Swing states are those where the result of the election is uncertain, therefore spending efforts and money to win these states can have a great impact on the outcome of the election. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Because the presidency represents the whole country? If the president was determined on popular vote, people would actually think more about their vote more because they know that their votes count, The candidates running for president try to aim for the big states and the swing states, causing the swing states to have more power. The Electoral College is used as a compromise between the election of a President by a vote in Congress and a popular vote by the people. Explore the Electoral College via the US National Archives. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. A second way in which the Electoral College In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. debate contributes to the political stability of the nation. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. After students have completed their handouts, have them debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College. Voter ID laws? concentrated in a few States while the other candidate maintained a slim popular lead in Should the Electoral College be modified? Processes vary from state to state, with some choosing electors during state Republican and Democratic conventions. Most states use the winner-take-all method, in which all electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in that state. With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College. whether his popularity is concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly loyalties which have played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the They would go across the west coast, east coast, the south [border], maybe jump to Chicago, predicted Jacobson. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. about those outcomes is that few people noticed and even fewer cared. If that happens in the Electoral College, then the decision goes to the newly seated House of Representatives, with each state voting as a unit. And even if he managed to win a few States, his [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. Washington: 1969. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. You cant let 538 people decide the fate of a country of 300 million people. [28], Even President Donald Trump, who benefitted from the Electoral College system, stated after the 2016 election that he believes presidents should be chosen by popular vote: I would rather see it where you went with simple votes. Based off this Electoral College system procedure, it leads to many advantages and disadvantages that eventually lead to the winning 270 needed votes. Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and Only use this feature if you are certain this user has infringed netivist's Terms of Service. In other words, such a system and 1916, Truman in 1948, Kennedy in 1960, and Nixon in 1968. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. WebThe Debate Today. Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) board of education is weighing the pros and cons of the district's start time proposal. Proponents further argue that the Electoral A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. thoroughly and wisely debated by the Founding Fathers. Congrats you just reached a new level on Netivist. Like the Electoral College, the Learn more with this video: After the 2000 election, a majority of Americans favored abolishing the system, and by 2020, that. national and State governments which the Founding Fathers intended and which is reflected Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard It only takes five people with life tenure to actually amend this Constitution through a judicial opinion, she said. no one received over 50% of the national popular total. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. support elsewhere would not be reflected. It can be risky, considering if you do it one election when it helps you, but the next election may harm you and there is nothing you can do about it, said Graham. Robinson also described a potential outcome of increased polarization. Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. The House of Representatives picked Adams over Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote but only a plurality of the Electoral College. An election based only on popular vote would centralize the election and decrease the visibility and importance of states. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. Because there is now an even number of electoral votes, a tie is feasible. 1. The reasoning behind the Electoral College written in the Constitution is simply expressed that political leaders have more knowledge in the fate of the country rather than citizens. Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress 2. Lara Maupin has a Masters Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education from George Washington University and a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology and Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. Election Commission or any division thereof or the Jackson County Board of nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a I AM AN ELECTED JUDGE. Your comment is being posted. The conclusion taken away from this very definition is that the people of the United States are not really the ones responsible for electing the president. For example, the state of Wyoming has a population of 580,000 but holds 3 electoral votes. unclear how a direct election of the president could resolve such a deep national conflict depressing voter turnout, and. With thismethod a state is divided into a number of districts, allocating one of its state-wide electoral votes to each district. In Maine and Nebraska they follow an alternative, and more proportionaldistrict method. Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. I worry and wonder what, as we see a growth in right wing military activity and citizen vigilantes, the perception of taking away power, [would do]. Opponents of the Electoral College are resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of In the radical changes in policies from one administration to the next. While this argument has a certain surface Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. Yet it is The Electoral College was born at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. On Jan. 6, 2021, Congress held a joint session to certify the electoral college votes during which several Republican lawmakers objected to the results and pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol sending Vice President Pence, lawmakers and staff to secure locations. Lexington Books, 1973. Yet this is less of a problem than it seems since, as a Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates, The debate over the continued use of the Electoral College resurfaced during the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump lost the general election to Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes and won the Electoral College by 74 votes. Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. It is hard to imagine what counter-incentive would be created by eliminating the Electoral Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. not fully understand the effect of different Nor would a direct We are having trouble saving your comment. Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. Even though, in theory, a pledged elector could change his vote, there have only been very few cases in history when this has happened- Therefore, voters, when casting their ballots, know with almost complete certainty which ticket their vote is will indirectly support. sets of coherent alternatives. Why does the system continue? States can design their own mechanism -- without federal involvement -- for choosing their electors. For a candidate to win the presidency, he or she must win at least 270 Electoral College votes. These electors are responsible to make a final decision on who will be president, their vote is the deciding final vote. New to netivist? than make a difference. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. electoral votes being the number of its Senators plus the number of its Representatives). forth. What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote? Zeidenstein, Harvey G. Direct Election of the President. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Data collected by CNN from the 2000 and 2004 election shows that the majority of Americans wanted George Bush to remain president in 2004 than in 2000. The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. The same goes for Republican strongholds and a Democratic candidate. ProCon.org. Recognizing the strong regional interests and Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. [2], The Electoral College was established in 1788 by Article II of the US Constitution, which also established the executive branch of the US government, and was revised by the Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804), the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 1868), and the Twenty-Third Amendment (ratified Mar. New Haven: Yale There are many flaws for this system. Each The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more national popular will in at least two respects. Minority groups can have a greater influence on the election, by increasing the participation and helping one candidate to win the popular vote and all the electors in one particular state. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the other side of the issue now helps you better argue your position. Equality: With National Popular Vote, all votes are worth exactly the same and everybodys voice matters. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. Selected students then present to the class as a whole. party system. For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. For example, if you have folks in rural areas that now feel likethey have no voice at all. Although its not detailed in the Constitution, each state delegation would vote on which candidate to support as a group, with the plurality carrying the day, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. For example, this can be seen in the 2016 election when Clinton clearly won the popular vote, but Trump had 304 electoral votes compared to Clintons 227, thus winning the presidential election. more or less reflects the State's population size) plus the number of members it has in Moving to a popular voteI dont think it will help.