In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. The officials are not bound by law to vote the way the people who elected them want them to vote. That important decision ultimately falls to the Electoral College. 1. choices available to the electorate. nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a region other than Proponents say an election day holiday will increase voter turnout. another (before the meeting of the Electors) or else, absent an absolute majority in the While the system may seem fair, the Electoral College is at its core an outdated process that heavily favors small swing states, causing the election to not always align with popular vote of the American people. Should judges be elected or appointed? If so, how? Berns, Walter (ed.) nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a [23] [26]. Each Swing states are those where the result of the election is uncertain, therefore spending efforts and money to win these states can have a great impact on the outcome of the election. Should the winner-take-all basis be changed to a proportional basis in every state? substantially to the time, cost, and effort already devoted to selecting a president and Your vote is anonymous. 4. plausibility, it fails to account for the fact that presidential elections do not occur in and might well bring about consequences that even the reformers would come to regret. Many American citizens do not know or do Neither one of the candidates are elected from the popular vote. Should the Electoral College be abolished? by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president. Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. by William C. Kimberling, The Popular Vote Versus Electoral College The Presidential election is considered a take all election. majorities only to the Electoral College? The conclusion taken away from this very definition is that the people of the United States are not really the ones responsible for electing the president. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president Although the Electoral College may have been a necessary element of the government when it was originally created, the system has since become impractical for todays society. 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. unclear how a direct election of the president could resolve such a deep national conflict There are many flaws for this system. Although Al Gore won the popular vote, George W. Bush earned more electoral votes after a contested Florida recount and a Supreme Court decision. 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. States also conduct other elections (for U.S. Recognizing that conditions of poverty alone do not constitute neglect, some states are providing child care subsidies, affordable housing, home visiting and enhanced primary care. Explain to your students that while in November Americans will cast their ballots for president, there is actually a system called the Electoral College that determines who will win the election. Some states replace electors and cancel their votes if they break their pledge. Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. procon@eb.com, 2022 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. That is to say, when the electoral vote outcome is so obviously This would accomplish "government by popular If the popular vote was the only factor towards presidential election, what would be the incentive for rural areas and states to vote knowing the issues and opinions nearest to them wont be heard? posited Patrick Graham, history and economics teacher in the Upper Schools. Many people across the nation believe this election system is flawed and unfair. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961. [11], This happened with President Nixon in 1968 and President Clinton in 1992, when both men won the most electoral votes while receiving just 43% of the popular vote. 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. The two-party system can also be seen as a beneficial factor of stability and moderation. more or less reflects the State's population size) plus the number of members it has in distributed across the States. Gives too few states too much electoral power. sets of coherent alternatives. voting systems. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. also point to the risk of so-called "faithless" Electors. Nor would a direct ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. People should have more power to vote for their president to have their vote count towards determining the winner. represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election. New to netivist? distribution of a candidate's popular support should be taken into account alongside the NOTE: Your account might be penalized should we not find any wrongdoing by this user. And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors. debate contributes to the political stability of the nation. The electors of each district may vote for different parties. Rank choice voting? Bibliography On the Electoral College they point out, president would be selected either through the domination of one populous The Electoral College, Americans have their own opinions on how it is running and how it contributes to the presidential election. The American government should make no changes and keep it as it is. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. mechanism is to make it extremely difficult for third party or independent candidates ever 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. in that case, they would hardly be considered a minor party. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the electing of the president and vice president. Would you like to create a debate and share it with the netivist community? How is this possible? Certain penalties exist in other states. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. The same thing happened in 2000. Thus we end up with two large, pragmatic political The 58th United States presidential election on 8 November 2016 was won by the Republican candidateDonald Trump. Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Pierce, Neal R. and Longley, Lawrence D. The People's President: The Electoral College Analyze and debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College system. Human Services Updated February 21, 2023 For more on the Electoral College This is often a misconception of the election process. One effect of this Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) board of education is weighing the pros and cons of the district's start time proposal. [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. James Madison stated, There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. This piece was originally published in Inkwells2020 Election Print Issue. PBS NewsHour Classroom For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. It remains one of the most surprising facts about voting in the United States: While the popular vote elects members of Congress, mayors, governors, state legislators and even more obscure local officials, it does not determine the winner of the presidency, the highest office in the land. independent candidate were to win the support of even as many as 25% of the voters The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. The surviving candidates would thus be drawn to the regionalist or extremist Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party's candidate for Pennsylvania is tied between Republican and Democratic representatives, and Michigan has seven Democrats, six Republicans and one independent. representation. district system of representation in the Congress) is to virtually force third party Opponents of the Electoral College are All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. We will help you do it! Indeed, they point out that the Electoral College system is designed to This proves that popular vote alone should decide who the president is so that it is fair for both. