The Trouble With The Electoral College

Improved Essays
An additional source that I used for my research was a YouTube video called “The Trouble with the Electoral College” by a channel called “CGP Grey” and was published on November 7th 2011. This source gave me insight into the background of the electoral system in addition to the disadvantages of the electoral college. The video was extremely beneficial as it provided me with insightful information regarding the issue, while also being easily accessed and simple to understand. However, as indicated by the title of the video, it had a majorly biased attitude towards the issue. The video only discussed the negatives of the system and did not reference any positives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    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.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should the united states continue to elect its president through the electoral college system? To ease some of the tension with this decision let me lay down some facts and information. In a presidential election, the popular vote simply means an aggregate of all voters from all states in America. The candidate who gets the most votes nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. But the winner of the popular vote may end up losing the election, like “Al Gore did in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Did you know that the president of the United States is currently elected by state Electoral College officials instead of the people? These state officials make up the Electoral College, which officially elects the President. In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, the Electoral College was designed by the framers of the U.S. Constitution as an agreement for the presidential election process. Some believed that the president should be elected by a purely popular election, one person, one vote, while others thought Congress should elect the president. The Electoral College operates by each state having a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators in addition to the number of its U.S. representatives, which varies in each state according to the state's population so that large states don’t overpower small states.…

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    It was named the Electoral college. The Electoral College was created for a few reasons. The first purpose was to create a buffer between population and the selection of a President. At the time, the founding fathers were worried of a tyrant like ruler who could manipulate public opinion in a direct election. They didn't trust citizens and wanted to leave it to a group of trusted politicians.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Electoral College Dbq

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The electoral college is here to make decisions the general public can not. The famous federalist Alexander Hamilton said, “It is 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.” (Document #1) This means, in short, that the electoral college is made up of educated men to make electoral decisions. This shows it was created to keep the election out of the hands of the uneducated.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One main pro of the electoral college, said by defenders of the system, is that it is, “a healthier constitutional form that values the capacity to carry numerous,” political ideals across the nation. Secondly, the electoral college system, “[requires] candidates to assemble multistate and multi regional coalitions rather than focusing,” on large states and urban communities. In a direct election, the largest concentration of voters would be in the large states and in dense metropolitan areas. One main con of the electoral college is that though the small states are overrepresented due to, “the senatorial bump, some persuasive legitimating principle other than the fact that the framers endorsed the idea,” should continue to exist today, but does not (Rakove). According to Gallup Poll in 2011, 62% of americans preferred a popular vote system for electing the president, while “barely a third, 35%, say they would keep the electoral college” (Inc).…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abolish Electoral College

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Abolish the Electoral College? Democracy, a noun defined as “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives”. The Electoral College was established in 1787 in order to choose a President. Unfortunately though, the college was not able to make wise choices on presidential candidates.…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Electoral College Flaws

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dear State Senator, the electoral college is an obsolete system of election. Although the electoral college was an idea set by the founding fathers in the constitution, this form of election is not effective any longer. People have the right to vote, but this form of election is not directly voting for a representative. The electoral college essentially makes the people vote for electors who then have the opportunity to vote for whom ever they would like. The electoral system is an archaic system that needs to be exchanged for the popular vote because the people do not vote for an actual representative, the system has failed before, and the system has the opportunity to have an even greater mishap.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College works and provides a stable form of federal government that cannot change and provides a plan that has little amounts of disorder. In Article 2, section 1 of the United States constitution it states, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors,equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress:” (Document 2)…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Electoral College Abolish

    • 1518 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Electoral College is like a secret organization in the sense that no one really understands is. The problems that this system have been apparent the more and more that the people can be informed. The internet has helped widely with that. While the popular vote does not always get reflected right or that the Independent Candidates get lost in the system the Electoral College does keep splinter parties from over doing the process. The Electoral College does not always…

    • 1518 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Electoral College Dbq

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Electoral College The President of the United States of America is the most powerful man in the world. As the Commander-in-Chief, Leader of the represented party, and peacekeeper among the world, the President’s job is up for grabs every four years. Article II of The Constitution states, any natural born citizen who has been a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years, and above the age of thirty-five can become the President (Posner 1). In order to be elected, the candidate must first win a majority of the state’s representatives and secure the party nomination.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Duncan, the electoral college was created by the founding fathers were still fearful of democracy and “set up a system of election with more than a few fail-safe structures to prevent this from happening—to keep The People from running amok (Duncan 2016).” While this argument would have been valid at the time of the creation of the Electoral College, it is no longer valid today. The fear of democracy has long disappeared with the fear of witches and the plague, today democracy is what all Americans want to keep. Which proves the point that the Electoral College no longer serves its original purpose and when something no longer serves its purpose it must be rid of. Also at the time of the creation of the Electoral College, there was a strong belief that political parties are wrong and that the candidates should not campaign for the presidency, it was believed that “The office should seek the man, the man should not seek the office (Kimberling 2008).”…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Electoral College was a system outlined in the United States’ constitution by the founding fathers, as the method in which they believe the president should be elected. But with the progression of time the views on the necessity of the Electoral College has become a controversy, as now two factions exist with one faction believing that the Electoral College is an illegitimate method for the election of a president. Though this faction exists and believes the Electoral College is an unfair system that gives a disproportionate voice to different United States’ citizens, but is it truly unfair and unjust. As the Electoral College is a part of the United States constitution where it can be found in Article II, Section I along with a few clarifications…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    We as a nation, we should be able to decide the president and vice-president for our country. The Electoral College is a way for the Government to control the way politics are decided. People should decide the president, because people know the truth. The electoral college takes away our right to vote, and it is sound a little bit weird but it is the reality, some of the reason is because most of the time the popular vote it does not count in the reality, the smaller states favored the Electoral college because of the number of electors that they have and also, in the reality our votes do not count.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every four years, citizens of the United States of America choose their next president based off a unique system known as the electoral college. The way that this system works is interesting and is confused easily in the general public. In early November, when citizens go to the polls, they are not voting for the president directly, rather they are voting for their individual states to cast its electoral votes towards a certain presidential candidate. In the forty-eight of the fifty states where voting takes place, all the electoral votes go to the presidential candidate who wins the majority in their state. No matter how large or small the majority is, the presidential candidate gets all the votes.…

    • 1924 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays