“One man, one vote”, a phrase and a principle that is the foundation of any great democracy. The U.S has adopted this principle in the form of universal suffrage for all of it citizens and symbolizes the country’s unity and equality. However, every four years in the month of November in the presidential election when one individual is chosen to lead the nation, one would expect for the winner of the election to be the will of the people, but unfortunately that’s not the case. In the most important election in the entire country, a separate institution, the Electoral College, makes the final vote on who will become president. Although intended to be a reflection of the popular vote, the methodology in which it is practice is flawed and leaves
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Because the Electoral College looks at the states rather the people in them, it is dependent on the representing states based on their representation in congress. However, this gives each state a minimum worth of 3 electoral vote which gives larger representation to small states while giving larger states less. For example, take the state with largest population versus the smallest “California get one electoral vote per 615,818 residents while Wyoming receives one vote per 164,594 residents” (Bolinger 2007). The single vote person has difference of about a factor of 4 in value, a problem that would not exist in a direct election. A study by Lawrence D Longley found variations in voting power between states when operating under an Electoral College but none in a direct election (Longley 1984). So at the very core, the voices of the people in the Electoral College system aren’t even equal because the country insists that states are more important than the people.
Ultimately the Electoral College is built on principles that by no mean promote democracy, and only serve to make the election results more convoluted and inaccurate. The abolishing the electoral college doesn’t just have the immediate result of making election more accurate but would to lead to more voting” (Cebula 1980). Elections should stop at the popular vote which more than fair representation of the decision of the people, the is no need to have a Rube Goldberg machine of an electoral
Because the Electoral College looks at the states rather the people in them, it is dependent on the representing states based on their representation in congress. However, this gives each state a minimum worth of 3 electoral vote which gives larger representation to small states while giving larger states less. For example, take the state with largest population versus the smallest “California get one electoral vote per 615,818 residents while Wyoming receives one vote per 164,594 residents” (Bolinger 2007). The single vote person has difference of about a factor of 4 in value, a problem that would not exist in a direct election. A study by Lawrence D Longley found variations in voting power between states when operating under an Electoral College but none in a direct election (Longley 1984). So at the very core, the voices of the people in the Electoral College system aren’t even equal because the country insists that states are more important than the people.
Ultimately the Electoral College is built on principles that by no mean promote democracy, and only serve to make the election results more convoluted and inaccurate. The abolishing the electoral college doesn’t just have the immediate result of making election more accurate but would to lead to more voting” (Cebula 1980). Elections should stop at the popular vote which more than fair representation of the decision of the people, the is no need to have a Rube Goldberg machine of an electoral