Electoral College Is Wrong Essay Research Paper

The Electoral College is the name given to a group of electors who are nominated by political activists and party members within the states. The electoral college really isn’t necessary and should be abolished. There are numerous reasons why this is so. With the Electoral College in affect third parties don’t have a chance to become the president, which isn’t fair. Electors are expected to be honest but in the past our country has caught some untruthful ones. The electoral College was created so long ago that it is now outdated, so we shouldn’t even have electors. People of the U.S. may think that they are participating in a direct election for the president, but with the Electoral College system technically, this isn’t the case.

Having only two candidates running for the leader of our country restricts our choices for president. If a third part wins the majority of the popular vote, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the president because it’s all up to the electors. If the candidate doesn’t win the electors’ votes then they will not have a chance of winning. This happened in the 2000 election. This is very unjust. “In 1992 Ross Perot won more popular votes than Clinton, but he did not win any electoral votes so he was dropped from the election (Glennon, 1992).”

We are supposed to have faith in the electors of our state. In theory, they are supposed to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote of that state, but you can’t always trust them to do so. You may think that they are voting for who they should, but they could be really voting for who they want. Electors also vote quite a time after the people. With the time in between, certain things could change their minds on who they want to win. “There have only been twelve unfaithful electors in U.S. history. The most recent was in 1988 in West Virginia (Glennon, 1992).”

The Electoral College was created 200 years ago and times have definitely changed. People are well educated these days, and have a better understanding of the whole election process. Two centuries ago people didn’t have TV, radio, news broadcasting, or the internet. These are all good sources that to supply us with more than enough coverage of the elections at hand. The whole system makes no sense, because depending on how big a state is, depends on how many electors that state has. The smaller the state, the more electors it has. It should be the other way around. Also population density has changed over time.

If a candidate wins the popular vote but not the electoral, then they do not win the election. This is unfair. If the people want a certain person for their leader than that’s who it should be. The Constitution says to fairly represent the people. The Electoral College is the total opposite. How the people feel doesn’t even matter. People shouldn’t even vote if their vote doesn’t count. What’s the point? In a democracy, people are the most important. The Electoral College prohibits people to be the most important.

Considering all these facts and circumstances, it is clear that the Electoral College is not something that this country needs. It goes against everything this country stands for. The U.S. is a well educated, intellectual country, that has the capability to choose a president. The Electoral College should be history.

Bibliography

Glennon, Michael J. “When No majority Rules: The Electoral College and Presidential Succession.” Washington, D.C.:Congressional Quarterly, 1992.