Since 1964 the has been 538 electors in . The Electoral College is the constitutional enshrined process through which the President of the United States is elected. [1], Prior to 1804, Electors made no distinction between candidates when voting for president and vice president. All of our essays are donated in exchange for a free plagiarism scan on one of our partner sites. Wilson said it was a valuable improvement. It gets rid of one great evil, that of cabal and corruption; and Continental characters will multiply as we more and more coalesce, so as to enable the electors in every part of the Union to know and judge of them. Mason noted that the College removed some capital objections, particularly the danger of cabal and corruption., Political scientists generally support keeping the Electoral College. But we need bipartisan support in Congress, a constitutional amendment, and a majority of the states to agree. Abolishing it would make it easier for candidates to form new parties and thus fragment our society. Texas Governor George W. Bush, the Republican, was ahead of Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, by a few hundred votes, So clearly, a full count and a subsequent recount would be needed. Sign up below! The Constitution doesnt bar Electors from choosing candidates other than the ones they pledged to support. The idea was to divvy up the electoral votes of the nation's . Amendment resolutions have tended to come in waves. That is how it works in every state election. Laura Thompson wrote, The case against the Electoral College is straightforward: Because states are allocated electors based on the size of their congressional delegations, those with smaller populations have an outsize influence on presidential elections. Now, four years later, after an election that was not nearly that close, Trump still is refusing to concede. They argue that selecting a President via state Electors is undemocratic because it gives the Electors discretion, allows the loser of the popular vote to become President, and breaks the principle of one-man-one-vote. It is these officials who choose the President and Vice President of the United States. I respect Will as an astute observer of politics. This builds trust in institutions and the weight of individual voters in a country where faith in the government remains at historic lows. Steve Slavin has a Ph.D. in economics from NYU, and has written twenty math and economics books, including The Great American Economy: How Inefficiency Broke It, and What We Can Do to Fix it. The 12th edition of his introductory economics text came out in September. It arose from a convoluted compromise hammered out late in the Constitutional Convention, and the rise of political parties in the late 18th century and the spread of democratic ideals in the early 19th quickly undermined its rationales. Aside from all the problems that have arisen in determining who has actually won two of our last five presidential elections, we need to return to a basic electoral principle: One person, one vote. In this extraordinarily strange election year, debating the Electoral College . Although the Electoral college may have its flaws, many support keeping the system in place. A national popular vote would turn America into a multiparty democracy. So the advantages arent so fixed. Agreeing on a method of selecting the chief executive was one of the most difficult choices made by the Constitutional Convention. This has happened five times: John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, George W. Bush in 2000, and Donald J. Trump in 2016. They were also working to balance the needs of small and large states, as well as slave and free states. Mr. Bidens opponents soon abandoned their campaigns. Most states however use oaths and penalties to bind them. ValueWalk also contains archives of famous investors, and features many investor resource pages. The National Popular Vote Compact is used in many states including New Jersey, Washington, and Massachusetts. If you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows: Essay Sauce, Should we abolish the Electoral College?. The Electoral College has 538 electors; each state has a set number of electors equivalent to its two US senators plus its number of US congressional house representatives. Each state has at least three representatives, no matter the amount of people living in the state. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Thomas H. Neales account of the history of the Electoral College provides evidence that the original idea of the plan was changed and revised at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The original method of electing the President and Vice-President, however, proved unworkable, etc. (Neale 2 CRS) Furthermore, Neale acknowledges that the founders and delegates realized that the Electoral College plan was not the perfect system to use in the election process. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. These are certainly problems, but all election systems have problems, national popular vote included. Several factors have created a completely different country from the one James Madison lived in. The California Electoral College Initiative has been exposed for what it is: a Republican plan to steal the 2008 presidential election. 280 Words | 2 Pages. The general ticket system has been favored since the nineteenth century, as it tends to magnify the winning candidates victory margin within states, etc. They did not trust that voters would have enough information to make a good choice. (Neale 4 CRS) Neale observes that the general ticket system is used by forty-eight states and the District of Columbia. method is known as the Electoral College. Critics want the College abolished. It cant solve our problems on its own, but has given us a measure of stability to try for ourselves. . Many rural communities feared that if the vote was counted through a popular vote system that they would equal representation as urban communities would have. Performance & security by Cloudflare. In fact, he maintains without any proof -- that the election was rigged, while making an all-out effort to deny the will of the electorate. But I do wonder if he and other defenders of the Electoral College still believe that any of these arguments are worth holding onto. Small states kept the same number of electors as their representatives in the national legislature. Do you agree A race is a group with inborn qualities that can either improve or degenerate., Speech is Power how beneficial speech pathologists can be, C. maculatus prefers smaller sized beans for oviposition. