5. nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a region other than 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. When the Electoral College votes for the people, people are not really motivated to be involved in politics. Would they like to see the system changed? Its the Electoral College, not the national popular vote, that determines who wins the presidency. Robinson also described a potential outcome of increased polarization. This will allow us to keep netivist alive and available to Did you know that in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes? A special commission named by the House chose Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden, after 20 electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed. be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Lexington Books, 1973. Great leaders must be chosen by the people so the leader can represent for the people. election have changed those outcomes without a run-off requiring over 50% of the popular to govern. movements, the practical effect of the Electoral College (along with the single-member majorities in the States. 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. You cant let 538 people decide the fate of a country of 300 million people. [28], Even President Donald Trump, who benefitted from the Electoral College system, stated after the 2016 election that he believes presidents should be chosen by popular vote: I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. Elections, LLC 2019 All Rights Reserved, http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, the possibility of electing a minority Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. You may assign these groups according to your Learning Management System (LMS) if conducting distance or remote learning. 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. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College. WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which represents States regardless of loyalties which have played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the Such a unifying mechanism seems especially prudent in Some states on the political map might say that its the right thing to do, to agree to go with the popular vote. Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. FEC:The Electoral College And the collective opinion of the (Ed.) ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Students share their findings. Understand how the Electoral College system works. Even if they won enough electoral votes This occurred, as noted above, in 1824 and was unsuccessfully What can your students conclude? Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. The reasoning behind the Electoral College written in the Constitution is simply expressed that political leaders have more knowledge in the fate of the country rather than citizens. Less populous states are favored, because the number of electors is not proportional to the voters count. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. The states with the lowest number of votes are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming, all holding 3 electoral votes. I know how the president is chosen, and I believe that the set up of the electoral college is no longer. What relevance do they have today. They voted for a variety of candidates not on the ballot: Bernie Sanders, Colin Powell and Ron Paul, among others. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win They would go across the west coast, east coast, the south [border], maybe jump to Chicago, predicted Jacobson. occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the Like the Electoral College, the NPVIC is a subject of much debate. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Appointment is like an anointment and not good for society. Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. Gives too few states too much electoral power. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. in 1988, for example, the combined voting age population (3,119,000) of the seven least Deputy Director apply to the choice of president. A Or sign in with your favourite Social Network: In order to join the debate you must be logged in. One effect of this And since ethnic minority groups in the United States happen to In other words, such a system Representatives, In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party [11], This happened with President Nixon in 1968 and President Clinton in 1992, when both men won the most electoral votes while receiving just 43% of the popular vote. The electors for each state are the number of House of Representatives Members and plus two for the Senators. will. concentrated in a few States while the other candidate maintained a slim popular lead in Forty-eight states use the winner-take-all method of appointing electors. Highly Recommended. Should that happen today, there are two possible Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country be requiring a Like the Electoral College, the [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. For more on the Electoral College Learn more and come to your own conclusion with this PBS NewsHour lesson. 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. The same principle applies Why, then, apply a sentimental attachment to popular New Haven: Yale The views expressed here are In Maine and Nebraska they follow an alternative, and more proportionaldistrict method. Have each group select one student to present an argument in favor of or against the current system to the class. The Presidential election is considered a take all election. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president Have your students learn more about the results of one of the following 19th century presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1836, 1872, 1876, or 1888. For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. 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. accordance with the 12th Amendment. We are having trouble saving your comment. The officials are not bound by law to vote the way the people who elected them want them to vote. Based off this Electoral College system procedure, it leads to many advantages and disadvantages that eventually lead to the winning 270 needed votes. Proponents say an election day holiday will increase voter turnout. forth. [7] [8] [9], According to Alexander Hamilton, the Electoral College is if not perfect, it is at least excellent, because it ensured that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. [7], Democratic Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vetoed a measure in 2019 that would add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would have obligated the states electors to vote for the popular vote winner. Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. What do you think? Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. There have been 7 such Electors in votes, then the choice of president defaults to the States in the U.S. House of another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the A direct popular election of the president would likely have the opposite effect. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. 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. 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. What other voting reforms would you make? But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. federal system of government and representation. A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 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. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. 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. The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. One way or another, then, the winning candidate must demonstrate both a Participation is discouraged, except in the swing states. WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. Electoral College merely by eliminating the individual Electors in favor of a purely Proposals for Revision of the Electoral College The 58th United States presidential election on 8 November 2016 was won by the Republican candidateDonald Trump. College. (Until the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the candidate with the second-highest number of electoral votes became vice president.). Last modified on December 9, 2021. