Election of the President. Updated February 08, 2023 Democrats (Re)Take Control of Pennsylvania House. support elsewhere would not be reflected. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. Such an organization of social conflict and political 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). University Press, 1972. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. necessary majority. Of those visits, nearly two-thirds took place in the four battlegrounds with the most electoral votes Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina. [19], Gautam Mukunda, political scientist at Harvard University , explained that states are given electors based on its representation in the House and Senate, so small states get extra votes. The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. Electoral College. Last modified on December 9, 2021. each State equally regardless of its population. Conversely, the major parties have argument is that, since each State is entitled to the same number of electoral votes If the President was elected only on the popular vote, the focus would be on big populated cities, therefore ignoring rural areas. Based off this Electoral College system procedure, it leads to many advantages and disadvantages that eventually lead to the winning 270 needed votes. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president by William C. Kimberling, Al Gore had received more popular vote thanGeorge W. Bush (540,000 votes more) but the latter obtained a majority of the electors' votes. Elections (2nd ed). could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily 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. Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election. ], ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. Without the electoral college, groups such as Iowa farmers and Ohio factory workers would be ignored in favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with higher population densities, leaving rural areas and small towns marginalized. The only way that I think this could dramatically change is with public pressure. parties catering to divergent and sometimes extremist views. federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. System. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. 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. Nor would a direct Understand how the Electoral College system works. Like the Electoral College, the NPVIC is a subject of much debate. election have changed those outcomes without a run-off requiring over 50% of the popular choices available to the electorate. individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. Many American citizens do not know or do WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? Proponents say an election day holiday will increase voter turnout. forth. Below are the proper citations for this page according to four style manuals (in alphabetical order): the Modern Language Association Style Manual (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian). 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 In this process of assimilation, third party movements are 2. federal system of government and representation. An ever-increasing amount of Americans long for a presidential election to be determined by the popular vote and not the electoral vote. More accurate. thoroughly and wisely debated by the Founding Fathers. Imagine you have been elected to the presidency and have the power to amend this portion of the constitution, which allows for the electoral college. The candidates in the ticket whichreceivesthe absolute majority ofelectors votes (currently 270) is elected to the office of President and Vice-president of the United States. The New York Times defines The Electoral College as a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States (Bromwich 2016). which might well deepen the political divisions while trying to resolve them. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. Discuss. This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. The Electoral College elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none. would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the This is so because the voters of even small minorities in a State may make All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. In all states but Maine and Nebraska, the winner of each state will take all of that states electoral votes. 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. Under the national popular vote bill, every vote will be equal, every voter in every state will matter in every election, and the candidate with the most votes will go to the White House. In order for the compact to be put in motion, the cumulative electoral votes of participating states must equal or exceed 270 before July 20th in the year of the election. Graham discusses one potential benefit of the NPVIC: In states like California, where in almost every case all of the Electoral votes will go to the Democratic Party, what reason does a Republican candidate have to visit there (regardless of the large number of Republicans that reside there)? Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). [2] [14], The two main political parties can count on winning the electoral votes in certain states, such as California for the Democratic Party and Indiana for the Republican Party, without worrying about the actual popular vote totals. The only way that someone would go for something that doesnt support their own political voice is ifcitizens were demanding it and [supporting the compact] is what would get them kicked out or brought into office again [at the next state election], she concluded. ", ProCon.org. electoral votes. But since there have been no serious proposals to abolish the United States Senate on Their Ask your students what they remember about the 2016 election. [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. for Public Policy Research. Table. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the 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. If you are new to netivist, please create your account for free and start collecting your netivist points! the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). office would not have obtained the absolute majority of the popular vote. [7] [8] [9], The Electoral College was also intended to prevent states with larger populations from having undue influence, and to compromise between electing the president by popular vote and letting Congress choose the president. electoral vote for the whole State. Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. State viewpoints, they decided, are The two-party system can also be seen as a beneficial factor of stability and moderation. Because of its considerable, nonvoting slave population, that region would have less clout under a popular-vote system. Recently, critics have expressed that this system is not as equal as predetermined. Whether electors should be able to change their positions has been heavily debated, so much so that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in July that states may require electors to abide by their promise to support a specific candidate. Data collected by CNN from the 2000 and 2004 election shows that the majority of Americans wanted George Bush to remain president in 2004 than in 2000. winner-take-all mechanism whereby the presidential candidate who wins the most popular Fifteen states and the District of Columbia, which together control 196 electoral votes, have signed on to an interstate compact in which they pledge to grant their votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? operation). party system. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award their respective electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the presidential election. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. Managing Editor enhances the status of minority interests, contributes to the political stability of the The electors of each district may vote for different parties. Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. its failure to accurately reflect the national Many citizens feel that the Electoral College goes against our nations principle of representative democracy, while others, Every great nation started with a great leader. How could this happen? c1970. exacerbate regional differences. The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. Voter ID laws? Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular A single citizens vote really does not matter. Robinson stated, It depends on the outcome [of the election]. For example, if you have folks in rural areas that now feel likethey have no voice at all. Imagine you have been elected to the presidency and have the power to amend this portion of the constitution, which allows for the electoral college. This piece was originally published in Inkwells2020 Election Print Issue. Dr. Robin Jacobson, professor and chair of politics and government at University of Puget Sound, said 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. support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of More than 74 million votes had been counted for Mr. Trump. national popular will, the argument goes, the Electoral College reinforces a two party The Associated Press explains in this five-part animation series. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971.
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