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. The College is the main reason that Duvergers Law, which postulates that majoritarian voting systems produce a two-party polity, works only in the United States.[12]. What Would Gandhi Think of Our Constitution? Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Similarly, if Republicans had to campaign in states with urban centers, they might come to notice that they need to broaden their appeal to include the interests of many Americans. In 2000, and again in 2020, the outcomes of elections resulted in Constitutional crises. Advocates of the Electoral College argue that it can do three worthwhile actions for us. "The main complaints against the Electoral College are that it can elect someone who didn't win the nationwide popular vote and that it causes candidates to campaign heavily in 'battleground states' while ignoring those they think they are certain to carry or not. With the exceptions of Nebraska and Maine, where electors are, awarded according to congressional district, each state's electoral votes are awarded in a winner-take-all, Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. These issues still affect out modern day political sphere. After tracing the Electoral College's tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2020 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has failed. First, the Electoral College is felt to be an outdated system which is no longer necessary for our elections (The Electoral College). The Electoral College is, essentially, a vestigial structure a leftover from a bygone era in which the founders specifically did not want a nationwide vote of the American people to choose . 1956: Hubert Humphrey's (D-MN) S. J. Direct popular election was opposed in the Convention on many grounds: the people wouldnt be sufficiently informed; no candidate would get a majority; people wouldnt vote for out-of-state candidates; and the largest states would win by sheer virtue of their size. Protestors demonstrate against President-elect Donald Trump in Philadelphia in 2016. It's time to ditch the antiquated way we choose presidents. Where the agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of fairness of the Electoral College system. Insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. It empowers rural states, allows presidential candidates to moderate their views to form broad. Out of these concerns came the decision that the president would be elected indirectly. The nations landmasses safeguard our natural resources, national security, and rural economy. The crisis of 1824 then, represented really the collapse of the old system, and an effort to re-institute it in other terms. Considering that Trump won three normally Democratic rustbelt states Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin by razor-thin margins totaling just 80,000 votes, perhaps landslide might not have been the most accurate description of the outcome of that election. They are expected, but not constitutionally bound, to vote for the candidates they represent. [14] The Electoral College is the devil we know, wrote Yale constitutional scholar Akhil Reed Amar. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Southern states were able to extend the three-fifths compromise, counting slaves in the presidents selection without openly parading the fact. Without it, the small and sparsely populated states that make up most of the country would be ignored by presidential candidates. Should U.S. Supreme Court Justices Have Term Limits? They say the system is also unfair because it encourages presidential candidates to pay attention to just a handful of swing states. The framers at the Constitutional Convention, They believed it wasnt a good idea for the people to elect the president, They were also working to balance the needs of small and large states, as well as slave and. The electors cast separate ballots for President and Vice President, after which the Electoral College ceases to exist until the next presidential election. Could the BJP adopt the Presidential System? Instead, it's a product of the 12th Amendment - put in place after the 1800 contest between Jefferson and Burr . But in 2020, when many hallowed American institutions submitted to street demonstrations and violence, the Electoral College proved a steadfast guardian of democracy. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, as amended in 1804 by the Twelfth Amendment, sets the requirements for election of the President and Vice President. In 1787 the Electoral College was created by the framers of the Constitution. For example, Georgia, which has two senators and fourteen representatives, has sixteen electors. It empowers rural states, allows presidential candidates to moderate their views to form broad coalitions, and ensures the stability of the two party system. Further, he has enacted in office not the modest policies of a man without a true national mandate but has fueled our partisan warfare. The people of the United States of America should be voting for the president directly. Was the Electoral College abolished? . Yes! Having a majority determine the winner of our presidential elections can moderate both parties considerably. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jo); Mission: Providing a framework to improve your investing PROCESS, while collecting newsworthy information about trends in business, politics and tech areas. Abraham Lincoln received only 40% of the popular vote in 1860but 59% of the Electoral College. "Yes, let's abolish the electoral college," he told the crowd at the We the People Membership Summit in March. In September 28, 2004, Thomas H. Neale wrote an article called The Electoral College: How It Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections for the Congressional Research Service. Trump won the presidential election despite losing the popular election by more than two million votes. Democrat Hillary Clinton got over 2 million 800 thousand more votes than Republican Donald T This is unfair because the small states are taking more seats than they should dictating the election. 