Electoral College Dbq

Electoral College Dbq
If the electoral college was abolished, then America would have a more pure vote. The electoral college delegates how much say a state has in
government and limits some states while promoting the powers of others. The electoral college also has many deformities, including the winner take
all system, a less pure vote, and a more concentrated support for a candidate from certain states that make it perfectly reasonable to abolish it.
The electoral college has a major corruption through the fact that each vote is represented by a different percentage of a state's population. Wyoming
has one vote for every 187,875 citizens, while California has one vote for every 677, 345 citizens.(Document 2). This turns away any constant in the
amount of voters...show more content...
Most states are always republican or democratic in the way they vote. So the amount of votes is already in favor of one candidate or another before
voting actually arrives.(Document 7). Since the candidates are always insured a certain number of votes, the candidates only have to worry about
"swing states" or states that change their decisions every election. Since the non–swing states never decide in favor of one candidate or the other by
themselves the power to elect a new president resides with whom the citizens of swing states vote for. Without an electoral college, each citizen's
vote would be worth more and everyone could help determine a new president instead of the select few who are living in "swing states." All of these
reasons help to make it clear that the electoral college is a corrupt
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

History of the Electoral College Essay
History of the Electoral College
The Electoral College is the name for the electors who nominally choose the president and vice president of the United States. Each of the states
receives a certain number of electors, which is determined by the total number of senators and representatives it sends to the U.S. Congress. Therefore,
each state has at least 3 electors. The Electoral College was devised by the Framers of the Constitution as a procedure to elect the president by the
people, at least indirectly. The framers came up with this procedure for many reasons. Such reasons included the lack of information to make a good
choice by the people and it was also a way to control the power of the people. Although the Electoral...show more content...
Another idea was to have the State legislature choose the president. However, this idea was also rejected for similar reasons. A third idea that was
taken under consideration was a procedure that involved the election of the president by a direct popular vote. This idea was rejected because the
members of the convention felt that the people did not have enough information about candidates outside their state. Therefore, they would choose for
the most popular person in their state and no candidate would ever receive a majority of votes enough to become president. After rejecting all ideas,
the convention finally decided on a method of indirect election of the president through the Electoral College. After choosing the Electoral College as
the method of selecting the president, the Framers described it in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. In this new procedure, the process of
choosing the electors was left to the states, in order eliminate the States suspicion of the federal government and members of Congress and employees
of the government were not allowed to serve as Electors. In order to prevent bribery and secret dealings, Electors from each state were required to meet
in their own states rather than all together in one large meeting. Also, the Framers tried to prevent the

Abolish The Electoral College Essay
"Abolish the electoral college!" is a famous statement that was made by Bob Dole on whether or not it would be a good idea to keep the electoral
college. Though others may disagree and say that our founding fathers established the Electoral
College. Also that it was established with the mindset of helping the american people, but i would like to think otherwise. I believe that the we should
change the system by which we vote the president of the United States into election by popular vote. For many years we have been using the concept of
the Electoral
College and for many years, it has lead to unfair calls and the placing of bad leadership in our country. In the article titled, "The Indefensible Electoral
College:
Why even the best–laid defenses...show more content...
It time for change.
The electoral collage is a dishonesty to voters, it is an unfair system. In "The
Indefensible Electoral College: Why even the best–laid defenses of the system are wrong", the author make a good claim. He or she talks about the
winner takes all system that is affiliated with the electoral college. In the 13th paragraph the author specifically says, " Because of the winner–take–all
system in each tate, candidates don't spend time in states they know have no chance of winning, focusing only on the tight races "swing" state."
That shows how unfair it is to us as the american people. Certain states may not get a chance to see who their choices are. They are forced to make
a decision based on the little we know and the majority of the knowledge comes form the media which is a very unreliable source. " During the2000
campaign, seventeen states didn't see the candidates at all." That shows how little our voices are heard in a desion that is crutial for how we go about
and make decisions in our everyday lives. We the American people have to rely

The Importance Of The Electoral College
The Electoral College was founded in 1787, when the writers of the Constitution were discussing how they would go about electing the future
Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States. The Electoral College is just a part of the United States process of electing the next president.
In the diagrams on the page above, you can see the Electoral College in the election of 1800 and in the election of 2012. Over time, the Electoral
College has played the same role, but as times are changing, is it necessary to keep the Electoral College and continue with what is familiar, or throw
it in the trash and try something new? In my personal opinion, I think that it would be best if we kept the Electoral College. It worked back then, and it
seems

