Electoral College Is Not A True Democracy Essay

America is not a true democracy due to the electoral college system. The electoral college is the process that serves as a compromise between the vote of the people, and the vote of congress when electing a president. A true democracy is defined as “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” The electoral directly contradicts this definition, meaning that the American presidential system is less of a democracy, and more of a republic. The difference is that true democracy implies that power is held with the people, but with a republic, power is held in representatives, like the electoral college.
The Electoral College, unlike Congress, is not a place. It is a group of 538, with electors limited to congressional influence, 1 elector for each House member, and 2 for Congress. Even District of Columbia gets 3 electors under the 23rd Amendment. Within every state’s election, the citizens are actually voting for the delegates. This is because the parties in each state elect their electors. And the party can take out pledges from electors in order to sway their opinion. In most states, the candidate that wins in that state is given all elector votes for that state. The candidate with 270 majority vote is given the title of president. Sovereignty lies in …show more content…
It forces candidates to focus on certain states more than others, it makes popular vote useless, it makes the process confusing for voters, and it contributes to the death of democracy at every election. America is not a democracy, it never was, contrary to what we call ourselves. The systems and processes that were put in place when the country was founded contradicts the idea that the people rule. Only through the destruction of the Electoral College can true, uncorrupted democracy