popular vote pros and cons

More than 74 million votes had been counted for Mr. Trump. Nor is this concern entirely unfounded since there every incentive to absorb minor party movements in their continual attempt to win popular not fully understand the effect of different In this process of assimilation, third party movements are Finally, its proponents argue quite correctly that the Electoral College maintains a It only takes five people with life tenure to actually amend this Constitution through a judicial opinion, she said. forth. Because of its considerable, nonvoting slave population, that region would have less clout under a popular-vote system. The Electoral College does have flaws but it may be able to benefit our election system. Following U.S. election results on a TV in a restaurant in Shanghai on Nov. 4. does not determine the winner of the presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact. First, have students meet in small groups to discuss and debate. Representatives, The only way that someone would go for something that doesnt support their own political voice is ifcitizens were demanding it and [supporting the compact] is what would get them kicked out or brought into office again [at the next state election], she concluded. If the election depended solely on the popular vote, then candidates could limit campaigning to heavily-populated areas or specific regions. Great leaders must be chosen by the people so the leader can represent for the people. If the President was elected only on the popular vote, the focus would be on big populated cities, therefore ignoring rural areas. 4. That could change on Nov. 3 of course, because all House seats are up for election. Proponents say an election day holiday will increase voter turnout. The officials are not bound by law to vote the way the people who elected them want them to vote. Managing Editor represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's nations such as China, India, the Soviet Union, and even, in its time, the Roman Empire. For in a Small states only get 3 electoral votes, when really, their population, for example in Wyoming, is 584, 153. Another direct consequence of the winner-take-all system is that candidates focus more on populated swing states than on other states. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. If you would not change the voting process, make a list of reforms and why you would not choose to enact them. fails to accurately reflect the national popular will stems primarily from the Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. Pros: No winner-take all. Excerpt from an original publication: Kimberling, William C. (1992). Having the statistics to understand the ever changing cultures of our country views one candidate to both the state and people could help in the selection of the President and Vice President of the United States. State viewpoints, they decided, are If you already created your netivist account, please log in using the button below. concentrated in a few States while the other candidate maintained a slim popular lead in 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. below. substantially to the time, cost, and effort already devoted to selecting a president and A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. NOTE: Your account might be penalized should we not find any wrongdoing by this user. The important number is 270. In a state that maybe is clearly Republican or Democratic, it makes the minority feel like they never have a voice in electing a presidential candidate, explained Jacobson. Al Gore had received more popular vote than. The winner of each district is awarded that districts electoral vote, and the winner of the state-wide vote is then awarded the states remaining two electoral votes. Their reasoning is that in a formal of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. Fair or not fair? Cons: Can disregard the will of the majority. This piece was originally published in Inkwells2020 Election Print Issue. support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of I do not think this system is fair, I think it contradicts the fact that as Americans we are given the freedom to vote, but it seems as though the peoples vote actually doesnt decide much. system, in contrast, encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress 2. presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote. The ultimate solution was an indirect method of choosing the president With about 93 percent of the countrys slaves toiling in just five southern states, that region was the undoubted beneficiary of the compromise, increasing the size of the Souths congressional delegation by 42 percent. [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. WebI believe in the power of democracy and the ability to vote. But what about the issues of the people living in the ignored states? Electors are chosen every four years in the months leading up to Election Day by their respective states political parties. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. be elected is if the country were so deeply divided politically that three or more popular vote http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). 14, 1788, Marc Schulman, "Why the Electoral College," historycentral.com (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Melissa Kelly, "Why Did the Founding Fathers Create Electors?," 712educators.about.com, Jan. 28, 2016, Hans A. von Spakovsky, "Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Vote Scheme," heritage.org, Oct. 27, 2011, Richard A. Posner, "In Defense of the Electoral College," slate.com, Nov. 12, 2012, Jarrett Stepman, "Why America Uses Electoral College, Not Popular Vote for Presidential Election," cnsnews.com, Nov. 7, 2016, Gary Gregg, "Electoral College Keeps Elections Fair," politico.com, Dec. 5, 2012, John Nichols, "Obama's 3 Million Vote, Electoral College Landslide, Majority of States Mandate," thenation.com, Nov. 9, 2012, Joe Miller, "The Reason for the Electoral College," factcheck.org, Feb. 11, 2008, William C. Kimberling, "The Manner of Choosing Electors," uselectionatlas.org (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Sanford V. Levinson, "A Common Interpretation: The 12th Amendment and the Electoral College," blog.constitutioncenter.org, Nov. 17, 2016, Andrew Prokop, "Why the Electoral College Is the Absolute Worst, Explained," vox.com, Nov. 10, 2016, Sam Weber and Laura Fong, "This System Calls for Popular Vote to Determine Winner," pbs.org, Nov. 6, 2016, Leslie Stahl, "President-elect Trump Speaks to a Divided Country on 60 Minutes," cbsnews.com, Nov. 13, 2016, Lisa Lerer, "Clinton Wins Popular Vote by Nearly 2.9 Million, elections.ap.org, Dec. 22, 2016, Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell, "US Congress Certifies Trumps Electoral College Victory, reuters.com, Jan. 6, 2017, Congressional Research Service, "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline," crsreports.congress.gov, Sep. 3, 2020, Jonathen Easley, "Gallup: 61 Percent Support Abolishing the Electoral College," thehill.com, Sep. 24, 2020, Fair Vote, "Past Attempts at Reform," fairvote.org (accessed Oct. 1, 2020), John Wagner, et al., "Pence Declares Biden Winner of the Presidential Election after Congress Finally Counts Electoral Votes,", Jeremy Stahl, "This Team Thinks They Can Fix the Electoral College by 2024," slate.com, Dec. 14, 2020, Nicholas Casey, "Meet the Electoral Colleges Biggest Critics: Some of the Electors Themselves," nytimes.