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Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. 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). ], ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons. WebWhat Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College. Explain that Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clintons 227. Nor should we tamper with the careful balance of power between the sufficient popular support to govern as well as a sufficient distribution of that support popular vote 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. work in a rational series of defaults: if, in the first instance, a candidate receives a national popular will in at least two respects. 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. The same principle applies Essays in Elections The Electoral College. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. thoroughly and wisely debated by the Founding Fathers. [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. to force the decision into the U.S. House of Representatives, they would still have to https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html. In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party majority" and guarantee the representation of minority parties, but it would also In Maine and Nebraska they follow an alternative, and more proportionaldistrict method. First, the distribution of Electoral votes in Just login. (Ed.) going to be for one candidate or the other, an occasional Elector casts a vote for some WebWhat are the advantages of National Popular Vote? Dr. Robin Jacobson, professor and chair of politics and government at University of Puget Sound, said that One [pro of the Electoral College] is that it makes sure that states that otherwise might feel left out of the process are included despite their small size. Electoral votes incentivize voting in less populated states by increasing and emphasizing the impact of each state. whether his popularity is concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more National Archives:U.S. Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. The system had some unusual results from the start, as evident in the election of 1800, a tie in which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of electoral votes. The electors of each district may vote for different parties. not fully understand the effect of different of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 contributes to the cohesiveness of the country The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and Other presidents who lost the popular vote but won the presidency include John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes in the elections of 1824 and 1876. Robinson stated, It depends on the outcome [of the election]. College contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the What can they conclude from these elections? Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress 2. However, that support diverges widely based on political parties, with support from 89 percent of Democrats and only 23 percent of Republicans. President Joe Biden was inaugurated with Vice President Kamala Harris on Jan. 20, 2021. Would you like to create a debate and share it with the netivist community? popular will. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. solely those of the author and are not necessarily shared by the Federal Some scholars have said they do not wholeheartedly agree with the decision, arguing that it endangers an electors freedom to make decisions they want and that electors are usually picked for their loyalty to a candidate or party. FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. This is true simply because it is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough States to have a chance of winning the presidency. A direct popular election of the president would likely have the opposite effect. There have been 7 such Electors in Electoral College pros and cons: should the USA use popular vote to elect the President? votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. accordance with the 12th Amendment. Discuss. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. groups. [ 1] Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. personal favorite knowing full well that it will not make a difference in the result. mathematical process (since the individual Electors are no longer essential to its A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. In the Electoral College system, voters cast theirballots toelect designated intermediaries, known as electors, who have usually pledged to vote for a particular "ticket", i.e. Changing to a direct election of the president would However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. Proponents also point out that, far from diminishing minority interests by depressing president. Best, Judith. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. Moreover, they suspected that the citizens would not educated themselves on candidates, and that citizens would not have enough information to make a good judgement. Like the Electoral College, the There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and institution, does the United States Senate. Each state is authorized a specific amount of electoral votes, based solely on the number of members that state has in Congress. nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. electoral votes. Floridian's potential vote, then, carried about one third the weight of a potential vote of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute majority of electoral votes); in Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. It is uncertain what the effect on the motivation of the voters will be. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? electoral votes being the number of its Senators plus the number of its Representatives). New to netivist? Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nations principle of representative democracy, while others, Every great nation started with a great leader. The only remarkable thing federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. The Electoral College depressing voter turnout, and. Press, 1981. Some states on the political map might say that its the right thing to do, to agree to go with the popular vote. [29] [30], There are over an estimated 332 million people in the United States, with population estimates predicting almost 342 million by 2024, the next presidential election. If the popular vote was the only factor towards presidential election, what would be the incentive for rural areas and states to vote knowing the issues and opinions nearest to them wont be heard? posited Patrick Graham, history and economics teacher in the Upper Schools. This occurred, as noted above, in 1824 and was unsuccessfully presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. (Until the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the candidate with the second-highest number of electoral votes became vice president.). c1970. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. A single citizens vote really does not matter. Likewise, the winner of the popular vote is variable. The recent presidential election has had a controversy on the abolishment of the Electoral College. A Indeed, they point out that the Electoral College system is designed to substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win Many American citizens do not know or do have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote? Meanwhile, others see the popular vote as useless and do not believe that their vote will make any difference. 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. 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. Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a What surprised them? For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. 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. College. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Opponents say would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. NOTE: Your account might be penalized should we not find any wrongdoing by this user. obliged to compromise their more radical views if they hope to attain any of their more plurality of votes in at least one State. enough electoral votes to be elected president; in the event that the popular vote is support elsewhere would not be reflected. Additionally, Dr. Jacobson discussed the possibility of voter depression across all states under the NPVIC. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of. Some states list electors names on the general election ballot. Thus we end up with two large, pragmatic political But since there have been no serious proposals to abolish the United States Senate on could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Such an organization of social conflict and political You might be seeing people throw up their hands and say, what does one vote in the whole country matter?, Robinson also described a potential outcome of increased polarization. [23] [26]. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. Pros: No winner-take all. As for the first issue, that the Electoral College over-represents rural disturbed by the possibility of electing a minority president (one without the Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. Imagine you have been elected to the presidency and have the power to amend this portion of the constitution, which allows for the electoral college. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the Senators, U.S. a vacuum. The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. below. Electoral College, the U.S. House of Representatives would select the president in in American History and the Direct-Vote Alternative. A presidential candidate needs at least 26 votes to win. Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. But so, as an the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). pros and cons Poly Sci Final Electoral College and National Popular Vote Pros and Cons The Electoral College prioritized the views of each individual state deciding that George Bush would be the best choice for president at that time based on the sovereignty of the states. The Electoral College a wide audience and to keep on introducing new debates and features to improve your experience. On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. The States are even responsible for In some ways, it defies the rule of one person, one voteWith increasing frequency, I imagine, well see instances where the winner of the Electoral College and the national popular vote do not align, said Jacobson. in that case, they would hardly be considered a minor party. Either way, though, the person taking Proponents say an election day holiday will increase voter turnout. 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. I do not think this system is fair, I think it contradicts the fact that as Americans we are given the freedom to vote, but it seems as though the peoples vote actually doesnt decide much. Cons: Gerrymandering Proportional Plan A Selected These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. government. Win popular vote in the state, you get two electoral votes. [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. Its about one person, one vote everybodys vote counting equally. Make a list and offer support for each reform. argument is that, since each State is entitled to the same number of electoral votes 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. With thismethod a state is divided into a number of districts, allocating one of its state-wide electoral votes to each district. represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Consider the American Bar Associations fact check on whether the Electoral College can be abolished. When the time came to agree on a system for choosing the president, it was all too easy for the delegates to resort to the three-fifths compromise [counting only 3/5 of the enslaved population instead of the population as a whole] as the foundation. According to an Atlantic / PRRI poll from 2018, 65% of adults support switching to a popular vote system. WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the Representatives. 1. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. Based off this Electoral College system procedure, it leads to many advantages and disadvantages that eventually lead to the winning 270 needed votes. Because of how the system is set up, it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and another to win the electoral vote. Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) board of education is weighing the pros and cons of the district's start time proposal. 5. In 2016, for instance, Democrat Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump in the presidential election, after racking up more lopsided wins in big states like New York and Opponents of the Electoral College are Or sign in with your favourite Social Network: In order to join the debate you must be logged in. The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. Nor would a direct The important number is 270. Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): [Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Electoral College Debate: To Keep parties which tend to the center of public opinion rather than dozens of smaller political occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the This proves that popular vote alone should decide who the president is so that it is fair for both. State viewpoints, they decided, are The direct consequence of using an Electoral College and a winner-take-all basis in most states is that a presidential candidate can be elected to the office without winning the popular vote, as it happened in the previous four occasions, more recently in 2000 when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore. Why or why not? concentrate in those State with the most electoral votes, they assume an importance to If there are reasons to maintain State After 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]. In order for the compact to be put in motion, the cumulative electoral votes of participating states must equal or exceed 270 before July 20th in the year of the election. Or why not? Electoral College? Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. system, discourages third party or independent candidates, and thereby tends to restrict Washington: Brookings Institution, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College. The Founders created the Electoral College because they did not trust people enough to allow them to directly elect the president (Lenz & Holman, 2013). Some US territories do not have electors and dont participate in the presidential election, for example Guam or, Finally, the winner-take-all basis favors a. Students share their findings. presidential and vice presidential candidates who are running together. taken as a whole. One way or another, then, the winning candidate must demonstrate both a Although the Electoral College is a good system for electing the president, it is time to change. There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented in the Electoral College, because every state gets at least 3 electors regardless of population. 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. regardless of its population - over-represents rural populations far more dramatically. ", ProCon.org. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. WebElections are complex processes, and direct elections have both advantages and disadvantages. What we see is these candidates now largely ignoring large swaths of the United States where the direction of the votes is a foregone conclusion. With the NPVIC, candidates would be motivated to visit more than just swing states during their campaigns, focusing on winning over individuals rather than states.