Argumentative Essay On Electoral College
Electoral College
Despite the Electoral College system being founded by the founding fathers in America and being there as long as the Constitution exists, many
people still do not have sufficient knowledge on how it works. The Electoral College does not provide honest presidential elections rather it has the
potential to undo the will of people at any point from the selection of electors to the vote tallying in Congress (Shaw, 3). Electoral College in the United
States has played a major role in depressing the voter's turnout. Every State is given an equal number of electoral votes despite the population and in
turn, the system has put in place no measure to encourage the voters to take part in the elections. Besides, the system distorts...show more content...
The system is obsolete owing to the new methods of research and becoming aware of issues as well as faster sharing of information for the Americans
to know any presidential candidate. Besides, United States of America has witnessed growth almost in every aspect of life and has shown the ability to
handle new developments articulating the strength of the country to establish and manage a new electoral system. The reality that most of the states do
not have laws requiring electors to vote according to the will of their state, the electors are unbound thus the system create the possibility of rogue
electors. Also, the system presents a situation where the presidential election winner is determined by the House of Representatives causing
disenfranchising a significant number of voters.
Another problem surrounding the Electoral College system is that it allows one–party states, states that almost always go to one party. In this context, a
Democrat who casts a vote in a mostly Republican state feels that his vote is wasted because of no way that state will be won by a Democrat. Besides,
the system is based on two–party elections, the Democrat and the Republican leaving Americans with two candidates to choose (Belenky, 364). The
voters end up picking the candidate with fewer issues rather than the one they support. In my opinion, people feel that Electoral College has
single–handedly defeated

Electoral College Essay
Democratic elections are an integral part of American society; however, it appears that more and more people are becoming detached from or
unwilling to participate in this essential process. This declining attitude toward elections is caused by the inclusion of the electoral college and the
power it holds over elections in the United States. The electoral college is used in place of an election by popular vote, but that is an antiquated system
that often misrepresents the interests of the American people. This detachment could be fixed by a reworking of the electoral process such that the
electoral college is abolished and all elections are held by popular vote. This would give people a feeling of true representation in the government
...show more content...
The electoral college misconstrues the thoughts and feeling of the majority of the American population and assigns a greater value to the voters in
some states than it does in other states. This can be seen through the focus candidates place upon the swing states and the lack of campaigning that
takes place in states that are not awarded as many electoral votes. This is why campaign ads and rallies are not common in states such as Tennessee;
the candidates do not feel that it is important or cost effective to do so. Another fault in the electoral college can be seen in the presidential election
of 2000. The candidates, Al Gore and George W. Bush, were engaged in a very close race, so close, in fact, that Al Gore won the national popular vote
but George Bush won the majority of the electoral votes. The national popular vote has no gravitas in the presidential election and therefore George
Bush was elected president. That situation shows that imbalances found within the electoral college are not simply theoretical. With an electoral
college system, the feelings and thoughts of a nation are important in all of the events leading up to election day but not on election day itself. All of
these situations

Change In The Electoral College
Lastly, looking back at past elections, third party candidates have never won an election, because the electoral college is made up of two parties: the
republican party and the democratic party. This makes it unfair for the third party candidates because it really never gives them a chance at winning an
election (Michael Malice). Some people throughout the country do have strong feelings on the third party candidates, because they take ideas from
both parties, to make a strong campaign in order to win the election and be the next president of the United States. They have good intentions and
potential, and it is never able to be used because the electors in the Electoral College have different beliefs. Along with that, a change in the presidency

The Founding Fathers worked to create an equal nation without the chance of an oppressive ruler, such as King George the Third. They hoped to
balance the power and make sure that the nation was never in the hands of a leader like him. To accomplish this goal of equal representation they
created the Electoral College. This created a system where Americans whenvoting for the President, weren't voting directly for the candidates and were
voting for electors that would cast votes to represent their state. Although this system worked in the time that it was created, when there were fewer
states and people, now there are problems within this system leading to an election that isn't as representative of the nation as the Founding Fathers
would have probably wanted. Although it provides many benefits and is better than other systems of electing presidents, there are too many
ambiguities for the system to not be labeled as wrong and unequal. The Electoral College is an inept and disadvantageous system due to its influence on
the citizen's efficacy, misrepresentation of the people, the chance of electing a president that the majority don't want, and the ability of...show more
content...
Even though individual representation may be lower in large states, the state as a whole has more power in the electoral sense. Take the 2016 election,
for example, it can clearly be seen that the relationship between the popular votes and the electoral votes is not direct. In this example, Trump won
many large states, but by small margins, helping him to gain the electoral votes, but not all the popular votes of that state. This is also a
misrepresentation of the population of the country. Although this has only happened five times in the history of the US and the popular vote usually is
directly related to the electoral vote, the fact that it can happen is

