The State Of The Electoral College

Many people have questioned why the founding fathers implemented the use of the electoral college process and a good assumption would be that the they were quite intentional in rejecting a direct election process mindset and we also have to take into account that as they were crafting our entire constitution. They established the Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. They were not trying to create a pure democracy, but had the difficult issue of having to incorporate

“I’m sorry we ever invented the electoral college” Al Gore. Many think the electoral college is a great thing, others? Not so much. If you’re unaware of what the electoral college is, it’s a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens. There’s pros and cons of the electoral college, and by the end of this essay you may decide if you’re for or against it.

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.

Our Founding Fathers had great concern over the topic of the government obtaining too much power over the people and with that in mind they constructed a system of indirect election where citizens would choose an elector. That system would distant the citizens from directly electing the president, avoiding any possibility to create tyranny. Their fears were about whether citizens could exercise the best judgement and their capability to fully understand and make good choices in voting. They did not want a group to go off in the wrong direction and take control over others. They thought that a chosen group of more educated and elite individuals elected by the people would be able to better interpret the situation and exercise better judgement. In a way, they were trying to safeguard democracy by instituting the Electoral College as the method to elect our presidents.

When the Framers began working on the Constitution, they wanted to create a government which could survive centuries with minimal changes. One of the most important ideas the Framers included in the Constitution was the Electoral College. They believed it to be very important because it would prevent the direct election of a president. As Hamilton explained, “the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station”(Federalist 68). This means that the Framers did not trust the people of the U.S. to make smart decisions on their own and wanted a way to control the voting. This was because the Framers feared that a charismatic leader could persuade a population of his views and end up creating a dictatorship. By using the Electoral College, the Framers believed that it would insure that a qualified person would take office. Another reason that the Framers created the Electoral College was to give smaller states more power. The Framers made it so that each state would have the same number of electoral votes as members in congress. This satisfied the smaller states. It meant that each person's’ vote in smaller states counted for more than those who lived in larger states. Overall, the Electoral college was put into place as a safety net for

Established in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, the Electoral College is a system utilized in The United States of America to select the President and Vice President. This process was established by the Founding Fathers in 1787, when the Constitution was written. The original purpose of the electoral system was to ensure that those who select the leaders of this nation were the most knowledgeable and informed people that America had to offer. The electors - the elected officials that make up the Electoral College - are elected to office through a general election wherein the entire national population has the right to vote. The President of the United States, however, is actually elected to office by the Electoral College only, regardless of the popular vote of the citizens in general. Thus, the Presidential election is the only federal election in our nation where the vote of the citizenry does not directly determine the victor. Despite the fact that this electoral system has been in place and operational for over two hundred years, the Electoral College is looked upon by some as an honorable system, whereas others view it as faulty. The Electoral College is not fair and equitable because it is based on population, it is not trusted by the people, and it is unjust to the wishes of the citizens.

In 1787, the framers of the constitution assembled and decided how the new nation would elect its president. It took the framers little less than a month to accomplish this task. During that month they considered various methods ranging from direct election of the president, to selection by legislators, to selection by electors. Finally, they settled on selection by electors, most commonly known as Electoral College. There were various reasons why Electoral College ultimately won out. We will explore some of the reason later in this essay. I believe that the reasons which were legitimate at the time are no longer valid and the time has come for us to replace the Electoral College with a system

In the year 1787 the founding fathers met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss and revise the Articles of Confederation. During the revision, Framers were faced with many issues including the process of electing a president. Some agreed that the president should be elected by a direct vote of the people, while others thought that the people were not capable enough of electing the highest position in the American Government. This compromise is known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a very poor system for present day America because it cheats larger states out of their fair representation, and also fails to reflect the majority's will. Many people argue

