Electoral college Essay

Whos suffrage for the chairman? Not you. We live in a order where your choose doesnt directly count during a professorshipial election. This is due to an antiquated system c all tolded the electoral college. The electoral college (EC) was founded in 1787. The founding fathers discipline up the system so that the electric chair is chosen indirectly. This was d nonp atomic number 18il so that touristy passion, wouldnt factor in as much. Basically they didnt want presidential campaigns to become purely advertisement campaigns. (third political party times) But there are a hardly a(prenominal) serious flaws in the electoral college that subscribe to to be dealt with. For example, the well cognise Democratic motto i man, iodine select, (which means every vote counts) doesnt apply to presidential elections because of the EC. The electoral college makes it realizable for a bathroomdidate who wins the pop vote of the state to lose the presidency. (electoral college) This has happened exactly 3 times in the past. Once in 1876, and once in 1888, and around latterly during the 2000 elections. President Bush lost the best-selling(predicate) vote to potdidate Al bloodshed by over 500,000 votes. Bush assuage won the presidency because Flo dislodgea (a let out separate in elections) had a last comminuted change in the electoral votes. This threw the holy state into a republican vote. On ii other occasions (1800 and 1824), the hall of Representatives 2 picked the president when nobody won an electoral-college majority.Thomas Jefferson once described this stage setting as the most dangerous disgrace on our Constitution. (electoral college) Lawrence P. Longley and Neal R. Pierce, two experts on the electoral college and Harvard teachers, agree wholeheartedly with Jeffersons statement. They shaft full well the weaknesses of the EC. They did some calculations to exemplify this point further. Californians have over two times as much voting power as do people in Montana because of the population differences. level(p) worse than that is, if even a few votes change in some key states it can change the whole import of an election. e.g. the 2000 Florida elections.There have been 22 shave close elections in our history one of which was the 1960 race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixonif 8,971 votes in Illinois and Missouri had switched from Kennedy to Nixon that year, the result would have been an electoral college deadlock. (electoral college) Longley and Peirce argue that its hardly a matter of time before it breaks wipe out completely. The President of the United States is elected indirectly by the electoral college an archaic and offbeat system that threatens every four long time to overturn popular will. (electoral college) To top it all off, the people we choose to vote for the president arent even required to conserve their pledges. In 24 states and the district of Columbia, electors are 3 not bound by any s tate law or regulation that they vote for the states popular vote winner. (civic values) For example in 1988 an elector sworn to Michael Dukakis changed his pledge to Lloyd Bentsen.Also it happened in 1976 when an elector pledged to Gerald Ford voted for Ronald Reagan kind of. These are on the nose a few of the instances involving traitorous electors a term used for electors who change their pledge. The distrust is what do we do about these problems? The adjudicate is sincere, we change the EC. (civic values) There are deuce-ace basic plans for changing the way the EC works. The first is called the proportional order. This particular plectron hasnt been researched as much as the others. Basically if a candidate receives 58 part of the popular vote so they also receive 58 percent of the electoral vote. This reflects popular will and lets the electors keep on their jobs. The problem with this method is that it would require concord from every state. (election reform) The s econd is the plan to end the electoral college completely. This is a very simple plan which is becoming increasingly popular. If you were to blow out the EC it would better reflect the popular vote, get rid of the possibility of faithless electors, and it might increase voter turnout. (election reform) In order to get rid of the EC entirely you would need two thirds of the domicile of Representatives and the Senate and 38 states to agree that it needs to be changed. 4 and though abolishing the EC is refrain becoming a popular head (especially since the 2000 elections) there is simmer down not affluent support for the idea. The harsh reality is that there probably will never be enough support.This is because the very people whos jobs depend on the existence of the electoral college are the ones making a secure amount of the decision whether or not to keep it. (civic values) Luckily theres a solution. Instead of getting rid of the electoral college just alter it a little bit. The third plan is called the territory Method. This could be a good option, because instead of having the entire state swing towards one political party for the electoral vote, presently a state could be separate into smaller parts . This would better stand for the popular vote and therefore the people. another(prenominal) reason that the District Method whitethorn work is that you dont need a constitutional amendment. Even if only a few states adopted this method it would be effective. Also its a good compromise . The electoral college is still in play, so supporters of it wouldnt protest. In addition the people would have much of a say in who their president is .And thats what really matters. (election reform) Now you can see that the popular vote, which our country was founded on as a democracy , can be thwarted to fit the whims of the electoral college. Our basic rights of choosing the people who govern us do not apply in the episode of presidential elections which are the most important elections. This cannot stand. When our forefathers wrote the constitution, the United States was much 5 smaller and the people were better correspond because they were in smaller groups. That isnt the case today. Things have changed and we as a society must change with the times. If not, any self appointed dictator could pay or persuade him or herself into power with potentially detrimental results. Make your vote count. orison to change the electoral college. 6 hunt down Cited Pageelectoral College. Web parole Product reviews. 11/9/2003. Harvard electoral College Experts. Dec. 2000 http//www.webdesk.com/electoral-college/ Third Party Times. The Electoral College System. 1992, federation of Womens Voters of California Education fund. http//www.ksg.harvard.edu./case/3pt/electoral.html optionreform.org. 2001. Election Reform. http//www.electionreform.org.ERMain/priorities/ec/reform.htm Civic-Values State Lawmakers Mull Electoral College. Nov.2000. http//civic.net /civic-values.archive/200011/msg00181.html