In 2012 Donald J. Trump tweeted that “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” It’s ironic that because of the electoral college he was elected president. He lost the popular vote by more than two million votes, and yet won the presidency. This is the second time in 16 year that this has occurred. In the wake of the most recent election, the electoral college has become a controversial topic in the United States. In a presidential election, voters are not actually voting for the president and vice president. Residents of the United States are voting for a group of people called electors, who then elect the president. Electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2016, all electors in their respective states will meet on December 19th. Each state gets an allotted amount of electoral votes, based somewhat on population.
The arguments for the electoral college is the idea that it gives better representation to small states. States cannot have less than three votes because they automatically get one for each senator, and then a minimum of one more. Wyoming has 3 electoral votes, with 586,107 people, Montana has 3 votes with 1.024 million, North Dakota has 3 with 740,000, and …show more content…
They feared a popular vote would favor candidates from larger states, with larger populations. At the time they also debated allowing Congress to elect the President. That idea too, was shot down. The Electoral College was the solution. And it exists in our Constitution to balance the rights of the individual states in having a say in electing presidents. The Electoral College addresses the fact that our country is made up of individual states. We are not one big state. On the campaign trail, presidential candidates are aware that they cannot target only certain states and or cities with large populations if they hope to
The arguments for the electoral college is the idea that it gives better representation to small states. States cannot have less than three votes because they automatically get one for each senator, and then a minimum of one more. Wyoming has 3 electoral votes, with 586,107 people, Montana has 3 votes with 1.024 million, North Dakota has 3 with 740,000, and …show more content…
They feared a popular vote would favor candidates from larger states, with larger populations. At the time they also debated allowing Congress to elect the President. That idea too, was shot down. The Electoral College was the solution. And it exists in our Constitution to balance the rights of the individual states in having a say in electing presidents. The Electoral College addresses the fact that our country is made up of individual states. We are not one big state. On the campaign trail, presidential candidates are aware that they cannot target only certain states and or cities with large populations if they hope to