Essay about Electoral College vs. Popular Vote
Electoral College vs. Popular Vote When given this assignment I had no clue what topic I might choose. I waited and waited until the recent
elections blew up in my face. This past election was a learning experience for me because I just turned 18. This was the first year I could ever vote and
a weird election like this occurred. I noticed how many people were actually very disturbed with how Gore won the popular vote but will most likely
lose the election only because he couldn't win enough electoral votes in one state. The Electoral College was designed in 1787 at the Constitutional
Convention. A variety of ideas were originally brought to attention. Two significant and highly regarded options were a) Congress selects the
...show
more content...
Each state can have no less than 3 electors. This is because they get an elector for every chair they fill in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. Because all states have two Senate members and at least one House member, we see why. All together, including all of our nation's
states we have an Electoral College consisting of 538 members. In order for a candidate to actually become the President he must obtain at least 270
electoral votes, giving him the majority plus one (Glennon 19). Because we use the Electoral College, it has come to occur on numerous occasions
that a candidate with a higher percentage of the popular vote is defeated by his political opponent by the electoral tally (Glennon 19), thus defeating the
purpose of a Democracy. A Democracy exists if we the people have "the right to self– governance." "American 'democracy' has existed for over 200
years, and citizens are ready, as they have been for decades, if not centuries, to finally control their own country" ("Electoral College Problems").
Therefore the use of the Electoral College is completely useless and should be abandoned to the idea of the popular vote. If not completely thrown out,
then altered by an amendment. Under the form of the present college, it is noticeable that almost all of the third party candidates are not even glanced
at. Most people don't even know their

Should Electoral College Be Abolished Dbq Essay
What would you do if you didn't have a say in who runs America and how it is ran. What if you were promised freedom, and told that you had a
government ran by the people but you didn't get any input in the decisions? The direct popular vote doesn't give the smaller parties a chance, but the
electoral college does. Some people believe that the electoral college should be abolished; however, it gives people in rural communities a stronger
voice, it allows the President a mandate to meet people's needs in every state, and it reflects the political opinions of more Americans. Therefore,
America should keep the electoral college. Some people may believe that having the electoral college takes away the rights and needs of the states, but
it does the complete opposite; it allows the president to meet the state's needs and give them the power that is promised "The Electoral College makes
sure that the states count in the presidential elections. As such, it is an important part of our federalist system..."(Document C). Document C shows us
that the states are represented and have been represented for centuries due the to system in which certain powers are given to the states in order to keep
the federal government in check. Consequently our states rely on the Electoral College to...show more content...
The political stand points are shown more clearly when the electors vote representing their state. In Document D shows how our representatives speak
on behalf of each state. In the 1980 presidential election Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Cart by a little under 10,000 votes in the popular vote, however he
won by 82% in the electoral vote; it shows what the people want. The citizens of each state elect and elector to represent them, whether it's republican
or democrat, and from their the electors vote for whichever candidate they stand for. By choosing an Elector they basically chose the

Electoral College Advantages
The Electoral College is defined as, "a body of electors chosen by the voters in each state to elect the president and vice–president of the U.S."
[Dictionary.com "electoral college"] The Electoral College is essentially the process which determines the new President.
After the general election is completed the ballots are counted and the winner is posted by state. Different states have a different number of votes in
the Electoral College. There are 538 electoral votes which are split among the states. As a result, the bigger states have many votes, whereas the
smaller states have fewer votes. For instance, a sizable state such as California has 55 electoral votes, however a small state such as Delaware has only
3 electoral votes. So after