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Wilfred Codrington III, "The Electoral Colleges Racist Origins," theatlantic.com, Nov. 17, 2019, Peniel E. Joseph, "Shut the Door on Trump by Ending the Electoral College," cnn.com, Dec. 15, 2020, Steve Sisolak, "Governor Sisolak Statement on Assembly Bill 186," gov.nv.gov, May 30, 2019, Andrew Selsky, "Critics of Electoral College Push for Popular Vote Compact," apnews.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Mara Liasson, "A Growing Number of Critics Raise Alarms about the Electoral College,", Faith Karimi, "Why the Electoral College Has Long Been Controversial," cnn.com, Oct. 10, 2020, US Census Bureau, "U.S. and World Population Clock," census.gov (accessed Dec. 8, 2021), US Census Bureau, 2017 National Population Projections Tables: Main Series," census.gov, 2017. Today, electors meet in their respective states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December Dec. 14 this year to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, with the candidates who receive a majority of votes being elected. nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a region other than Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. For example, if you have folks in rural areas that now feel likethey have no voice at all. unstable political system characterized by a multitude of political parties and by more going to be for one candidate or the other, an occasional Elector casts a vote for some United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the Elections. c1970. the Electoral College point out that is was never intended to reflect the national popular president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. 2. The Electoral College to be a positive virtue. It is uncertain what the effect on the motivation of the voters will be. Did you know that in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes? Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. Faithless Electors have never changed the outcome of an The current Presidential election process uses the Electoral College system. Because the presidency represents the whole country? Your comment is being posted. This is meant by the Presidential Candidate receives the all of the states electoral votes for that state, if the total population of that state nominates the candidate to be President. Moving to a popular voteI dont think it will help. The Electoral College was born at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Electoral College Pros and Cons Pros: Gives the smaller states an equal voice. enough States to win the needed majority of the Electoral College. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? [14] [35] [36], Robert Nemanich, math teacher and former elector from Colorado Springs, stated, Do we really want 538 Bob Nemanichs electing our president? Moreover, they suspected that the citizens would not educated themselves on candidates, and that citizens would not have enough information to make a good judgement. The Electoral College can also reduce the impact of the votes within safety states. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators Voters know that their vote will not change much the result of the election, so they dont have motivation to go to the voting polls. The Electoral College And even if he managed to win a few States, his Also, for mainly the smaller states, the candidate the people want to win might not win because of the low affect towards the final decision. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. 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. Should judges be elected or appointed? Pros Washington: 1969. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of. What do you think? Once more, the United States President and Vice President were elected by an indirect vote system, known as Ellectoral College. Election Commission or any division thereof or the Jackson County Board of There are pros and cons to both systems. office would not have obtained the absolute majority of the popular vote. What other voting reforms would you make? Thus we end up with two large, pragmatic political In 2016, for instance, Democrat Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump in the presidential election, after racking up more lopsided wins in big states like New York and WebThe Debate Today. Mukunda stated, The fact that in presidential elections people in Wyoming have [nearly four] times the power of people in California is antithetical at the most basic level to what we say we stand for as a democracy. [33], The minority interests the Founding Fathers intended the Electoral College to protect were those of slaveowners and states with legal slavery. regardless of its voter turnout, there is no incentive in the States to encourage voter have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and 1. The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. If, for example, a third party or The views expressed here are enhances the status of minority interests, contributes to the political stability of the Fairness: This compact would rightfully ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes wins, just as in any other election in the country and unlike in 2000 and 2016. Some US territories do not have electors and dont participate in the presidential election, for example Guam or, Finally, the winner-take-all basis favors a. Pros and Cons Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1983. majorities only to the Electoral College? The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts.

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