The Importance Of The Electoral College

First off, what is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is the process put in place by our Founding Fathers in which America votes for its President and Vice President every four years. The Electoral College was put in place to help prevent abuse of power and corruption by having a separation of government. The Electoral College is made up of representatives from each state based on how many Senate and House of Representative delegates that state has. These numbers range from 3 to 54 with the total number of electors being 538. This system has taken much scrutiny over time. According to Lenz and Holman, “The Electoral College may be the least-known and most misunderstood government institution in the American political system.”

Though our founding fathers created the Electoral College over 200 years ago, it has been changed with time to accommodate modern needs and is still an important and necessary part of our electoral system. The Electoral College ensures political stability in our nation by encouraging the two-party system and also protects the interests of minorities. Furthermore, the Electoral College helps maintain a united country by requiring widespread popular support of a candidate in order for him or her to become president.

The Electoral College, unique to the United States, is where presidential electors from each state meet up after the popular election and cast ballots for the president and vice president (40). The Electoral College is essentially a compromise for the presidential election between the popular vote and the vote by congress. The United States election works through indirect elections; Americans go to the polls and voters will chose among slates of electors who are selected by the states party leadership. In the majority of states, the party candidate who obtains the popular vote will win all electoral college votes for that state, this is often called the “winner-take all” system. Electors in the Electoral College is comprised of 538 electors

Every year on the fourth of November an election is taken place to select the next president of the United States. Just recently, in the 2016 election, Hilary Clinton won the popular vote and Donald Trump won the electoral vote, in which he was elected president. This made many Americans question if the electoral college system is outdated and unfair and if the direct popular vote is a more effective way of electing the president. This has happened twice where the candidate who has the popular vote did not win the presidency. The problem that has arisen is that the rules of the presidential election need to be replaced so that it will reflect the true opinion of the U.S. citizens. According to Edwards III, under the constitution, the

In presidential elections, citizens do not actually vote for the candidate of their choosing, instead citizens are voting for electors known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College chooses a President, and Vice President. The Constitution gives each state a number of electors that equals the number of House of Representatives and Senate, which totals five hundred and thirty eight and also includes three electors for the District of Columbia. Each state receives a certain number of electors based on population size. The results in a state determine which electors are chosen. All electoral votes in a state go to the candidate that gets the most votes, and after state elections appointed officials certify the popular vote of each state. Two hundred and seventy votes are needed to elect a President; the candidate with the majority of the votes becomes the president.

When the Constitutional Convention gathered in 1784 they had the difficult task of determining how our government should be assembled and what systems we should use to elect them. They quickly decided congress should have the powers to pass laws and the people should elect these people to ensure they are following the will of the people. But who should elect the president?

The Electoral College is just an indirect election of the President of The U.S. The Author of the Constitution created it this way so it's calm and easy for people to choose. in each state the voters actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These electors, vote for the presidential candidate. Each state is apportioned a number of electors equal to the number of their Congressional delegation.

The Electoral College is made up of 538 Electors. This number is an addition of 435 Representatives, 100 Senators and 3 District of Columbia electors. Every four years, the election is reborn, and citizens across the nation begin voting for their desired candidate. In all but two states, Nebraska and Maine, the majority votes win that states electoral vote. As for those two states, the votes are determined by proportional representation. The top voter in those two states receives two votes for their Senators. The rest of the votes are allocated by congressional district. What does this do? This gives the candidates an opportunity to gain votes from these to states instead of the winner-take-all that happens in the other 48 states. Finally, the selection of the electoral college differs from state to state. The majority of Electors are nominated by political parties at their conventions. Other times, the Party’s central committee casts a vote. These electors are either state elected officials, party leaders, or people with a strong affiliation with presidential candidates (What Is the Electoral College? How It Works and Why It Matters,

“The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors who cast votes to decide the President and Vice-President of the United States” (What is the Electoral College, 2012). In order for a candidate to win they must get the majority of the electoral votes which is 270. How does the Electoral College work? Every four years when people go to the polls to vote for the new president and the vice president of the United States, in all but two states (Nebraska, and

538 is the sum of the nation’s 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia.

George Bush’s eventual triumph exposed everything: the pain of winner-takes all allocation of electors in 48 of the 50 states; the hazards of the electoral college, where if three electors with cold feet had votes for Al Gore instead of Bush then he would have won the presidency, Florida recount be damn; but, above all, the injustice of a system wherein the popular vote winner can lose.” There have been an alarming number of instances where the Electoral College set back the country due to the problems it has caused, and will continue to cause if it’s not replaced.

The American Electoral College is the most confusing part of the American government. In addition, Kenneth Davis, author of Don’t Know Much About History, noted, “Grown men turn weak and stammer when asked who makes up the Electoral College.” However, there will be an effort to clear this enigma up for those who “turn weak and stammer” (2011, p. 653). America’s election system is important because their citizens need to know what they are doing on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Electoral College has an interesting structure, procedure, and history, while also serving America well.

The 2000 presidential election was a major eye opener for many people. As it appeared to also be the dismay of many, the candidate who won the most popular votes nationwide actually lost the contest. In the election's risen moment, popular attention centered around the Electoral College and its role in the presidential election. Under the U.S. Constitution, the people did not necessarily direct vote for the President in a nationwide election; rather, the people in each state would vote for electors from that state, who in turn would cast the constitutionally decisive votes for President and Vice President. Moreover, not only is the people's influence indirect, the Electoral College's voting pattern does not necessarily track the national popular

What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is a system that our Founding Fathers established in the Constitution in which representatives from the 50 states elect the President of the United States. The system begins with the people electing representatives to represent them, and then the representatives meet so they can vote for the next President and Vice President. The votes from each representative are then counted by Congress and are able to elect the candidate that has the most votes. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (2013), “The Electoral College consists of 538 electors…270 electoral votes is required to elect the President.” Every state has an

What is the electoral college you may ask. According to Oxford dictionary, the electoral college is; “(in the US) a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.” You may then ask, “but don 't i vote for the election of the president and vice president? The electoral college is a group of chosen electors that vote for whom they see fit as being our next president and vice president. Their votes are then counted by Congress. Each state has a certain number of electors. For example california has 55 while alaska has 3. In all, it is made up of 538 electors. How they’re chosen is political parties nominate electors at their state conventions. The electors are usually state-elected officials, party leaders, or people with a strong affiliation with the Presidential candidates. The state will then need a majority of 270 votes to elect the