The Popular Vote System

Improved Essays
riana Roberson
December 4, 2014
POL315
Professor Russo
The United States has been well known for its democracy since the 1700s. The country has presidential elections every four years. In elections almost every American citizen over the age of 18 has a right to cast a vote for the president excluding United States territories such as Guam. The process in voting for the president of the United States is by no means straightforward. In the 2000 presidential election the candidates were Al Gore and George Bush, Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote but however lost due to Bush receiving a majority of the electoral votes. Al Gore lost because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is voting system extremely outdated, and should be replaced by the Popular Vote system. The Popular Vote system is a system that allows the American people to directly select the president based on the majority vote.
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The system was constitutionally established in the 1700s by America’s founding fathers. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors. The electors are all the members of congress (both Senate and House of Representatives) in addition to the District of Columbia’s three electors. When eligible United States citizens cast their votes in presidential elections they are not voting directly for the president. By voting the public is telling the state how they want the electoral votes casted. It is ideal that electors vote in favor of the public’s popular vote, however, electors do not have to vote corresponding to the public’s popular vote. All electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. When the electors cast their votes for the presidency in their state they cast their votes separately. Once electors cast their votes for their state the candidate that receives a majority vote wins all of the electoral votes for that

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