If we were listening in on the conversation going on at the table we would be able to see that there were three predominant theories on how the president should be elected. The first idea was for Congress to choose the president by voting on the candidates they saw fit. (Hendricks) The main problem with this idea was the tilt of power towards the legislative branch. If the legislative branch was given this express power of ushering in the executive not only would it tilt the balance of power towards the legislative but it would also open the door wide to corruption and bargaining. The second option on the table was the election of the president of the United States by the state legislatures (much like the Senators were first elected). (Hendricks) The biggest fear behind this idea was the possibility of an executive that was too intertwined with the state, an executive who slowly worked with the state and helped them erode the power of the central government. This would undermine the whole idea of the republic that the founding fathers were trying to build and thus was an idea that was quickly disregarded. The third and final proposal was the direct election of the president by the people, or now more famously known as the popular or national vote. (Smith) The biggest problem behind this proposition is the likeliness of the electorate to vote for a “favorite son” or a figure that they identify with personally rather than politically and

Elbridge Gerry, a Father of the Constitution, put it this way, “A popular election in this case is radically vicious. The ignorance of the people would put it in the power of some one set of men dispersed through the Union, and acting in concert, to delude them into any appointment.” This means that the People would elect a man who promised great things, but in reality was playing on their wants just to win the election. They would increasingly become more tyrannical over time and each election till one day the United States might have another King George III to deal with. So, to keep from letting this happen the Founding Fathers found a better way to elect the President, the Electoral College. They saw the electoral college as a way of preserving the freedom of the United States and keep the people content and well represented (Longley). The young, naïve new voters do not look below the surface to see what the candidate is selling. They see a big picture and vote based on that, but what they do not realize is that the candidates want that and use that. Bernie Sanders was saying how if he won the election he would work towards getting free college. The only problem with free college is that nothing is actually free. Someone has to pay for the bills, books,

As with many processes in the government the Electoral College has continued to evolve. Therefore, the Electoral College operates differently today than in the past. Originally, State Legislators chose the electors this has to be amended due the introduction of politically parties in 1836. (Presidential Elections, 1789-1996, 1997). Due to the “Time, Place and Manner Clause” states are allowed to chose the method in which electors are chosen, so due to this before 1836 some states used Winner-takes-all and some didn’t. (Peacock, 2017). Instead of the vice president winning in conjunction with the president, the vice president was chosen whichever candidate got the second most electoral votes. This was updated also because of political parties

Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, our founding fathers had debated on which route to take when electing our President. In 1787, the “Committee of Eleven” had come to a compromise, and created the Electoral College, which is a group of individuals elected by the people to cast votes for the presidency. The Electoral College is described as “a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote” (Price). The reason behind the Electoral College was to preserve “the sense of the people,” while ensuring that our president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under

Election is defined as a democratic process of choosing a leader. It is a method of choosing a leader that is widely applied not only in selecting national leaders but by which tend to this method to reflect the democratic belief in excising their right to have a voice in choosing a leader of interest. The chosen leader is said to be the one who garners the highest number of votes.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse.” The electoral college is based on representatives who do not accurately mirror the popular votes of the United States citizens. However, the closest a legal voter can get to electing a president is through choosing which party they want their list of electoral representatives to vote for within the whole state. The electoral college was created at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Alexander Hamilton’s view of human nature, reflected his experience in the American Revolutionary war in 1775, considering citizens as selfish and unable to contribute unbiased for the good of the country. Hamilton and the Federalists did not want to give great power to the common people, leading to the Electoral College to be in charge to elect the nation’s leader, the president. The question to keep the electoral college or reverse its effects in the future of voting in the United States is controversy on both spectrums, providing evidence that both stands are sustainable sides. The electoral college should be abolished because it contradicts the popular vote of the United States citizens, the statistic date proves unfair number of representatives related to the amount of citizens one representative represents, and the decisions made are not diverse.

When the founders were proposing ideas for the Constitution they needed to determine how to choose the President. Some of these ideas involved some of the founders wanting the President to be chosen by Congress, chosen by the states through the state legislatures or state governors, chosen by the citizens, and chosen by the electors which also raised the question of who would choose the electors. All of these ideas developed into the Committee of Eleven on Postponed Matters who created the Electoral College as a compromise.