Electoral College
A major conflict concerning the electoral college lingers in America. The
Constitutional Convention created the college in 1789 in hopes that it would be an adequate system (MacBride 29). The electoral college consists of
senators and representatives who cast their votes for the state they represent. Those who feel that the college should remain as it is believe that the
American people are too uninformed about election issues to vote. The argument for the modification of the college maintains that the people are not
actually electing the president, but the larger states are. Ultimately, the majority of the United States citizens support the elimination of an electoral
college that serves no purpose in the...show more content...
First of all, the present format of the electoral college manifests the colleges' insufficient qualities. The current format of the college, giving the edge to
the larger states, exhibits the inadequacies of it (Polsby 32).
"The electoral college system, it is claimed, does not guarantee that the candidate with the most popular votes will win, produces great inequalities in
voting power among the national electorate, contains a contingency election provision that is not only unrepresentative but that could also result in an
impasse or in political duels, permits the will of the majority voters in a state or even in the nation to be thwarted through the constitutional
independence of the electors, and permits the electoral decision to turn on fraud or chance in key states" (Best 22). A study conducted by John F.
Banzhaf, III revealed that "states like New York and California have over two and one half times as much chance to effect the election of the president
as residents of the smaller states"
(Bickel 6). Furthermore, causing confusion amongst the political system, the electoral college raised a question mark in Congress. Passed by more
than the mandatory two–thirds vote in 1969, the House called for a constitutional amendment to change the election of presidents and vice–presidents
be by nation a wide popular vote rather than the electoral college (Bickel 10). However, the amendment failed to

Electoral College Thesis
Electoral College
The Electoral College is the indirect election of the President of the United States. We, the people, vote for the president which determines the popular
vote, but we don't truly elect the president, it just selects the electors so THEY choose the president. That is the second–part process of choosing
electors. The first–part process is that the political parties in each state select electors. Although this assembly was needed back when the constitution
was first established, because people didn't know much about the requirements of a President and they didn't know much about the presidential
candidates because of the very little technology back then, we no longer need the Electoral College, and we should no longer have this assembly of
electors.
When the constitution was being created, the forefathers thought the people might choose a president who was unfit for the job. Back then, there
wasn't television to broadcast their commercials or the presidential debates, and their wasn't internet for the candidates to present their ideas on. The
only way to know who you should vote for was the newspapers and word of mouth – which can easily be made up or misunderstood. So they created
the Electoral College as a way to keep an unsuited president from taking office. So basically, "when Americans vote for a President and Vice President,
they are actually voting for presidential electors." (http://www.history.com/topics/electoral–college)
The Electoral College

Electoral College Synthesis
Synthesis
In my opinion I believe the United States is a model democracy. The United States has been a great help to other nations as well as to our own. The
U.S. has protected our freedoms, by giving us our Bill of Rights and amendments, and giving us equality. Not only have we been a great help to other
nations, but other nations have also been a great help to us as well, seeing the United States as a great democracy. The United States does have frequent
elections, every four years. But, running an election does require money to be spent. The election uses the process of Electoral College, which means
the people do not directly vote for their choice of candidate, electors vote for the states candidate. Many citizens do not like this method...show more
content...
As stated by Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, "...today [the United States of] America is among the greatest countries of the planet. It
provides help to all others in the world. Its helicopters often take us when we need to travel to inaugurate our roads. Why? Because America is a
country where minorities and majorities do not exist, where ethnic divisions and interests do not exist. When you become American, then you are an
American, full stop. You have rights, duties and obligations" (Karzai). The quote just mentioned proves how The United States of America is even
a role model to other countries. It is really good that our nation sets this expression to others because it shows that our nation is striving for success,
for hope, for commitment and is willing to help other countries as well. When the 9/11 attacks occurred, our nation received a lot of help from other
countries and nations. It is really good to be able to set a good example to others and one day be able to receive help from other nations and countries
when our own nation is in great

Electoral College Research Paper
An electoral college is a group of people who represent the United States, who send out votes for the election of the President and Vice President of the
United States. It has a total of 538 electors. Each state has a number equal to the amount of senate seats plus the amount of seats in the House of
Representatives. It is a compromise between who got the most popular vote, and who got fewer. At the time, the government thought that the president
being selected by the amount of votes he/she received was not good enough. They thought that letting the government determine who the winner will
be, had a better outcome. Some electors, determine their vote considering the amount of votes/ he or she gets. While others is simply to what party

Electoral College Research Paper
Last week, my most intriguing aspect of Ben's guide was about the Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln and the different wars we've fought as a
nation since we receive our freedom from the Great Britain. Today, my second most intriguing aspect of US Government would be the the electoral
college. Yes, the electoral college. Being that i am originally from Nigeria (born and raise) before moving over toUnited States back in the year 1999, i
have always wonder what electoral college is and how in the world would we elect the president and vice president to be based on that and not the
majority votes known as the popular votes as usual in almost all of the countries around the globe. Though I didn't go to high school here in the US,
but I at...show more content...
I was a huge Obama supporter and always finding myself researching and looking up things that matters the most in getting him into the white out.
Needless to say I learned a lot in the process and thought I was in a political science class all over again. While researching the electoral college,
why it is there and the purpose of why it was so; I discover it was established by the founding fathers in the Constitution as a compromise between
election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. I learned furthermore, that the
electoral college process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and
the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. By far, very a unique aspect of the US government's general election. While now know the process,
why they choose to go by the electoral and not the majority carry the votes method; I still finds kind of difficult to accept the process, part of me is so
adamant that I thought we should just safe the long process and just switched over to the popular votes method used by other

