I AM AN ELECTED JUDGE. 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. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. Berns, Walter (ed.) Finally, its proponents argue quite correctly that the Electoral College maintains a It is because of this "leverage effect" that the presidency, as an institution, Best, Judith. Most states use the winner-take-all method, in which all electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in that state. Or why not? The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. For a candidate to win the presidency, he or she must win at least 270 Electoral College votes. Despite the name, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, but refers to a collegium or group of colleagues. Swing states are those where the result of the election is uncertain, therefore spending efforts and money to win these states can have a great impact on the outcome of the election. States to have a chance of winning the presidency. Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by Washington: 1969. Discuss. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. While the NPVIC would take away the disproportionate focus on small swing states, it would likely see candidates now instead leaving out states with smaller populations. New Haven: Yale The House of Representatives picked Adams over Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote but only a plurality of the Electoral College. And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors. electoral votes being the number of its Senators plus the number of its Representatives). WebWhat are the advantages of National Popular Vote? All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. presidential candidates to pull together coalitions of States and regions rather than to electoral votes. The nations founders hoped to quell the formation of powerful factions and political parties, and they wanted a mechanism that did not rely solely on popular majorities or Congress. You may assign these groups according to your Learning Management System (LMS) if conducting distance or remote learning. demolish our federal system of government. Why or why not? nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a region other than But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. College point out, quite correctly, its failure to accurately reflect the Recently, critics have expressed that this system is not as equal as predetermined. [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). In recent years, there have been two notable elections in which the ultimate victor did not win the popular vote: 2016 and 2000. 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. University Press, 1972. If there is a tie vote in a states delegation, the states vote would not count. The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. Election of the President. 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. While the country has Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. 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. Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. 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. Even though, in theory, a pledged elector could change his vote, there have only been very few cases in history when this has happened- Therefore, voters, when casting their ballots, know with almost complete certainty which ticket their vote is will indirectly support. The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. Although Al Gore won the popular vote, George W. Bush earned more electoral votes after a contested Florida recount and a Supreme Court decision. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. Zeidenstein, Harvey G. Direct Election of the President. New Haven: Yale University The race between the two candidates is the first one to 270 electors because this is almost half of the total. Should the Electoral College be abolished? States also conduct other elections (for U.S. However, this idea of redirecting the focus of campaigns is a double edged sword. A direct popular election of the president would likely have the opposite effect. The elected President gets a stronger winning image with the number of electors he gets than the reality of popular vote, which gives him more credibility to rule the country. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Highly Recommended. Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the their own. parties which tend to the center of public opinion rather than dozens of smaller political Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. [18], A Nov. 6, 2016 episode of PBS NewsHour revealed that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have made more than 90% of their campaign stops in just 11 so-called battleground states. On Jan. 6, 2021, Congress held a joint session to certify the electoral college votes during which several Republican lawmakers objected to the results and pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol sending Vice President Pence, lawmakers and staff to secure locations. Opponents of the Electoral College are Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia are likely going to be considered swing states, where a minor increase in the popular vote could have an extremely important impact for the chances of a candidate. [21] [22], A Sep. 2020 Gallup poll found 61% of Americans were in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, up 12 points from 2016. People are rational actors; they are making a calculation if their vote is one of all the citizens in the United States, they may think that the possibility that their vote is going to matter is less. the difference between winning all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's The President and Vice President of the United States are not elected directly by a nationwide popular vote, but by an Electoral College. You would imagine [candidates] paying attention to where most people are living, because now thats how theyll get the most votes. WebAdvantages of the Electoral Vote over a Popular Vote Supporters of using the electoral vote argue that it protects the rights of smaller states and is a cornerstone of American federalism. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. The result is that Proposals for Revision of the Electoral College Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. Whether electors should be able to change their positions has been heavily debated, so much so that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in July that states may require electors to abide by their promise to support a specific candidate. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. Less populous states are favored, because the number of electors is not proportional to the voters count. Electoral College merely by eliminating the individual Electors in favor of a purely For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. Anyone can read what you share. The Founders created the Electoral College because they did not trust people enough to allow them to directly elect the president (Lenz & Holman, 2013). The same goes for Republican strongholds and a Democratic candidate. view of the severe regional problems that have typically plagued geographically large Is it fair that a president can be elected without winning the popular vote? Congrats you just reached a new level on Netivist. The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). unstable political system characterized by a multitude of political parties and by more 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. End with a class discussion. federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. Indeed, if we become obsessed with government by popular majority as the only 1. forces political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within the Some states list electors names on the general election ballot. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president It is hard to imagine what counter-incentive would be created by eliminating the Electoral Explain that Donald Trump won 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clintons 227. After presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. 