The Electoral College Dilemma
Premise:
The U.S. Electoral College voting system needs to be improved upon because whoever earns the majority of total votes cast should be the winner.
Definitions:
Electoral College- the constitutional body designed to select the president. This system is described in Article II of the Constitution. (Gitelson, p.48)
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact- a bill that would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Congressional District Method- alternative method of distributing electoral votes through an allocation of congressional districts, and a statewide vote.
Argument 1: Under the current Electoral College voting system, whoever wins the majority of the votes cast doesn’t always win the Presidency. Throughout the history of the U.S. Presidential election there have been 5 candidates with less popular votes than their opponents that went on to claim an Electoral College victory. The current election holds the largest margin to date; Hillary Clinton currently leads Donald Trump by 2.84 million popular ballots cast. (Wasserman) In 2000, Gore v. Bush; the …show more content…
Maine and Nebraska award four and five electoral votes respectively but does not distribute them in a winner-take-all fashion. They both grant two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each of its congressional districts. (Johnson) Every state currently uses the winner take all system to allocate their electoral votes except the previous two states mentioned. If all states apportioned their electoral votes then the voters would better represent the makeup of the vote. With Congressional districts of every state up for grabs, the election could possibly move away from the current state of focusing on only a handful of swing states.
Premise:
The U.S. Electoral College voting system needs to be improved upon because whoever earns the majority of total votes cast should be the winner.
Definitions:
Electoral College- the constitutional body designed to select the president. This system is described in Article II of the Constitution. (Gitelson, p.48)
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact- a bill that would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Congressional District Method- alternative method of distributing electoral votes through an allocation of congressional districts, and a statewide vote.
Argument 1: Under the current Electoral College voting system, whoever wins the majority of the votes cast doesn’t always win the Presidency. Throughout the history of the U.S. Presidential election there have been 5 candidates with less popular votes than their opponents that went on to claim an Electoral College victory. The current election holds the largest margin to date; Hillary Clinton currently leads Donald Trump by 2.84 million popular ballots cast. (Wasserman) In 2000, Gore v. Bush; the …show more content…
Maine and Nebraska award four and five electoral votes respectively but does not distribute them in a winner-take-all fashion. They both grant two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each of its congressional districts. (Johnson) Every state currently uses the winner take all system to allocate their electoral votes except the previous two states mentioned. If all states apportioned their electoral votes then the voters would better represent the makeup of the vote. With Congressional districts of every state up for grabs, the election could possibly move away from the current state of focusing on only a handful of swing states.