Persuasive Essay: The Importance Of The Electoral College

This current election season, millions have already come out to vote in the primaries and caucuses all around the nation, turnout has increased and everyone seems to be enthusiastically choosing a candidate. But there is one thing that voters going to the polls may not realize; contrary to popular belief, citizens of The United States have never directly voted for a President or Vice President. Instead, they vote for electors to vote for a specific candidate. Additionally, the President and Vice President aren’t voted for on Election Day in November, but instead are voted for on the second Thursday of December of election year (Electoral College). This unique aspect to the American presidential election was originally intended to prevent the population from making an irresponsible …show more content…
The number of electors in the Electoral College is equal to the number of representatives in Congress (plus three electors given to Washington, DC, as it doesn’t have representation in Congress). Each state’s electors are equal to the number of representatives in the House plus the number of senators (always two per state). The winner of the electoral votes in a specific state is based on a winner take all system, with the candidate receiving the most votes in a state receiving all of the states electoral votes. A candidate needs more than half of all electoral votes, 270 or more, to win the presidency. The majority of states lean dramatically either to the left or right politically, with a handful of states leaning equally each way. These states are called swing states and are the ones that receive the most attention during elections because they are often the decider of who the winner is, and are the reasons why the Electoral College needs to be abolished. A few well-known swing states today include Florida, Ohio, Nevada, and