What Is The Electoral College Essay
At The Constitutional Convention of 1787, there was a lot of debate over how the President would be elected. Some supported a system of popular
votes while most others supported the system we have in place today, the Electoral College. The Electoral College is the best method of electing a
President because it allows for the people to be involved in the government while still maintaining that the most educated people possible actually vote
for the President. Many American citizens believe that when they vote they are voting for the President, but in reality they are voting for a group of
people who then vote for the President. The elected people are decided by the popular vote for each state, but the number of people each state gets to
elect is determined by representation in the Senate and House of Representatives. Every state automatically gets two electors (because there is equal
...show more content...
It has some room for improvement, like if it would proportionally distribute the electors based on the popular vote per state instead of just one party
receiving all of the electoral votes given to that state. However, it has for the most part worked ever since it was created in 1787 and right now there
is no real need to change a system that seems to be working just fine. If the Presidential election was based only on popular vote, it would not always
accurately represent the population due to so many errors (including voter errors, miscounting, ballot errors, etc.). The Electoral College allows for
minor mistakes in voting to not affect what the majority of the people in that state want.
Overall, the Electoral College has provided the United States with a combination of the popular vote and the electoral vote when electing the President.
It has provided us with many good elections and does not need to be replaced just for the sake of having change. If it isn't broke, don't fix

The Importance of the Electoral College Essay
The Importance of the Electoral College
Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is
still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two–party
system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread
popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.
The Electoral College was first introduced to America at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, However, the idea behind the Electoral College can be
traced back to the Roman...show more content...
According to the first draft of the Constitution, electors voted for two presidents, at least one of which was from a different state than the elector was
representing. Whichever candidate received the most votes would become president and the runner–up would be vice–president. This method worked
for several years until, in 1800, the unforeseen effect of political parties resulted in a tie for the presidency between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson,
both of the same party. The resulting dispute over who the president would be led to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.
The 12th Amendment changed the rules of the electoral process by having electors make separate votes for president and vice president. It goes on to
say that if no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives would select a president from the top three candidates. The
Amendment also stipulates that the Senate would choose a vice–president from the top two candidates in the event of a tie for that office. This second
design of the Electoral College provides for the workings of a two–party system in America and is still in effect today.
"From their vast knowledge of history, the American Founding Fathers knew that unlimited political power cannot safely be trusted to anyone – not to
appointed officials of government, not to elected representatives of the people, not to the people themselves," says

With the surge of controversy surrounding the recent election, the United States has rekindled the Electoral College debate. However, this isn't the first
time that a tight election has resulted in unclear or contested results. Nor is it the first time the Electoral College has made a president out of the
popular vote loser. In the over two hundred years since its construction, the Electoral College has demonstrated its shortcomings with more than its
share of mishaps. Is this system a tribute to democracy and the brilliance of its creators or is it an archaic tradition that should be eliminated?
In order to fully understand the workings of the Electoral College we must first...show more content...
Whichever candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state wins all of its electoral votes. Due to changes in population, the number of
representatives for each state changes every ten years with the new census results. And, consequently, so does the distribution of the electoral votes.
This year, five hundred thirty eight votes were apportioned to the fifty states and DC, making the magic number two hundred seventy. Whichever
candidate hits two hundred seventy votes wins the presidency.
So just who are these electors? Electors are actual people selected for each election that vote according to the states popular vote. They are typically
political party loyalists or individuals that have some affiliation with the candidates. And how are they chosen? Parties nominate electors at their state
party conventions or by a vote of the party's central committee in the state. An elector could really be anyone. Only a few regulations are outlined in the
constitution as to who cannot be an elector. Obviously, they can't be Senators or Representatives. Interestingly, there is no federal law or constitutional
provision that mandates electors to vote as they pledged. Only twenty–four of the fifty states require their electors to vote in accordance with the states
popular vote. And, of these, only five states actually have penalties for failure to do so. These penalties are mediocre at

Electoral College Dbq

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Featured

Featured (20)

Electoral College Dbq