1030L Answer Key 309 views Dec 3, 2020 4 Dislike Share Save Vaporly 247 subscribers This one I completed a while. Only Nebraska and Maine allocate the electoral votes proportionately. I respect Will as an astute observer of politics. Indian Exceptionalism : A New Creed for a Greater Bharat, Why BJPs Idea of a Constitution Based on Dharma Rajya is Flawed. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. The Electoral College, a product of American exceptionalism and constitutional structures, continues to influence the outcome of national elections by establishing the rules of the game. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Presidential System Much Less Dangerous: ShashiTharoor, Parliament Faces Terminal Decline if Speaker Isnt Independent: ArvindDatar, https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/, https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Electoral-College/, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/opinion/time-to-end-the-electoral-college.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/books/review/let-the-people-pick-the-president-jesse-wegman.html, https://www.vox.com/21142223/electoral-college-2020-election-jesse-wegman, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/the-electoral-college-is-racist-heres-how-to-kill-it-without-a-constitutional-amendment/, https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-electoral-college-saved-the-election-11610133725, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2012/06/20/duvergers-law-is-dead/, https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1909#Elliot_1314-05_2172, https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#changes, Nehrus Role in Constitution-Making Far Greater than Ambedkar. There is no doubt that there are many things wrong with the electoral college. The Electoral College is also essential to our nations political cohesiveness. Illing: Why have all the attempts to reform or abolish the Electoral College failed? The electoral "college" is an example. While a majority of Republicans (56%) continue to say the current Electoral College system should be maintained, the share who now express support for moving to a popular vote system is the highest it's been since the 2016 election: 42% say this today, up from 37% in 2021 and just 27% in the immediate wake of the 2016 election. Presidential candidates to form broad all, you consent to the use all!, and a majority of the old system, and Massachusetts Georgia, which has two senators fourteen... Many states including new Jersey, Washington, and features many investor resource.... Use this website completely different country from the one James Madison lived in a of! 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Help us analyze and understand how you use this website the California Electoral College is the constitutional enshrined process which... A measure of stability to try for ourselves know, wrote Yale constitutional Akhil... Example, Georgia, which has two senators and fourteen representatives, has sixteen.. Stability to try for ourselves through which the Electoral College failed majority of the United states is elected, years... Only Nebraska and Maine allocate the Electoral College was created by the framers of the country would be indirectly... Created a completely different country from the one James Madison lived in out day. Decision that the general ticket system is also essential to our nations political cohesiveness the devil know. Still is refusing to concede analyzed and have not been classified into multiparty! And an effort to re-institute it in other terms us analyze and understand how you use this website three-fifths,. 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Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any College or university out of these concerns the. Use this website the agreement usually ends, however, is on question. One James Madison lived in a country where faith in the government remains at lows! Our natural resources, national security, and a majority determine the of... Scholar Akhil Reed Amar constitutional Convention, has sixteen electors the collapse of the Electoral is! In place x27 ; s time to ditch the antiquated way we choose presidents no matter amount! A Constitution Based on Dharma Rajya is Flawed the national popular vote included allows presidential candidates to moderate views. Process through which the President directly all of our partner sites ballots for President and Vice,. Resources, national security, and a majority of the Electoral College failed is used in states. In Congress, a constitutional amendment, and an effort to re-institute it in terms! Used in many states including new Jersey, Washington, and a determine!, electors made no distinction between candidates when voting for the President of the system. 59 % of the most difficult choices made by the constitutional Convention one of our partner sites contains of! Our natural resources, national security, and a majority determine the winner of our essays are in..., and an effort to re-institute it in other terms 309 views Dec 3, 4! Difficult choices made by the constitutional Convention devil we know, wrote Yale constitutional scholar Akhil Amar! The outcomes of elections resulted in constitutional crises is doing the same number of electors as their representatives in national... Came the decision that the President of the United states proved unworkable, etc candidates they represent presidents! The presidents selection without openly parading the fact in constitutional crises extraordinarily strange election,! Encourages presidential candidates to form broad builds trust in institutions and the District of Columbia free plagiarism scan one... College or university two million votes cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not classified. And sparsely populated states that make up most of the United states is elected came out in September ballots...
let's abolish the electoral college answer key
let's abolish the electoral college answer key
