The History Of The Electoral College Politics Essay

The History Of The electoral College Politics EssayThe electoral College is a body of cullors chosen by the political parties in each carry to choose the President of the U.S .The electoral College was created because the Framers were wary of giving the raft the causation to directly elect the President. They felt the good deal were not educated plenteous to elect the national leader. The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College as a compromise amid preference of the President by a take in Congress and preference of the President by a universal choose. The presidential alternative became a collection of state elections, which would get out in a national scene. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, which atomic number 18 divided up between the states according the number of representatives in the House, plus 2 votes for each of the Senate members. The political parties pick electors for each state. A volume of 270 electoral votes is required to ele ct the President. Article Two of the Constitution states, Each state sh all appoint, in such(prenominal) manner as the Legislature thereof may direct a number of electors, check to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the States may be entitle in the Congress. (U.S. Constitution,art.2,sec. 2.)Although ballots list the names of the presidential basedidates, citizens do not vote for the President directly. People are suffrage for an elector in the college who, in turn, leave vote on the states behalf. These electors votes will decide who the President is, and not necessarily the pop vote. These presidential electors in turn cast electoral votes for the presidential Candidate.The winner take all frame, also known as the plurality voting system, awards all of the Electoral College votes to the winning presidential aspect from each state. In this voting system the single winner is the mortal with the intimately votes, there is no requirement that the winner gain an living majority of votes. The winner will take all the votes and the loser will get none. For example, all 55 of Californias Electoral votes go to the winner of the touristy vote in the state election, even if the margin of victory is only 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.The Electoral College system plays a role in how Presidential Candidates campaign by making the candidates focuses all their attention on acquire electoral votes. Parties focus on the electors because they exact to convince the electors to vote for them not so much as the people themselves The parties also convince state on large states that have more electoral votes than the junior-grade states. Big states with the intimately electoral votes are the key to winning the election so they boil down their power in them.Most commonly, Presidential candidates also heavily concentrate their attention on a handful of closely divided sphere states, or swing states. These states dont have a lot of electoral vot es besides dummy up will decide the out scrape of the race because they do not favor a particular political party or change their preference each election. In these states, campaigning will have the most impact since a small change in popular votes could result in a big win in electoral votes. Consequently, other(a)wise states considered either safe or hopelessly disconnected and are mostly ignored in the campaign. In the elections, small states and swing states are overrepresented in the Electoral College while leaving the rest of the nations voters on the sidelines.The Electoral College hinders tertiary party candidates because the tertiary party is over shadowed by the majority vote, so 3rd parties almost never get electoral votes. master take all minimizes the influence of third parties. However, this can also decline fair representation to positive 3rd parties. For example if a 3rd party gets 25% of the votes in one state those votes does not content because of the w inner take all majority of the Electoral College. The power of a 3rd party is in spoiling an election by taking votes from one of the major parties that is most like it. To avoid this, major parties may take up causes and ideas from the 3rd party to keep them from becoming in addition popular.Although, 62% of people said they would change the electoral college system, over the recent 200 years over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to repossess or eliminate the Electoral College, (Office of the Federal Register, Electoral College oft Asked Questions. Archives) scarce very little has been done to change it. The Electoral College has not been abolished because the small states and swing states would have to turn back up power and be equal to everyone else. The House of Representatives passed an amendment in 1969, backed by President Richard Nixon, to directly elect the president (niemanwatchdog.org Is it time to do away with the tyrannical Electoral-College system ?) solely the amendment was blocked in the Senate, in part by Southern senators who contrary any changes they saw as weakening states rights.The Electoral College system can end up putting in office someone who lost the popular vote, which is contrary to democracy. For example the Presidential election in 2000, George scrubbing won the electoral votes and Al Gore won the popular vote. (Oyez) The fairest rootage is to have a Presidential election solely on a popular vote. This will solve the disconnect of the American people and election process. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not honest opened voters in a handful of swing states and the large states. Almost all Americans think that democracy is oneness Person, One voting, and all votes are reckon equally, but The Electoral College violates that fundamental American principle. Some people do not participate in elections because they know that their vote will not matter in the Presidential electi ons.One Person One right to vote means that each person has an equal amount of representation in government. Government should be for the people, not the electors deciding the fate of the country (Annenberg Classroom). all vote, by everyone, would be relevant and equal in Presidential elections. The election should change from a winner take all system to a proportional system. The winner does not need to reach a majority, just a plurality. The candidates with the most overall percent of votes will win. This will give a stronger chance for 3rd party groups in the elections, by still having their votes count and not be outshined by the two major parties. some other improvement is the use of ranked base voting where voters order the candidates from least(prenominal) preferred to most preferred. To be practical, the top three choices could be chosen. The election is decided by picking everyones top choice and removing the candidate with the least votes. This process is repeated so th at candidate is removed and the top preferences are only counted for each elimination round. This allows a voter to pick the candidate they sine qua non the most for their top choice followed by a slenderly lesser desired candidate. And the third choice could be a main party safety candidate. This allows for a 3rd party candidate to come in and not steal votes away from a similar party. The system has been used in San Francisco since 2004. Its been proposed everywhere from Los Angeles to Modesto, but only the three Alameda County cities have signed on for it. (Williams, Lance California Watch)The Electoral College does not put forward a straightforward process for selecting the President. Instead, it can be extraordinarily mazy and has the potential to undo the peoples will at many points in the tenacious journey from the selection of electors to counting their votes in Congress, (George Edwards). The government should be for the people and the Electoral College is not since i t treats people unequally. Many American people want the Electoral College abolished, but so little has been done to improve the over-the-hill system. It makes the candidates campaign rawly, making them focusing on swing states and forgetting all other states. The winner takes all system over shadows 3rd parties giving them unfair representation in the elections. The US needs to elect Presidents by popular vote it is fair to all people. One Person One Vote should be used to ensure equality in voting. The American people should be able to choose their leader as equals.Work CitedBach, Stanley, and dogshit Maskell . Overview of Electoral College Procedure and the Role of Congress . Library of Congress congressional Research Service. electoralcollegehistory.com, November 17, 2000. Web. 7 Sep 2012. .BUSH v. GORE. Oyez. Oyez, n.d. Web. 7 Sep 2012. . scrubbing v. Gore United States Supreme Court Oral Arguments. American Rhetoric. americanrhetoric, n.d. Web. 7 Sep 2012. .Edwards III, Ge orge C., Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry. Government in America People, Politics and Policy. AP 12. Illinois Pearson Longman, 2006. Print.Edwards III, George C. (2011) (in English). Why the Electoral College is Bad for America (Second edition ed.). New Haven and London Yale University Press. pp. 1, 37, 61, 176-7, 193-4. ISBN 978-0-300-16649-1.. .Electoral College Frequently Asked Questions. Archives The Electoral College. Office of the Federal Register, 9/26/2012. Web. 26 Sep 2012. .. Electoral College (United States). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 18 September 2012 at 1938.. Web. 26 Sep 2012. Fobes, Richard. VoteFair Ranking. votefair.org. N.p., 13 2012. Web. 13 Dec 2012. .Kimberling, William C.. The Electoral College . The Electoral College . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Sep 2012. .. Is it time to do away with the undemocratic Electoral-College system?. http//niemanwatchdog.org. N.p., 13 2012. Web. 13 Dec 2012. .Leip, David The Pros and Con s of the Electoral College System. The Electoral College. US Selection Atlas, n.d. Web. 7 Sep 2012. http//uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_procon.phpNeale, Thomas H. . The Electoral College How it Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections . Library of Congress congressional Research Service . electoralcollegehistory.com, July 21, 1999 . Web. .. . One Person, One Vote. Annenberg Classroom. Annenberg Classroom, 02 2001. Web. 13 Dec 2012. .One Person, One Vote. One Person, One Vote. Ciros Books, Inc., 2008. Web. 26 Sep 2012. .. Plurality voting system. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2 September 2012 at 2136.. Web. 26 Sep 2012.U.S. Constitution,art.2,sec. 2.Williams, Lance. Ranked-choice voting complicates elections. californiawatch.org. California Watch, 13 2012. Web. 13 Dec 2012. .