Illegitimacy of The Electoral College According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of democracy is “government by the people; especially: rule of the majority.” Democracy has always been a substantial element of The United States policy. The U.S. support for democracy has aided in the creation of a dependable and a flourishing world economy (“Democracy”). The United States is a democratic nation, yet we have a system known as the Electoral College which hinders democracy. It is a system that has worked well in its past, but the nation has undergone many changes both socially and politically. Throughout the nation, people are gradually becoming more upset with the Electoral College because they believe it is an unfair system that does
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Since then there has been tremendous amounts of change in societal and political ways. To run a well-rounded and effective government, the government must occasionally modify itself to meet the needs of its citizens. The Electoral College worked back when the country was small and it was hard to get political news around, but now the United States a huge nation with access to constant political updates. When the United States adopted the system. there was a measly thirteen states with a total population of around four million. The country has grown much larger, meaning more people are being exposed to political issues and wanting to have a choice about those issues. With the existence of the Electoral College, the citizen’s ability to choose is diluted (Kimberling). The closest congress has come to a change in the twelfth amendment since its creation was in 1970, but failed to have it pass through both the house and the senate. Since it was ratified, the only modification from the original process was having separate ballots for deciding president and vice president (“Electoral College Fast Facts”). There has been very little change to the voting process; it only seems right if other aspects of citizens lives and government have changed, then so should the election …show more content…
But upon further thinking many begin to question how effective the electoral college truly is. Since the election of George W Bush nearly 17 years ago, the electoral college has been a largely debated topic. American citizens are not the only ones questioning the legitimacy of the Electoral College, politicians have also started sharing statements against the system. Goliad County Democratic Chairman Charles Clapsaddle, believes that time has proven that the college is obsolete. He states that "You have large states like Texas where you have both rural and urban areas. Delaware, which is the size of many Texas counties, is one example of overrepresentation. It makes their vote worth more, way more." The Electoral College does not represent all citizens due to an imbalance of population between states (Wilcox). In fact, four presidents in American history have sparked outrage because they have lost the popular vote but won by Electoral votes. These people are, Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Donald J. Trump (2016). President George Bush lost popular vote by 544,000 in the year 2000 making way as the second largest popular vote loss for a candidate who became president. In 2016, Donald Trump lost the popular vote by over two million, making history as a loss five times larger than the previous record (“The
Since then there has been tremendous amounts of change in societal and political ways. To run a well-rounded and effective government, the government must occasionally modify itself to meet the needs of its citizens. The Electoral College worked back when the country was small and it was hard to get political news around, but now the United States a huge nation with access to constant political updates. When the United States adopted the system. there was a measly thirteen states with a total population of around four million. The country has grown much larger, meaning more people are being exposed to political issues and wanting to have a choice about those issues. With the existence of the Electoral College, the citizen’s ability to choose is diluted (Kimberling). The closest congress has come to a change in the twelfth amendment since its creation was in 1970, but failed to have it pass through both the house and the senate. Since it was ratified, the only modification from the original process was having separate ballots for deciding president and vice president (“Electoral College Fast Facts”). There has been very little change to the voting process; it only seems right if other aspects of citizens lives and government have changed, then so should the election …show more content…
But upon further thinking many begin to question how effective the electoral college truly is. Since the election of George W Bush nearly 17 years ago, the electoral college has been a largely debated topic. American citizens are not the only ones questioning the legitimacy of the Electoral College, politicians have also started sharing statements against the system. Goliad County Democratic Chairman Charles Clapsaddle, believes that time has proven that the college is obsolete. He states that "You have large states like Texas where you have both rural and urban areas. Delaware, which is the size of many Texas counties, is one example of overrepresentation. It makes their vote worth more, way more." The Electoral College does not represent all citizens due to an imbalance of population between states (Wilcox). In fact, four presidents in American history have sparked outrage because they have lost the popular vote but won by Electoral votes. These people are, Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Donald J. Trump (2016). President George Bush lost popular vote by 544,000 in the year 2000 making way as the second largest popular vote loss for a candidate who became president. In 2016, Donald Trump lost the popular vote by over two million, making history as a loss five times larger than the previous record (“The