Electoral College Essay

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Electoral College For many years now government has been an extremely important component to the way a country is ran. Every country has its own government of choice, therefore across the globe there are various different kinds of governments. In the United States of America, a system known as the Electoral College is used. There are many secrets and myths that come along with this unique style of government. Not many people know exactly what it is they are voting for when they enter a voting booth on election day. One of the ongoing reasons as to why Americans dislike the Electoral College system is because of ignorance. Americans do not know exactly what Electoral College is or how it even works. I believe that the electoral college is a government that will do good for our country and should be preserved for the years to follow. The Electoral College system was created in the early 1800s as a compromise to whether Congress or voters would have the power to elect a president (Targeted News Service). The Constitutional Convention considered many proposals including by various state officials, electors, or direct popular vote (Goldstein). It is made up of 538 electors who will cast a vote to decide who will become the next President and Vice-President of the United States. On election day voters enter a voting booth and choose which candidate will receive their state’s electors. And the candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes becomes the President of the United States. Every state, with the exceptions of Nebraska and Maine, uses the winner-take-all method. This means the candidate winning the majority of a state’s popular vote receives all of that state’s electoral votes. Historically, the winner-take-all method benefits the candidate with the best cross-sectional or truly national appeal (“The Benefits of the Electoral College”). Many will argue that this is unfair because even if a presidential candidate wins a popular vote, he or she can still lose the election because that candidate did not have enough Electoral College votes as his opponent. However most of the time the electoral and popular vote winners will be “one and the same” (Hoff). It is no secret that the Electoral College makes it extremely difficult for a third party candidate to compete in an election. As Goldstein says, “It has inhibited the formation of ideological or splinter parties and has encouraged the survival of a two-party system, a feature that lends stability and cohesion to American politics“ (Goldstein 4). For example, in Samuel B. Hoff’s article he mentions how in a 1992 presidential race, Ross Perot earned a healthy nineteen percent of the popular vote, however could not manage to receive any Electoral votes, therefore he had not a chance (Hoff). There are many argues as to why the Electoral College may not be the best choice of government, however there are also many reasons as to why it should remain our government system. I believe that Electoral College system, while it has its negatives, is the best choice for our government and should stay in use for many more years. Joel K. Goldstein describes this system as “archaic, undemocratic, and dangerous” and many have agreed (Goldstein 1). However regardless the Electoral College remains the system of choice that the United States of America has chosen to use for a reason. In Charles Lane’s article titled “Keep the Electoral College”, he talks about the National Popular Vote movement, promoting legislation in the 50 states to guarantee that the people, not the electoral college, choose our president (Lane). What many actually do not know about the Electoral College is that when you vote for who you wish to be the President of the United States, you are voting for the electors of your state to choose the president. This can cause controversy over whether or not this system is actually beneficial to the American people. Some still feel the elections should be done by
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