Who decides who leads the US? Is it everyday voters? Is it the Electoral College? This has been a subject of great controversy in the world of American politics for many, many years. Since the 2000 election between Al Gore and George Bush showed the authoritative power of the EC, Americans have come to the realization that their vote on a national level has very little input. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors that are proportionally selected by their state based their population size. In the image to the right, the number of EC votes are shown, along with the party that the majority of the votes go to, Red for Republican and Blue for Democrat. This image shows us that the bigger the population, the more EC votes the state has,
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The first is the traditional application of the EC. Seeing that the Republican party has more of an old-school ideology, the inclusion of the electoral process that we began our nation with is a priority. The EC was initially intended to bring balance to the political system by balancing out higher population states. Stated in an article from Slate, Richard Posner stated, “The Electoral College restores some of the weight in the political balance that large states (by population) lose by virtue of the mal-apportionment of the Senate decreed in the Constitution.” Another ability that the electors in the EC possess is the ability the switch the way the will vote no matter what party elected them. This can help partisan politics become a source of major controversy. Faithless electors are those who are elected by one party or the other to be placed on the EC and when the election comes around, they will vote in the favor of the other party. Some states with very separated partisan sections can impose fines to ensure the vote of the elector will go to the state’s majority party. Seeing as the EC gives the illusion that states allocating EC votes to the majority vote winner in that state, the citizen population believes that their vote gives more influence to our electoral process. Which is why civilians see the EC as a partner in politics. And this is true to an extent. With smaller states getting a much bigger part proportionally in the vote with the EC rather than the NPV, the voices of the people can be heard more. But a way to make citizen voting count is going out and voting in local elections. As stated in the Princetonian, “Yes, young people need to go out in November and vote, but they also need to vote even when their favorite presidential candidate isn’t running. It’s not about the big, headline-grabbing elections, but the
The first is the traditional application of the EC. Seeing that the Republican party has more of an old-school ideology, the inclusion of the electoral process that we began our nation with is a priority. The EC was initially intended to bring balance to the political system by balancing out higher population states. Stated in an article from Slate, Richard Posner stated, “The Electoral College restores some of the weight in the political balance that large states (by population) lose by virtue of the mal-apportionment of the Senate decreed in the Constitution.” Another ability that the electors in the EC possess is the ability the switch the way the will vote no matter what party elected them. This can help partisan politics become a source of major controversy. Faithless electors are those who are elected by one party or the other to be placed on the EC and when the election comes around, they will vote in the favor of the other party. Some states with very separated partisan sections can impose fines to ensure the vote of the elector will go to the state’s majority party. Seeing as the EC gives the illusion that states allocating EC votes to the majority vote winner in that state, the citizen population believes that their vote gives more influence to our electoral process. Which is why civilians see the EC as a partner in politics. And this is true to an extent. With smaller states getting a much bigger part proportionally in the vote with the EC rather than the NPV, the voices of the people can be heard more. But a way to make citizen voting count is going out and voting in local elections. As stated in the Princetonian, “Yes, young people need to go out in November and vote, but they also need to vote even when their favorite presidential candidate isn’t running. It’s not about the big, headline-grabbing elections, but the