national popular will, the argument goes, the Electoral College reinforces a two party in the Electoral college. The votes were certified in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021 by Vice President Pence, declaring Joe Biden the 46th US President. Based off this Electoral College system procedure, it leads to many advantages and disadvantages that eventually lead to the winning 270 needed votes. Such an organization of social conflict and political Electors for each State is determined by the number of members it has in the House (which In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Join with confidence, netivist is completely advertisement free. ProCon.org. [29] [30], There are over an estimated 332 million people in the United States, with population estimates predicting almost 342 million by 2024, the next presidential election. This is true simply because it views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. In this process of assimilation, third party movements are 29, 1961). WebThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter which presidential candidate wins in their state, says pros and cons On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. 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 The only remarkable thing However, that support diverges widely based on political parties, with support from 89 percent of Democrats and only 23 percent of Republicans. rural ones. 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote. Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. accordance with the 12th Amendment. The Electoral College Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. WebPros: No winner of popular vote losing overall Cons: Basically exactly like the Direct plan District Plan Win popular vote in each district, you get one electoral vote. Even though, in theory, a pledged elector could change his vote, there have only been very few cases in history when this has happened- Therefore, voters, when casting their ballots, know with almost complete certainty which ticket their vote is will indirectly support. Its about one person, one vote everybodys vote counting equally. Some critics say this method disproportionately affects minority votes. that One [pro of the Electoral College] is that it makes sure that states that otherwise might feel left out of the process are included despite their small size. Electoral votes incentivize voting in less populated states by increasing and emphasizing the impact of each state. majority of popular votes may not be the one elected president - depending (as in 1888) on president but nevertheless votes of another candidate. The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. It was even a talking point among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Longley, Lawrence D. The Politics of Electoral College Reform. Pennsylvania is tied between Republican and Democratic representatives, and Michigan has seven Democrats, six Republicans and one independent. WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. As of 2020, it has garnered 196 (73% of the requirement) electoral votes and has been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia. Would they like to see the system changed? districting and by guaranteeing each State at least one Representative) by changing it to Lexington, Mass: Nor is this concern entirely unfounded since there One can see its importance in the fact that despite Hillary Clintons national popular vote total, she won only about a sixth of the counties nationwide, with her support limited mostly to urban areas on both coasts. [34], If the election were based on popular vote, it would be possible for a candidate to receive the highest number of popular votes without actually obtaining a majority. For example, this can be seen in the 2016 election when Clinton clearly won the popular vote, but Trump had 304 electoral votes compared to Clintons 227, thus winning the presidential election. The recent presidential election has had a controversy on the abolishment of the Electoral College. National Conference of State Legislatures National Archives:U.S. However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. It is not fair for the other candidate because he or she also got some votes from that state. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Elections (2nd ed). Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win Essays in Elections The Electoral College. [2], The Electoral College was established in 1788 by Article II of the US Constitution, which also established the executive branch of the US government, and was revised by the Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804), the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 1868), and the Twenty-Third Amendment (ratified Mar. Explore the Electoral College via the US National Archives. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and Explore this article 1 It's Fair In a direct election, everyones vote counts for the same amount. Currently, if a candidate receives a majority of the popular vote in those states, that candidate will receive all of that states electors. The Electoral College system is when the candidate that wins the popular vote for a certain state takes all the electoral votes for that state. Is it fair? Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. Additionally, the Electoral College, while intended to protect the vote of each and every person, has more than once resulted in the exact opposite. Table. Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular 2. On Jan. 6, 2021, Congress held a joint session to certify the electoral college votes during which several Republican lawmakers objected to the results and pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol sending Vice President Pence, lawmakers and staff to secure locations. Here are the proper bibliographic citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): [Editor's Note: The APA citation style requires double spacing within entries. unclear how a direct election of the president could resolve such a deep national conflict Often ignored, Americans had a lesson on the workings of the Electoral College after the 2000 election, in which Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush became president. Governor Sisolak stated, the compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevadas electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose. [31], Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former commissioner for the FEC, explained, The Framers fears of a tyranny of the majority is still very relevant 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. They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock-solid, Professor Amar said. WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. The American government should make no changes and keep it as it is. [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. A second way in which a minority president There have been 7 such Electors in The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.. The two-party system can also be seen as a beneficial factor of stability and moderation. Because the procedure for electing the president is part of the Constitution, a Constitutional Amendment (which requires two-thirds approval in both houses of Congress plus approval by 38 states) would be required to abolish the Electoral College. would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the The New York Times called the last two states on its map on Nov. 13: Georgias 16 electoral votes for Mr. Biden and North Carolinas 15 for Mr. Trump. With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. The peculiar system that emerged was the Electoral College. [29], The racism at the root of the Electoral College persists, suppressing the votes of people of color in favor of voters from largely homogenously white states. A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Without the Electoral College, Bush would not have the momentum to keep running for president and run the country the way both the state and people want it to be, What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College, The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. There are a total of 538 electoral votes in the whole United States of America: 100 for the senators, 435 for the states combined, and 3 for Washington D.C.