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. Your vote is anonymous. The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. [24], For the 2020 election, electors voted on Dec. 14, and delivered the results on Dec. 23. The flawed winner-take-all system, the lack of a direct correlation between the popular vote and electoral votes, and the unfairness in a tie for the presidency all indicate the Electoral College is outdated and must be abolished. popular support. The same goes for Republican strongholds and a Democratic candidate. individual State populations is more important than the opinion of the national population Gallup reports 61 percent of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. government. the Electoral College point out that is was never intended to reflect the national popular List two to three ways. Keep up the good work. It did not change the outcome. Pros and Cons 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). One example being the elections of 2000 and 2004 where George W. Bush lost the popular vote in his first election by five hundred thousand vote but won the popular vote in his second election by three million votes. populations, proponents respond that the United State Senate - with two seats per State The Electoral College elects the President and Vice President of the United States every four years. Electoral College. loyalties which have played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of [21] [22], A Sep. 2020 Gallup poll found 61% of Americans were in favor of abolishing the Electoral College, up 12 points from 2016. A person that can provide and lead a nation to greatness and success. 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. to govern. mathematical process (since the individual Electors are no longer essential to its The recent presidential election has had a controversy on the abolishment of the Electoral College. Yet this is less of a problem than it seems since, as a There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. [7] [8] [9], According to Alexander Hamilton, the Electoral College is if not perfect, it is at least excellent, because it ensured that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. [7], Democratic Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vetoed a measure in 2019 that would add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would have obligated the states electors to vote for the popular vote winner. 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)? However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. People call them faithless electors. In 2016, seven electors 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans broke their promises to vote for their partys nominee, the most ever in history. 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. I think it might actually inflame [the issue of polarization]. One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. What we see is these candidates now largely ignoring large swaths of the United States where the direction of the votes is a foregone conclusion. With the NPVIC, candidates would be motivated to visit more than just swing states during their campaigns, focusing on winning over individuals rather than states. The Constitution should not be amended to abolish the Electoral College. Electoral College Debate: To Keep This is meant by the Presidential Candidate receives the all of the states electoral votes for that state, if the total population of that state nominates the candidate to be President. substantial majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win [3] [4] [5] [6], The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only. Like the Electoral College, the In order to win an election, a candidate must obtain 270 or more electoral votes, or around 50.2% of all votes. They would go across the west coast, east coast, the south [border], maybe jump to Chicago, predicted Jacobson. https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html. Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates, The debate over the continued use of the Electoral College resurfaced during the 2016 presidential election, when Donald Trump lost the general election to Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes and won the Electoral College by 74 votes. 2. Some critics say this method disproportionately affects minority 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. The process of choosing electors can be an insiders game, said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why. They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, she said. Its just like in tennis, he said. depressing voter turnout, and. On election day, voters choosing a presidential candidate are actually casting a vote for an elector. Selected students then present to the class as a whole. Meanwhile, others see the popular vote as useless and do not believe that their vote will make any difference. Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. WebAdvantages of the Electoral Vote over a Popular Vote Supporters of using the electoral vote argue that it protects the rights of smaller states and is a cornerstone of American federalism. Please try again. 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. Thus, there is an incentive for parties which tend to the center of public opinion rather than dozens of smaller political The Electoral College is defined as a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. Since 1787 the Electoral College has been the system for voting in the United States, but with our nation ever more changing and growing it, Several years after the United States came to be, the Constitutional Convention met to determine how the new nation should govern itself. It gives outside influence to states with large rural populations and undercounts states that are more densely populated, said Jacobson. Consider the American Bar Associations fact check on whether the Electoral College can be abolished. The electors for each state are the number of House of Representatives Members and plus two for the Senators. vote count "The Electoral College Top 3 Pros and Cons." No attention is paid to the smaller states because of the low electoral number, which doesnt really help the candidate win a lot. parties catering to divergent and sometimes extremist views. regardless of its voter turnout, there is no incentive in the States to encourage voter This is true simply because it What can they conclude from these elections? therefore actually damage minority interests since their votes would be overwhelmed by a If you already created your netivist account, please log in using the button below. What are some pros and cons of electing a president based on the popular vote? 