remove it state wide. For example, in 2004 Colorado almost passed a bill that uses popular vote instead of the electoral votes. Another, case was in 2000 when an elector voted against the popular vote which hasn’t happen in over 100 years.…

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College was a system outlined in the United States’ constitution by the founding fathers, as the method in which they believe the president should be elected. But with the progression of time the views on the necessity of the Electoral College has become a controversy, as now two factions exist with one faction believing that the Electoral College is an illegitimate method for the election of a president. Though this faction exists and believes the Electoral College is an unfair system that gives a disproportionate voice to different United States’ citizens, but is it truly unfair and unjust. As the Electoral College is a part of the United States constitution where it can be found in Article II, Section I along with a few clarifications…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    We as a nation, we should be able to decide the president and vice-president for our country. The Electoral College is a way for the Government to control the way politics are decided. People should decide the president, because people know the truth. The electoral college takes away our right to vote, and it is sound a little bit weird but it is the reality, some of the reason is because most of the time the popular vote it does not count in the reality, the smaller states favored the Electoral college because of the number of electors that they have and also, in the reality our votes do not count.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every four years, citizens of the United States of America choose their next president based off a unique system known as the electoral college. The way that this system works is interesting and is confused easily in the general public. In early November, when citizens go to the polls, they are not voting for the president directly, rather they are voting for their individual states to cast its electoral votes towards a certain presidential candidate. In the forty-eight of the fifty states where voting takes place, all the electoral votes go to the presidential candidate who wins the majority in their state. No matter how large or small the majority is, the presidential candidate gets all the votes.…

    • 1924 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays