Electoral College
When the constitution of United States was framed there were discussions on various methods of selecting the President and the method of a direct popular vote was rejected. The reasons for rejection were the poor state of communications and the large distances in between the states. This was felt to make the voters really be familiar with the candidates from their own states and this might lead to the victory of a large number of candidates from different states, and thus there may not be any candidate dominating the total election. Another possibility was of the larger states dominating the presidential election.
Instead the oman method of selecting a College of Electors was chosen. This gave every states representation in the college through a number of people proportionate to its seats in the Congress, or two Senators and a quantum of representatives based on the population. (The American Electoral College)…...
mlaReferences
The American Electoral College. 11 November 2003. Retrieved at http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/democracy/elections/elect_college.html
How the Electoral College Works. From the Federal Election Commission. Dec 2000. Retrieved at http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/democracy/elections/elect_college/elect_college_more_info.html
Bach, Stanley; Maskell, Jack. Overview of Electoral College Procedure and the Role of Congress. Congressional Research Service Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540. November 17, 2000. Retrieved at http://www.house.gov/cha/electoralcollege/electoralcollege.html
Grigg, William Norman. Save the Electoral College! Vol. 17, No. 1
The Electoral College could easily lead to the election of a President that does not have the popular support of the entire nation (Amar pp). Moreover, many believe that the clauses of the U.S. Constitution that provide for the electoral system should be removed before the country elects a candidate despite the fact that another candidate received more votes (Amar pp). Today, technology allows for an informed national electorate as well as efficient recounts, thus direct national election would be possible, and Federalism is not a sufficient basis for maintaining an out-dated system of voting (Amar pp). The scheme of presidential selection set up by Article II and refined by the 12th Amendment was a brilliant eighteenth century invention that makes no sense today (Amar pp).
orks Cited
Amar, Akhil Reed. "A constitutional accident waiting to happen."
Constitutional Commentary. June 22, 1995. Retrieved September 14, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library eb site.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/case/3pt/electoral.html#system
Hartke, Jason.…...
mlaWorks Cited
Amar, Akhil Reed. "A constitutional accident waiting to happen."
Constitutional Commentary. June 22, 1995. Retrieved September 14, 2005 from HighBeam Research Library Web site.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/case/3pt/electoral.html#system
Hartke, Jason. "The electoral college and the framers' distrust of democracy." White
Electoral College
The current function of the Electoral College is that each state has a set number of votes for the President, based on the population of that state. The candidate with the most votes in that state would receive all of that state's Electoral College votes. The system has come under fire from critics would point out the flaws in this system. For example, it does not differentiate between a landslide victory and a squeaker, and the Electoral College encourages politicians to only compete in battleground states, ignoring the needs of other states entirely. These concerns are justified, in that a President can be elected despite the other candidate having more votes. This does not sound like a perfectly-functioning democratic system. Critics of the Electoral College have proposed instead that the national popular vote be the method used to determine the Presidency.
As an alternative to the Electoral College, the national…...
mlaReferenced:
Gregg, Gary L. "Unpopular vote: enemies of the Electoral College aim to scrap the Founders' design." The American Conservative 10.12 (2011)
Underhill, Wendy. "Changing up the electoral college?" State Legislatures 38.1 (2012)
Electoral College: Should the U.S. Push for Reform or Elimination?
When citizens of the United States vote in a presidential election, many believe that they are taking part in a direct election of the president (Sutin 2003). However, because of the existence of the electoral college, established in the U.S. Constitution, this is not really true.
The electoral college is a set group of "electors" who are nominated by political activists and party members in America, 2003). When it is time for the presidential election, these electors, dedicated to one or another candidate, are popularly elected. A few months after the presidential vote, the electors meet in their state capitals and vote for president and vice president. To be elected, a president must obtain 270 electoral votes.
In recent years, the electors have developed a habit of never casting their ballots against the winner of the popular vote (Sutin, 2003). Today, the electoral…...
mlaBibliography
Grigg, W. (January 1, 2001). Save the Electoral College! The New American, Vol. 17, No. 1.
Ross, David. (2001). The Electoral College: Abolish It, Reform It, or Leave It Alone?
Schwarz, F. (March, 2001). How It Got that Way and Why We're Stuck With It. American Heritage.
Sutin, T. (2003). The Electoral College. Appalachian School of Law. JURIST: The Legal Education Network.
Supporters of the current system claim it allows small states and small town America to have a say in the election. The candidates go to every corner of the battleground states and many people get the opportunity to meet and question them. Many feel that is a major benefit of the Electoral College. Another benefit many see is that it gives the winning candidate the majority of the vote. In the 1992 election Bill Clinton only received around 42% of the vote. However, due to the influence of oss Perot he still won a convincing majority in the Electoral College. There is some benefit to winning a majority: the perception of 2/3 of the country not electing the president might be detrimental. Furthermore, it avoids the possibility of a nationwide recount. One can only imagine the result if the debacle in Florida in 2000 was repeated on a national…...
mlaReferences
Mak, T. (2011, November 24). Poll: End the electoral college. Politico. Retrieved March 11, 2012, from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66681.html
This is just as important as having a president who is equally representative of the interests of each state. The Founding Fathers succeeded admirably in the area of state-based election of the president, but did they succeed in also ensuring we have a democratically elected president? Are public presidential elections really shams, leaving us with a president who is essentially appointed by political party favorites, or does he represent the American people as well as the states? If he does not represent the American people, should the Electoral College be changed, or abolished entirely, or should it be kept as it is, with the assumption that a president that is representative of the interests of the states is more beneficial to this nation and appropriate to the office than one who is truly democratically elected?
To answer these questions, it is first necessary to examine the results of the presidential…...
mlaReferences
Barnett, Arnold. 1990. "Selecting the Nation's CEO: A Risk Assessment of the Electoral College." Journal of Managerial Issues 2(4): 357-370.
Fon, Vincy. 2004. "Electoral College Alternatives and U.S. Presidential Elections." Supreme Court Economic Review 12(1): 41-73.
Pomper, Gerald M. 1990. "Party Organization & Electoral Success." Polity 23(2): 187-206.
Sterling, Carlton W. 1981. "Electoral College Misrepresentations: A Geometric Analysis." Polity 13(3): 425-449.
Electoal College System
A Necessay Pat of Elections
The eason fo the Electoal College is so that lage states (in tems of population) ae not given an unfai advantage ove smalle states. Fo example if a lage state with a lage population votes fo one pesident, that state still is only able to contibute a set numbe of electoal votes to that pesident; this is meant as a potection of othe states, who may not have as many votes but still have a ight to a voice in the election pocess. The thinking is that a state with a lage population cannot sway the vote inodinately in the diection that it chooses. This is contovesial among those who view the county as a whole and not as a union of individual states.
The Electoal College is moe of a states' ights issue. Some people, howeve, view the pocess as outmoded and feel that…...
mlareferences and Partisanship. British Journal of Political Science, 43(04), 845-875. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007123412000245
Rotunda, R. (2000). How the Electoral College Works -- And Why It Works Well.Cato Institute. Retrieved 11 May 2016, from http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/how-electoral-college-works-why-it-works-well
Electoral College System
The Presidential Elections of 2000 have once again raised doubts regarding the effectiveness of the electoral college system. A straight accounting of the popular vote showed that Democratic candidate Al Gore had a lead of over 500,000 votes over his opponent, George . Bush. The Supreme Court was thus forced to assume the role of electoral arbiter for Florida's vote count, which resulted in the latter's victory via Electoral College votes.
This paper argues that the scenario described above is just one of the reasons why the Electoral College should be abolished. The United States should instead adopt a popular vote system, where each citizen gets one vote.
The first part of this paper looks at the composition of the Electoral College, and studies what conditions led to this body's creation in the first place. The subsequent discussions then detail why the current political and social climate no longer necessitate…...
mlaWorks Cited
Edwards, George. Why the Electoral College is Bad for America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.
Felsenthal, David and Moshe Hachover. The Measurement of Voting Power. Northampton: Edward Elgar, 1998
Grofman, Bernard and Scott L. Feld. "Thinking About the Political Impacts of the Electoral College." Public Choice (2005) 123:1-18.
Kimberling, William. The Electoral College. U>S. Federal Election Commission, 2004.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE BE ABOLISHED?
The Electoral College system for electing the President was widely examined and often criticized following the November, 2000 election. Two times in recent history we faced the possibility that a Presidential candidate would get most of the popular vote and yet lose in the Electoral College. The Electoral College interferes with the individual voter's opportunity to express a preference for one candidate over another because only the Electoral College votes really count.
e often say we have a democratic government, but in reality, we have a largely federalist government. hile we use direct votes to elect members of congress, we use the Electoral College to choose our highest elected official -- the President. Each state has a certain number of members in the Electoral College, and with rare exceptions, all Electoral College votes for one state go to the candidate who received the majority of votes for…...
mlaWORKS CITED
Author not available. "Election System Need Overhaul?" Los Angeles Business Journal. Nov 13, 2000.
Author not available. "The Electoral College: Don't Drop Out." National Review. Dec 4, 2000.
Glassmann, James. "Reform the Electoral College, Don't Toss It." American Enterprise. March, 2001.
Samples, John. "Lessons of the 2000 Election." USA Today. May, 2001.
Political Science & Electoral College
This is a paper that describes the Electoral College. There are four references used for this paper.
There are a number of components required to elect a President of the United States. It is important to understand the electoral college and the role it plays in the election process.
The electoral college is "the body that elects the presidents and vice-presidents of the United States. Article II, Section1, of the Constitution of the United States provides that each state 'shall appoint' as many presidential electors as the state has members of Congress. Three is the smallest number of electors a state many have, since every states has two senators and at least one member of the House of Representatives (gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/side/elecollg.html)."
Popular ill
The electoral college is an "alloy of popular will. This means popular election of the president through the electoral college makes popular election fairer to the interests of…...
mlaWorks Cited
Glenn, Gary. The electoral college and the development of American democracy. Perspectives on Political Science. (2003): 01 January.
Electoral College. (accessed 07 May 2004).
A gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/side/elecollg.html>).
Elliott, Christopher. The electoral college: a misunderstood institution. PS: Political Science & Politics. (1997): 01 March.
members of the Electoral College are selected by voters; earlier, however, over 50% of states picked electors from within their governments, thereby eliminating the American public's direct participation in presidential elections. The onset of the 19th century witnessed a rapid transformation of this practice, with voting rights granted to an increasingly broader population segment. With continued expansion of the electorate, a number of individuals entitled to vote in the election for Electoral College members also increased, up to its current limit of every eligible adult American citizen (a legal adult means anyone who is 18 years of age or older). Therefore, the tradition voters choosing presidential electors became a preliminary, lasting facet of America's Electoral College structure. Also, though states (theoretically) still enjoy constitutional choosing rights via an alternative mode, this is highly unlikely (Electoral College - Facts & Summary). The Electoral College's existence and duties are, in modern…...
mlaReferences
"Advantages and Disadvantages of Electoral College" -- Occupy Theory."Occupy Theory -- Online magazine about issues related to the Occupy movement.29 Jul 2014. Web. 16 Nov 2015. .
"Electoral College - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com."History Canada -- Videos, TV Schedule & Watch Full Episodes Online. Web. 17 Nov 2015. .
"Has the Electoral College Outlived Its Usefulness? -- IIP Digital."Home -- IIP Digital -- U.S. Department of State.5 Oct 2007. Web. 17 Nov 2015. .
Kimberling."The Electoral College - Pros and Cons."Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Web. 16 Nov 2015. .
Abolish the Electoral College Now!
Definition of the Problem:
The United States has a problem and just kicking it down the road isn’t enough anymore. The Electoral College was established in 1787 during a period in America’s history when the Founding Fathers had few models to draw on when they crafted the presidential election laws.
Since its establishment, the Electoral College has been the formal body that is used to elect the nation’s president and vice president rather than relying on a straight count of the nation-wide popular vote. The operation of the Electoral College is set forth in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution which stipulates that the total of representatives and senators that each state has equals the number of "electors" it sends to the Electoral College (the District of Columbia has three electors in the Electoral College).
This means that when Americans vote in presidential elections, they are not…...
mlaReferences
Althouse, A. (2009, Spring). Electoral College reform: Deja vu. Northwestern University Law Review, 95(3), 993-999.Black, E. (2012, October 14). Ten reasons why the Electoral College should be eliminated. Minneapolis Post. Retrieved from Electoral college facts. (2020). U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Retrieved from https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/ .Pearson, C. (2020, March-April). Winner-take-all ignores the will of too many voters: The Electoral College should follow the popular vote. State Legislature, 46(2), 29-33.Should we elect the president by popular vote? After hundreds of attempts to abolish Electoral College, opponents are promoting a plan to work around It. New York Times Upfront, 140(10), 22.https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2012/10/10-reasons-why-electoral-college-problem/ .
American Democracy
The Electoral College as it currently functions is a way of getting around the "popular vote" -- as Underhill (2012) notes in "Changing Up the Electoral College?" However, Gregg (2011) puts an entirely different spin on the Electoral College by viewing it as "a compromise" between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist agendas that went into forming the Constitution (p. 34). Gregg asserts that the Electoral College allows special representatives to select after a republican process (direct voting) the executive. In other words, it combines popular vote with representative vote. Essentially, the popular vote is limited to states and does not count for the nation as a whole. The individual winner of a state's popular vote is assigned electoral votes -- and while one state may have many more people/voters than another -- these numbers are only represented by the electoral votes when it comes time to choosing the national winner…...
mlaReferences
Gregg, G. (2011). Unpopular Vote. The American Conservative: 33-35.
Underhill, W. (2012). Changing Up the Electoral College? Trends and Transitions: 9.
How the Electoral System Works and Why It Is UndemocraticThe purpose of this paper is four-fold: 1) to describe the voting system in the United States and explain how it works; 2) to compare the American electoral system with the other types of voting systems; 3) to contrast the American electoral system with the other types of systems; and, 4) to provide an opinion as to which type of electoral system is the most democratic. Finally, the paper also provides a summary of the research and significant findings concerning the voting system in the United States in the conclusion.Identify the type of voting system in the United States and thoroughly explain the how it works;The voting system that is used in the United States to elect the president and vice president at present is termed the electoral college, which was created by the Founders as a compromise between having the…...
mlaReferencesBlack’s Law Dictionary. (1999). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.Electoral College. (2023). U.S. National Archives. Retrieved from electoral-college#:~:text=The%20Electoral%20College%20 is%20how,the%20President %20and%20Vice%20President.Electoral College History. (2023). U.S. National Archives. Retrieved from https://www.archives. gov/electoral-college/history#whyec.George, J. (2019, May). Mixed Member Proportional System: An Alternative Electoral System to Indian Democracy. Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 9(2), 126-131.Proportional representation voting systems. (2023). Fair Vote. Retrieved from https://fairvote. org/archives/proportional-representation-voting-systems/.Revesz, R. (2016, November 16). Five presidential nominees who won popular vote but lost the election. The Independent. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ americas/popular-vote-electoral-college-five-presidential-nominees-hillary-clinton-al-gore-a7420971.html.What is the Electoral College? (2023). U.S. National Archives. Retrieved from https://www. archives.gov/electoral-college/about.https://www.archives.gov/
election of George W. ush over Al Gore in 2000, who won the electoral vote in spite of losing the popular vote, rekindled a controversy that has been going on for some time now: has the Electoral College mechanism lived its time?
According to the United States constitution, each state is entitled to choose its electors for president and vice-president as a number equal to the total number of representatives and senators the respective state has. The choosing itself is left to the states, by direct popular vote in each state. If the voting for President is a tie, the Constitution specified that this would be decided upon in the House of Representatives. In the initial way the Electoral College was designed by the founding fathers, the winner of the majority of electoral votes would win the election and become president, while the runner-up would become Vice-President. Of course, it…...
mlaBibliography
1. Rohwer, Luis Fuentes; Charles, Guy-Uriel. THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE, THE RIGHT TO VOTE, AND OUR FEDERALISM: A COMMENT ON A LASTING INSTITUTION. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW. Vol. 29. 2001
2. Polsby, Nelson W.; Wildavsky, Aaron. Presidential Elections Strategies and Structures of American Politics. 10th edition. 2000
3. Ross, Tara. The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy. Legal Memorandum #15. November 2004. From Longley, Lawrence D.; Peirce, Neal R. The Electoral College Primer (1999). On the Internet at http://www.heritage.org/Research/LegalIssues/lm15.cfm
Ross, Tara. The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy. Legal Memorandum #15. November 2004. From Longley, Lawrence D.; Peirce, Neal R. The Electoral College Primer (1999). On the Internet at
1. The impact of social media on the 2020 Presidential Election
2. The role of race and identity politics in the 2020 election
3. The influence of foreign interference in the 2020 election
4. The polarization of American society during the 2020 election
5. The rise of political populism in the 2020 election
6. The role of the Electoral College in the outcome of the 2020 election
7. The role of gender in the 2020 Presidential Election
8. The impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 election
9. The importance of swing states in determining the outcome of the 2020 election
10. The impact of voter turnout and voter suppression....
Topic 1: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Election
Analyze the ways in which the pandemic affected the election campaign, voter turnout, and the overall results.
Discuss the role of technology in facilitating remote campaigning and voter registration during a public health crisis.
Examine the implications of the pandemic for future elections and the challenges it poses to democratic processes.
Topic 2: The Role of Social Media in the Election
Evaluate the impact of social media platforms on the spread of information, voter engagement, and the dissemination of misinformation.
Analyze the effectiveness of social media campaigns by both candidates....
Comprehensive Titles for an Essay on the 2020 Presidential Election
1. The 2020 Presidential Election: A Tale of Two Americas
2. 2020: The Polarization Paradox: The Most Divisive Election in Modern History
3. The Trump-Biden Rivalry: A Battle for the Soul of America in the Time of COVID
4. The Aftermath of 2020: The Enduring Impact of a Polarizing Election
5. Unprecedented Challenges and Surprising Outcomes: The Unconventional Road to the 2020 Presidency
6. From Trump to Biden: A Shift in American Politics and the Rise of the Resistance
7. The Rise of Social Media and the Weaponization of Misinformation in the 2020 Election
8. The Electoral College....
I. Introduction
A. Explanation of the electoral process
B. Thesis statement: The electoral process does not equally represent all voices
II. Lack of representation for marginalized groups
A. Women
1. Historical exclusion from voting rights
2. Underrepresentation in political office
B. People of color
1. Voter suppression tactics
2. Lack of diversity in elected officials
III. Influence of money in politics
A. Wealthy individuals and corporations
1. Ability to fund political campaigns
2. Influence on policy decisions
B. Disadvantage for lower-income individuals
1. Limited resources for campaigning
2. Lack of access to political power
IV. Limitations of the electoral system
A. Winner-take-all system
....
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