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. Discuss. The delegates believed that the presidents power should be limited, and that he should be chosen through the system known as the Electoral College. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute majority of electoral votes); in Senators, U.S. Additionally, the Electoral College, while intended to protect the vote of each and every person, has more than once resulted in the exact opposite. national and State governments which the Founding Fathers intended and which is reflected Pros The Supreme Court is considering a challenge to laws that protect websites from lawsuits, Lesson includes resources to help you talk with your students about traumatic events, Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech and explore themes such as the social conditions in the U.S. that led to the Civil Rights Movement. Fair or not fair? In New Mexico, electors can be charged with a felony if they abandon their pledge, and in Oklahoma a faithless elector could face a misdemeanor charge. Would they like to see the system changed? national popular will in at least two respects. (Until the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, the candidate with the second-highest number of electoral votes became vice president.). vote Proposals for Revision of the Electoral College The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. WebThe Debate Today. Advantages & Disadvantages of BC Did you know that in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes? This proves the system is working. This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. If there are reasons to maintain State Sayre, Wallace Stanley, Voting for President. [ 1] Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming carried the same voting strength in the Electoral College (21 On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. But what about the issues of the people living in the ignored states? 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. When the Electoral College votes for the people, people are not really motivated to be involved in politics. In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but transitory third party 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. accordance with the 12th Amendment. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). [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. Nor is this concern entirely unfounded since there is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. whether his popularity is concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which represents States regardless of States can design their own mechanism -- without federal involvement -- for choosing their electors. Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. Representatives. Also, for mainly the smaller states, the candidate the people want to win might not win because of the low affect towards the final decision. 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. The votes were certified in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021 by Vice President Pence, declaring Joe Biden the 46th US President. Your comment is being posted. presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. Such a unifying mechanism seems especially prudent in Politicians are usually pretty cautious when it comes to these things because it is not a good long-term option with demographics in this country starting to change. As has been shown by analyses of multiple past elections, the Electoral College does favors one major party over another. For as things stand now, no one region contains the absolute majority (270) of Occasionally, citizens believe that we should no longer have an electoral college since it does not allow Americans to have a voice during the election, but the electoral college helps the election process go smooth, gives power to the states, and makes it easier for candidates to campaign. WebWhat are the advantages of National Popular Vote? Cons: Can disregard the will of the majority. contributes to the cohesiveness of the country National Conference of State Legislatures 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. support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of Lexington, Mass: Today, electors meet in their respective states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December Dec. 14 this year to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, with the candidates who receive a majority of votes being elected. Elections. 1. Like the Electoral College, the Electors, the possible role of the Electoral College in 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. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and However, during the 2000 election, it also appeared that problems in one isolated state (Florida) could influence greatly the overall outcome of the election. Washington: American New York: Harper & Row, 1971. 3. Lets have a look at the many issues on this topic. Majority of the time electors are people highly involved with the presidential candidates, such as party leaders, or state elected officials. these grounds, why should such an argument be used to abolish the lesser case of the Electors for each State is determined by the number of members it has in the House (which The reasoning behind why the Electoral College was the determining factor for president was declared by the founding fathers decades ago to ensure equality (Pavia, 2011). The States are even responsible for 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 (Voters in one of those states, Colorado, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact after opponents of the measure collected enough signatures to put the law on the ballot as a referendum.) about those outcomes is that few people noticed and even fewer cared. The current Presidential election process uses the Electoral College system. This issue was mentioned above and is discussed at greater length 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. Explore this article 1 It's Fair In a direct election, everyones vote counts for the same amount. Cons It's not always reliable: The votes of elected officials in a representative democracy may not always reflect the will of the people. A Selected Learn more and come to your own conclusion with this PBS NewsHour lesson. A For the fifth time in history the President of the United States will be elected without winning the popular vote, thanks to the Ellectoral College system. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. I worry and wonder what, as we see a growth in right wing military activity and citizen vigilantes, the perception of taking away power, [would do]. to form in an attempt to prevent whatever popular majority might be necessary to elect a