It is no secret that the presidential election is a muddy process. Between campaigns, debates, endorsements, primary elections and everything else involved in the candidate process, the path to be becoming president is definitely not a stroll in the park. However, as long as a candidate has the right plans coupled with the right flair and can get the majority of the votes of the US citizens, he or she has nothing standing between him or her and the oval office, right? Unfortunately, there is one more hurdle for the candidate to cross, one that has exacerbated the process of electing a president since the birth of the nation: the Electoral College. The Electoral College should be abolished because it makes some votes count more than others,
…show more content…
As aforementioned, states receive Electoral College votes. However, the votes actually represent a group of electors, who are “appointed by the political parties who choose the president on the citizens’ behalf” (CGP Grey, “Electoral College Works”). However many votes a state gets is actually how many electors the state is allowed to send to a gathering to decide who the next president will be. The oddity is that although electors swear they will follow the will of the voters, it isn’t technically mandatory for them to vote for the candidate the residents of the state want. This becomes outrageous when it is revealed that eighty-seven times in the past (as of the 2008 election) electors have forgone the votes of the people and have selected the opposing candidate (CGP Grey, “Electoral College Works”). Although this has never swayed the result of an election, a system where one person can override the will of the people is not a democracy and displays why the Electoral College is an inferior method of …show more content…
While it is true that it addresses the concern of protecting the small states from the big states, it overcorrects the problem; it distributes power disproportionately, allowing an Alaskan’s vote, for example, to count far more than a Californian’s. In a country where equality is valued as its prime virtue, the Electoral College clearly presents a problem. By distributing votes to states and not people the Electoral College cannot ensure equality. Additionally, it is indefensible that the loser of an election can win by a quirk of the Electoral College or that an elector can oppose the citizens and vote for the opposing candidate. The citizens of the United States need to become resolute in their desire to change this abysmal and unjust system. Each adult American citizen should each correspond with his or her state governor or senator and address the problems of the Electoral College and make known its need to be
As aforementioned, states receive Electoral College votes. However, the votes actually represent a group of electors, who are “appointed by the political parties who choose the president on the citizens’ behalf” (CGP Grey, “Electoral College Works”). However many votes a state gets is actually how many electors the state is allowed to send to a gathering to decide who the next president will be. The oddity is that although electors swear they will follow the will of the voters, it isn’t technically mandatory for them to vote for the candidate the residents of the state want. This becomes outrageous when it is revealed that eighty-seven times in the past (as of the 2008 election) electors have forgone the votes of the people and have selected the opposing candidate (CGP Grey, “Electoral College Works”). Although this has never swayed the result of an election, a system where one person can override the will of the people is not a democracy and displays why the Electoral College is an inferior method of …show more content…
While it is true that it addresses the concern of protecting the small states from the big states, it overcorrects the problem; it distributes power disproportionately, allowing an Alaskan’s vote, for example, to count far more than a Californian’s. In a country where equality is valued as its prime virtue, the Electoral College clearly presents a problem. By distributing votes to states and not people the Electoral College cannot ensure equality. Additionally, it is indefensible that the loser of an election can win by a quirk of the Electoral College or that an elector can oppose the citizens and vote for the opposing candidate. The citizens of the United States need to become resolute in their desire to change this abysmal and unjust system. Each adult American citizen should each correspond with his or her state governor or senator and address the problems of the Electoral College and make known its need to be