Electoral college
Originally intended to combat the stiff competition between the North and South, the Electoral College is now unnecessary and is a threat to the current system of democracy because of the possibility of a minority president being elected, "faithless" Electors who are unconcerned with the decisions of state legislatures, the likelihood of its existence decreasing voter turnout from its already mediocre level and the failure of accurately reflecting the voice of the majority.Originally the Electoral College was created when women, slaves and property-less people could vote. Thus, it was seen as a protectorate to ensure that an educated decision would be made. This is no longer the case with universal suffrage. Clearly an aged institution, the Electoral College is an insult to the intelligence and ability to choose the proper candidate for office of the American people. (Shanahan)With the system of the Electoral College, the people are not electing the president and vice president. The public does not directly vote even those in the college upon. Instead, each state gets one elector for each member in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Thus, the people elect their representatives. Then those representatives pick
For example, even if a third party candidate were to receive 25% of the national vote, unless that candidate was able to salvage a plurality within the states, he/she would be guaranteed very few, if any, electoral votes. Those electors are then expected to vote for the candidate who receives the popular vote from their respective states. (Kimberling)The second way the Electoral College fails in reflecting the popular will has to do with the winner-take-all idea where the candidate who gets the most popular votes from a state gets that state's electoral votes. Though this threat has never been enough to change the outcome of an election, it has been serious enough to warrant serious debate on amending the Constitution to remove this problem. However, because of the number of electoral votes allotted to the states, each Floridian vote ended up equaling one third that of the votes from the less populous states. (Drash) In the event that there is a tie within the Electoral College as was the case in 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the House of Representatives votes for who wins. Firstly, because of number of electors being the number in the House plus the number in the Senate (guaranteeing at 2 extra for every state regardless of population size), those in rural states such as Wyoming and North Dakota are over represented. (Shanahan)With the Electoral College there is always the possibility of a minority president, or one who has not received the majority of the popular vote, being elected. (Kimberling) At this point of the process, 26 votes are needed to win with each state receiving one vote; thus, the popular will is totally ignored. (Kimberling)A final consideration against the Electoral College is that there are two ways in which it may fail to mirror the national popular will. (Kimberling)An out of date institution with flaw upon flaw, the Electoral College needs to be abolished from the American government. For example, in 1988 the combined eligible voters of the seven least populous states equaled roughly 3 million and Florida alone equaled almost 10 million. Thus the Electoral College was highly divided and John Quincy Adams won through a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
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Acceptance Essays
