The U.S. Electoral College
Introduction
Every four years, Americans go to the ballot to choose their next president. It electoral procedure is, however, unique and controversial. In the Electoral College, electors are chosen to represent voters depending on the population of each state. Once the electorate has cast their ballots, counting begins. A candidate with the most votes in a state wins the electoral votes of the state. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the election and become the president-elect of the United States. The system is considered controversial as it is the only democratic nation worldwide where the federal government’s head is elected indirectly. Controversy emerged more especially in 2000 when George W. Bush was declared the winner after garnering 271 electoral votes while losing the popular vote to Democrat candidate Joe Lieberman. The same controversy occurred in 2016 when the republican candidate Donald Trump won the electoral votes but failed to win the popular vote. Various democracies and America’s competitors have criticized America’s democracy as they argue that the country downplays the voice of the majority. This article analyses how the electoral college operates and the various pros and cons of this system.
Description
Article II of the U.S constitution empowers each state to appoint the same number of electors as congressional delegates of that state. The congressional delegation consists of house representatives and two senators. The constitution further directs each state legislature to determine how electors for particular states are chosen. According to state laws, each state and the federal district are then required to select its electors every first Tuesday of November of an election year.
48 states have common laws requiring that the winner of a state’s popular vote receives all the electoral votes of that state. In states like Maine and Nebraska, two electoral votes are assigned in this manner, while the remaining votes are awarded to an individual who wins the popular vote in each congressional district. Washington, D.C being the federal district, has three electoral votes and allocates them to the winner of its single district election. This curbs the weakness of faithless electors who do not adhere to their pledge. The least populous states are entitled to 3 electors, while the most populous such as California, has 55 electors. This gives an average of 613,166 voters per electoral vote. In 2000,
There are a total of 538 electors. Of these, 100 are senators, 435 are state representatives, while the remaining three are from the federal government of Washington D.C. For a presidential candidate to be declared the next president of the United States, they are required to gain at least 270 electoral votes. If they win the popular vote and fail to win the electoral votes, one cannot be declared the winner. The president-elect is then inaugurated on January the 20th together with the vice president.
Pros and cons of the Electoral College
The debate on the controversy of the Electoral College resurfaced in 2o16 when Hillary Clinton won the general election by over 2.8 million but lost the Electoral College votes by 74 votes. Various debates have since arisen and amendments made to it. Some want the Electoral College abolished. Various advantages were established for founding this system.
Pros
First, the Electoral College ensures that all parts of the country are actively involved in selecting the president. Since the popular vote is inconsequential, a presidential candidate must attain at least more than half of the electoral votes, which are evenly distributed across the states. If presidential elections depended majorly on the popular vote, candidates would spend much of their time campaigning in heavily populated regions. Votes cast in sparsely populated regions would not be important as populated cities would overrun them. To secure a win in any election, a presidential candidate needs to secure electoral votes from multiple states, and he, therefore, builds a formidable campaign platform with a nationwide focus. This means that whoever wins the election will be serving the needs of the entire nation. Without this system, minority groups such as Ohio factory workers, Lowa farmers, and small sparsely populated towns would remain marginalized. It is, therefore, an equator to political dominance.
The second advantage of the system is that it was established by the nation’s founding fathers to ensure that only sane individuals with the right intellectual and degree of leadership get to be the president. Using electors as an equalizer instead of the popular vote was thought to safeguard against uneducated or misinformed voters by placing the ultimate decision in the hands of electors who most certainly have the right information necessary to make the best decision. This further prevents the threat of a tyranny of the majority having undue influence on every election. The founders intended to balance the will of the majority with the voices of the minority while at the same time ensuring the right and qualified individual is elected into the highest and most powerful office in the land.
Cons
One of the main disadvantages of the Electoral College voiced out by many citizens is that it ignores the will of the people. There are over 300 million people in the United States. However, only 538 people have the power to decide who will be the next president. For instance, in 2000, Republican nominee George W. Bush became the country’s 43rd president despite losing the popular vote. The same happened when Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.7 million votes but still won the Electoral College by 74 votes and was declared the winner. Trump was sworn in to serve all Americans as president despite having the support of fewer Americans than his opponent. This undermines the supremacy of citizens.
The second disadvantage of the system is that it gives more power to traditional swing states to decide on the outcome of presidential elections. The two main political parties, republican and democratic parties, count on winning electoral votes in certain states. For instance, Indiana is traditionally a Republican state while California is majorly Democratic. Presidential candidates, therefore, pay more attention to a limited number of states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan that swing from one party to another each election year. The November 2016 PBS NewsHour depicted that Trump and Clinton spend 90% of their campaign time in swing states.
Reforms
If the Electoral College was to be improved, I would suggest that the electoral votes in swing states be awarded to a presidential candidate who wins the majority vote. To achieve this, I would gazette swing states and ensure that they amend their electoral laws so that the winner of popular votes is automatically given all the electoral votes of that state. This will ensure that candidates do not only focus on swing states and that not only a few handfuls of states decide on who becomes president. Furthermore, with this system, the element of the popular vote counts. Since an individual with more votes is given electoral votes of a neutral state, the Electoral College will take into account the voice of the majority.