Electoral College 2 Essay, Research Paper

Electoral College: It s time for reform

It s not fair. It s not fair to the candidates running for office, not fair to the campaign volunteers and especially not fair to the American people. Although the Electoral College System was originally considered to be a brilliant innovation that cleverly solved a cluster of 18th-century problems, as we approach the 21st century, we confront different problems and our constitutional system of presidential selection does not look so brilliant. I believe that the Electoral College should be abolished and a direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States by popular vote should be established.

The current Electoral College System is unfair for several reasons. One of the most obvious faults is that a president can be elected without winning a majority of the popular vote. It is an insult to democracy for a candidate, after winning the popular vote, to lose the election and the presidency. In addition, a citizen’s individual vote has more weight if he or she lives in a state with a small population and a proportionately larger number of electoral seats. It also does not reflect the volume of voter participation within a state. If only a few voters go to the polls, all the electoral votes of the state are still counted. Although the elector is morally trusted to cast his vote for the candidate of the people s choice, there is a possibility of a “faithless” elector following his own preference. Another key problem is that each state’s electoral votes are awarded on a .winner-take-all x basis. This makes it extremely difficult for third-party or independent candidates to win any seats in the Electoral College.