What Are The Benefits Of The Electoral College System

Every November, hoards of Americans flock to libraries, schools, and other voting sites across the nation to cast their ballots. They wait in long lines for hours just to have a say in who becomes our next president. However, individually, their votes don’t actually count! Why? In the United States, our presidential race is decided by the Electoral College, a group of 538 representatives, or electors, from each state. A number of electoral votes is granted to each state, and individual states have the freedom to choose which candidate those votes will support. This system, while it may have been beneficial at the time of its initiation, is no longer effective. The Electoral College system is antiquated, inaccurate, and not in line with our country’s democratic values. The Electoral College system is a vestige of early American society. When it was created in 1787, staging a popular vote would have been nearly impossible. There were no easy means of communication, and voting was only possible with paper ballots. Furthermore, people were uneducated; they simply did not have the resources to learn about …show more content…
In four elections (2000, 1888, 1876, 1824), the Electoral College has elected a candidate different from the winner of the popular vote. How did this happen? Well, according to archives.gov, “There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires Electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their States.” Some states have laws binding electors to the results of the popular vote, but in twenty-four states, such regulations are nonexistent.That means that even if a candidate wins the popular vote in the state, the Elector still has the freedom to cast a vote contradicting the wishes of the state’s population. This form of voting discredits individual opinions. The Electoral College system represents a small group of officials, not the wishes of our