The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

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Even though the United States is supposed to be a democracy, the people do not actually elect the president directly. Instead, a group of electors from each state vote for the president through a process known as the electoral college. Through this system, a group of state-elected officials from each state, not the people, decide who wins the presidency. The number of electors a state has is relative to its population size. For example, a state with a smaller population receives less votes than a state with a greater population. However, this is not entirely the case. Smaller states are actually given more electors than they otherwise should have, and larger states are short a few electors. If a candidate wins the majority of the citizens’ …show more content…

It operates on an “all-or-nothing” or “winner-take-all” system. This means that if a candidate wins in a state, they receive all of its electoral votes. As a result of this, the voters who voted for the other candidate are ignored. “The winner-takes-all system skews the results and also makes the voting minority of each state under-represented” (“Problems with US Elections: Winner-takes-all Electoral System”). The gap of the win does not matter, so even if a person wins 51% of that state’s votes, they will still get all of that state’s electoral votes even though almost half of the state voted against them. “There is a huge payday if you win 51%+ of the vote, and no benefit if you don’t” (“Problems with US Elections: Winner-takes-all Electoral System”). Candidates who do not win in a state get nothing if they do not manage to win the majority. By ignoring most of the population’s votes, the electoral college fails to accurately represent the will of the nation as a whole. By doing this, the electoral college further discourages people from voting. The over-complicated process makes voters feel as if their votes do not actually matter or make a difference. In a survey conducted by Lydia Saad, “Sixty-three percent would abolish this unique, but sometimes controversial, mechanism for electing presidents that was devised by the framers of the Constitution”. Furthermore, “between 61% and 66% of all major party groups saying they would vote to do away with the Electoral College if they could” (Saad). Most Americans as well as politicians are ready to get rid of the extremely flawed electoral

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