Benefits Of The Electoral College

The vast majority of democracies in the world select their president by popular vote. In the United States, however, an electoral college is chosen by the people which in turn elects a president. This system was chosen because of the United States’ unique make up of individual states. The electoral college is a group of electors, elected by the people, that vote for the president. Each state is given a number of electors equal to the number of house representatives they have, plus two representing their senators. In all but two states, the winner of the popular vote in the state wins all of the electoral votes. In the other two states, Maine and Nebraska, the votes are divided based on the votes in each Congressional district and the remaining …show more content…
The option that is gaining traction right now, spearheaded by the national popular vote movement, is a system where the winner of the national vote of the country is given the electoral votes of every state. Eleven states1 have now signed on to a national interstate compact that would only go into effect when enough states have signed on to guarantee that outcome. Polling has shown that 56% of eligible voters prefer the popular vote system of electing a president, while only 37% prefer the electoral college2. The national popular vote movement is supported by many progressive organizations such as Common Cause, and also by several democratic governors and senators. According to its supporters, the National Popular Vote Compact would be legal, and would not require a constitutional amendment, because Article II of the Constitution provides that the method of choosing the electors is up to the state legislators. Thus, as long as the national vote system still uses the electoral college, supporters of the national popular vote movement believe that a constitutional amendment would not be necessary. Various legal scholars are not so certain about the legality of what they consider to be an end run around the Constitution, and the intentionally difficult process needed to amend it. They point to the prohibition against agreements …show more content…
The original idea was that Congress would chose the president. However, Americans were wary of national/federal government because of the unfair way they were treated by the English government. Because of this fear, the people wanted to have a say in the election. Congress was therefore not given the power to elect the president because of that fear of an overly strong government, and also due to the idea that that the president should not be voted in by Congress because then the president might feel more obligated to Congress than to the people5. Some delegates believed that the president should be elected by popular vote of the people, however the consensus was that this would be a bad idea. It was feared that the people would not be able to make a reasoned and informed choice, as Hamilton said in Federalist 64, “It was equally desirable that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”6 It was also thought that the people would either only chose a president from their own state, or pick a president that they do not know enough about7. Another problem that the delegates were trying to avoid was the problem of mob rule. They did not want