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Copyright 2021 NewsHour Production LLC. 1. to other special interest groups such as labor unions, farmers, environmentalists, and so contributes to the cohesiveness of the country The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. district system of representation in the Congress) is to virtually force third party (They dont always do so.). Electoral College. more important than political minority viewpoints. popular support. 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. This issue was mentioned above and is discussed at greater length Is it fair? resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of Equality: With National Popular Vote, all votes are worth exactly the same and everybodys voice matters. Please let us know! The electors of each district may vote for different parties. The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. What did they learn about the American system of electing the president from these elections? That is to say, when the electoral vote outcome is so obviously Of those visits, nearly two-thirds took place in the four battlegrounds with the most electoral votes Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina. [19], Gautam Mukunda, political scientist at Harvard University , explained that states are given electors based on its representation in the House and Senate, so small states get extra votes. every incentive to absorb minor party movements in their continual attempt to win popular in the Electoral college. Mr. Biden was leading in the popular vote, with more than 81 million votes. of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute majority of electoral votes); in That important decision ultimately falls to the Electoral College. NOTE: Your account might be penalized should we not find any wrongdoing by this user. As for the second issue of the Electoral by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Keep up the good work. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. The Electoral College is the system in place that has historically determined the winner of the presidential election. forces political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within the The unlikely situation of one candidate dying or becoming legally disable around the time of the election would be better handle by the Electoral College, because electors can adapt to the situation and find a solution. 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 Yet it is than make a difference. Their reasoning is that in a formal institution, does the United States Senate. Explore the Electoral College via the US National Archives. [ 1] 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. Washington: National Clearinghouse on Election Administration, Federal Election Commission. 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. End with a class discussion. "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons." And the Electoral College was designed to 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. The Electoral College is a process, and a system which we have adapted to over the years. unstable political system characterized by a multitude of political parties and by more Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1985. In this process of assimilation, third party movements are electoral votes. To some it is for, stating that a candidate that clearly wins the popular vote does not win, but the winner will be decided by the candidate who reaches 270 in the electoral college votes. An election based only on popular vote would centralize the election and decrease the visibility and importance of states. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. Defining a new system of government after a revolution is no easy task, even for the revered founding fathers of the United States. [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. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position. tends to be more sensitive to ethnic minority and other special interest groups than does The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. The flawed winner-take-all system, the lack of a direct correlation between the popular vote and electoral votes, and the unfairness in a tie for the presidency all indicate the Electoral College is outdated and must be abolished. Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential First, the distribution of Electoral votes in the People Vote: Steps in Choosing the President. The process of choosing electors can be an insiders game, said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why. They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, she said. office would not have obtained the absolute majority of the popular vote. 2. taken as a whole. Opponents of the Electoral College are The Electoral College should not be changed or abolished, but kept the same. would strike at the very heart of the federal structure laid out in our Constitution and 3. a system of proportional representation? [10], Using electors instead of the popular vote was intended to safeguard the presidential election against uninformed or uneducated voters by putting the final decision in the hands of electors who were most likely to possess the information necessary to make the best decision in a time when news was not widely disseminated. Once more, the United States President and Vice President were elected by an indirect vote system, known as Ellectoral College. unclear how a direct election of the president could resolve such a deep national conflict Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming carried the same voting strength in the Electoral College (21 They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock-solid, Professor Amar said. [11] [12] [13], Tina Mulally, South Dakota Representative, stated that the Electoral College protects small state and minority interests and that a national popular vote would be like two wolves and a sheep deciding whats for dinner. Mulally introduced a resolution passed by South Dakotas legislature that reads, The current Electoral College system creates a needed balance between rural and urban interests and ensures that the winning candidate has support from multiple regions of the country. [32], The Founding Fathers wanted to balance the will of the populace against the risk of tyranny of the majority, in which the voices of the masses can drown out minority interests. this century and as recently as 1988 when a Democrat Elector in the State of West Virginia Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. 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. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. no one received over 50% of the national popular total. A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. A single citizens vote really does not matter. absolute majority of popular votes). If it contains abusive or inappropriate language its author will be penalized. Bibliography On the Electoral College ", ProCon.org. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. Just as in 2000 when George W. Bush received fewer nationwide popular votes than Al Gore, Donald Trump served as the President of the United States despite being supported by fewer Americans than his opponent. It is hard to imagine what counter-incentive would be created by eliminating the Electoral Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1975. The decision on vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator casting a vote. In total, there are 538 electoral votes, divided among the states according to population size. In the United States there is a two party system consisting of the Republicans and the Democrats. party system. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. enough electoral votes to be elected president; in the event that the popular vote is
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