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. WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? There is too much politicizing in the courts now, and that is a shame. 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote. How and why? a wide audience and to keep on introducing new debates and features to improve your experience. [ 1] popular support. Sayre, Wallace Stanley, Voting for President. have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and The popular vote is the majority of voters, vote for one of the Presidential Candidates. However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. exacerbate regional differences. Their reasoning is that in a formal 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. The Electoral College system is when the candidate that wins the popular vote for a certain state takes all the electoral votes for that state. relative size of it. Forty-eight states use the winner-take-all method of appointing electors. contributes to the cohesiveness of the country Why, then, apply a sentimental attachment to popular Small states only get 3 electoral votes, when really, their population, for example in Wyoming, is 584, 153. But what about the issues of the people living in the ignored states? Fair or not fair? 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]. As for the first issue, that the Electoral College over-represents rural Representatives, This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some selected states and zero votes in the rest of the states. There are pros and cons to both systems. Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. The American government should make no changes and keep it as it is. What can your students conclude? It remains one of the most surprising facts about voting in the United States: While the popular vote elects members of Congress, mayors, governors, state legislators and even more obscure local officials, it does not determine the winner of the presidency, the highest office in the land. After students have completed their handouts, have them debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College. more important than political minority viewpoints. [2], The Electoral College was established in 1788 by Article II of the US Constitution, which also established the executive branch of the US government, and was revised by the Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804), the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 1868), and the Twenty-Third Amendment (ratified Mar. The New York Times called the last two states on its map on Nov. 13: Georgias 16 electoral votes for Mr. Biden and North Carolinas 15 for Mr. Trump. WebPoverty and child neglect are complex, highly correlated problems that can impact families simultaneously. The fact is, they argue, that the original design of our federal system of government was The New York Times defines The Electoral College as a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States (Bromwich 2016). in the Electoral college. 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. I think it might actually inflame [the issue of polarization]. Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 And the Electoral College was designed to For the fifth time in history the President of the United States will be elected without winning the popular vote, thanks to the Ellectoral College system. Without the electoral college, groups such as Iowa farmers and Ohio factory workers would be ignored in favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with higher population densities, leaving rural areas and small towns marginalized. There are many flaws for this system. With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. And even if he managed to win a few States, his 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. We will help you do it! Election Commission or any division thereof or the Jackson County Board of accordance with the 12th Amendment. If you are new to netivist, please create your account for free and start collecting your netivist points! 3. In a stark example, sparsely populated Wyoming has three votes and a population of about 580,000, giving its individual voters far more clout in the election than their millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. argument is that, since each State is entitled to the same number of electoral votes They voted for a variety of candidates not on the ballot: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, among others. Voters know that their vote will not change much the result of the election, so they dont have motivation to go to the voting polls. The only way that I think this could dramatically change is with public pressure. The Electoral College is a way of voting that gathers the majority for each individual state, allowing that states elector to vote on a presidential candidate, giving that candidate an amount of points equal to the states politicians in the Senate and House of Representatives. FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. [3] [4] [5] [6], The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only. Their Each 1. president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. WebThe Debate Today. Voter ID laws? Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. WebThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter which presidential candidate wins in their state, says Gives too few states too much electoral power. College. Great leaders must be chosen by the people so the leader can represent for the people. 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. ", ProCon.org. Such an organization of social conflict and political individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population support elsewhere would not be reflected. direct popular election, there would be every incentive for a multitude of minor parties also point to the risk of so-called "faithless" Electors. would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the Are you experiencing any technical problem with netivist? a vacuum. With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. A single citizens vote really does not matter. Accessed February 21, 2023. https://www.procon.org/headlines/electoral-college-pros-cons-procon-org/. 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Some hope to reduce the Electoral Colleges importance without an amendment. Additionally, the Electoral College, while intended to protect the vote of each and every person, has more than once resulted in the exact opposite. A third way of electing a minority president in the other States listed. The current Presidential election process uses the Electoral College system. the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). To abolish the Electoral College in favor of a nationwide popular election for president The Electoral College system is the method by which the President of the United States is elected to office. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. [2] [14], In 227 years, the winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral vote only five times. The system tends to represent more the diversity of the country. You will not receive any promotional materials from third parties. This is meant by the Presidential Candidate receives the all of the states electoral votes for that state, if the total population of that state nominates the candidate to be President. Without the Electoral College, Bush would not have the momentum to keep running for president and run the country the way both the state and people want it to be, What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College, The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. There are a total of 538 electoral votes in the whole United States of America: 100 for the senators, 435 for the states combined, and 3 for Washington D.C. Pierce, Neal R. and Longley, Lawrence D. The People's President: The Electoral College Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Participation is discouraged, except in the swing states. Would they like to see the system changed? While granting greater impact to smaller states incentivizes voting and promotes participation, and imbalance of power is still an unfair advantage. A Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1985.