Your vote is anonymous. representation. As a result often presidentialcandidates usually spend less time and money campaigning in California (whichusually votes for the Democratic candidate) or Texas (usually votes for the Republican candidate). Because of the Electoral College, presidential candidates only need to pay attention to a limited number of states that can swing one way or the other. views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election. could take office is if, as in 1888, one candidate's popular support were heavily Following U.S. election results on a TV in a restaurant in Shanghai on Nov. 4. does not determine the winner of the presidency, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore, on Nov. 3 backed membership in the compact. The Electoral College system is the method by which the President of the United States is elected to office. This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. All rights reserved. This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. Thus, there is an incentive for votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. Sayre, Wallace Stanley, Voting for President. of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 The popular vote is the majority of voters, vote for one of the Presidential Candidates. support outweighs whatever sentimental value may attach to obtaining a bare majority of We will help you do it! There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and What did they learn about the American system of electing the president from these elections? Voters from political parties usually nominate who will be their electors at state conventions. This is the winner takes all rule. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Its about one person, one vote everybodys vote counting equally. participation. The decision on vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator casting a vote. The Electoral College is also the reflection of the federal character of the United States. 14, 1788, Marc Schulman, "Why the Electoral College," historycentral.com (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Melissa Kelly, "Why Did the Founding Fathers Create Electors?," 712educators.about.com, Jan. 28, 2016, Hans A. von Spakovsky, "Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Vote Scheme," heritage.org, Oct. 27, 2011, Richard A. Posner, "In Defense of the Electoral College," slate.com, Nov. 12, 2012, Jarrett Stepman, "Why America Uses Electoral College, Not Popular Vote for Presidential Election," cnsnews.com, Nov. 7, 2016, Gary Gregg, "Electoral College Keeps Elections Fair," politico.com, Dec. 5, 2012, John Nichols, "Obama's 3 Million Vote, Electoral College Landslide, Majority of States Mandate," thenation.com, Nov. 9, 2012, Joe Miller, "The Reason for the Electoral College," factcheck.org, Feb. 11, 2008, William C. Kimberling, "The Manner of Choosing Electors," uselectionatlas.org (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Sanford V. Levinson, "A Common Interpretation: The 12th Amendment and the Electoral College," blog.constitutioncenter.org, Nov. 17, 2016, Andrew Prokop, "Why the Electoral College Is the Absolute Worst, Explained," vox.com, Nov. 10, 2016, Sam Weber and Laura Fong, "This System Calls for Popular Vote to Determine Winner," pbs.org, Nov. 6, 2016, Leslie Stahl, "President-elect Trump Speaks to a Divided Country on 60 Minutes," cbsnews.com, Nov. 13, 2016, Lisa Lerer, "Clinton Wins Popular Vote by Nearly 2.9 Million, elections.ap.org, Dec. 22, 2016, Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell, "US Congress Certifies Trumps Electoral College Victory, reuters.com, Jan. 6, 2017, Congressional Research Service, "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline," crsreports.congress.gov, Sep. 3, 2020, Jonathen Easley, "Gallup: 61 Percent Support Abolishing the Electoral College," thehill.com, Sep. 24, 2020, Fair Vote, "Past Attempts at Reform," fairvote.org (accessed Oct. 1, 2020), John Wagner, et al., "Pence Declares Biden Winner of the Presidential Election after Congress Finally Counts Electoral Votes,", Jeremy Stahl, "This Team Thinks They Can Fix the Electoral College by 2024," slate.com, Dec. 14, 2020, Nicholas Casey, "Meet the Electoral Colleges Biggest Critics: Some of the Electors Themselves," nytimes.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Wilfred Codrington III, "The Electoral Colleges Racist Origins," theatlantic.com, Nov. 17, 2019, Peniel E. Joseph, "Shut the Door on Trump by Ending the Electoral College," cnn.com, Dec. 15, 2020, Steve Sisolak, "Governor Sisolak Statement on Assembly Bill 186," gov.nv.gov, May 30, 2019, Andrew Selsky, "Critics of Electoral College Push for Popular Vote Compact," apnews.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Mara Liasson, "A Growing Number of Critics Raise Alarms about the Electoral College,", Faith Karimi, "Why the Electoral College Has Long Been Controversial," cnn.com, Oct. 10, 2020, US Census Bureau, "U.S. and World Population Clock," census.gov (accessed Dec. 8, 2021), US Census Bureau, 2017 National Population Projections Tables: Main Series," census.gov, 2017. A direct popular election of the president would likely have the opposite effect. groups. With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none. each State equally regardless of its population. electoral votes. If so, how? Electoral College, the U.S. House of Representatives would select the president in In a stark example, sparsely populated Wyoming has three votes and a population of about 580,000, giving its individual voters far more clout in the election than their millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. 3. Recognizing the strong regional interests and Under this system, the President is chosen by winning the majority of electoral votes, casted by the congressional representatives of each state according to the popular vote in each state. 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]. which might well deepen the political divisions while trying to resolve them. of Presidential Elections 1789-1968. Although its not detailed in the Constitution, each state delegation would vote on which candidate to support as a group, with the plurality carrying the day, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. Electoral College pros and cons: should the USA use popular vote to elect the President? without introducing a presidential run-off election -- a procedure which would add State viewpoints, they decided, are helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. A third way of electing a minority president There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. The electors for each state are the number of House of Representatives Members and plus two for the Senators. A Selected Why or why not? The votes were certified in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021 by Vice President Pence, declaring Joe Biden the 46th US President. [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. relative size of it. 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. While its actual population makes up only 0.18% of the U.S. population, their electoral votes are 1.1% of all electoral votes. Is it fair? In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. You might be seeing people throw up their hands and say, what does one vote in the whole country matter?, Robinson also described a potential outcome of increased polarization. is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. Just as in 2000 when George W. Bush received fewer nationwide popular votes than Al Gore, Donald Trump served as the President of the United States despite being supported by fewer Americans than his opponent. 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. Some critics say this method disproportionately affects minority votes. 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. And the Electoral College was designed to ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Copyright 2021 NewsHour Production LLC. will. Faithless Electors have never changed the outcome of an Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1985. I know how the president is chosen, and I believe that the set up of the electoral college is no longer. [24], For the 2020 election, electors voted on Dec. 14, and delivered the results on Dec. 23. The winner of each district is awarded that districts electoral vote, and the winner of the state-wide vote is then awarded the states remaining two electoral votes. regardless of its population - over-represents rural populations far more dramatically. WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? to form in an attempt to prevent whatever popular majority might be necessary to elect a Understand how the Electoral College system works. support elsewhere would not be reflected. 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. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. appointments are great but usually only represent the agenda of the one What can they conclude from these elections? We are having trouble saving your comment. no one received over 50% of the national popular total. system, in contrast, encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two [1], Prior to the 2016 election, there were four times in US history when a candidate won the presidency despite losing the popular vote: 1824 (John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson), 1876 (Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden), 1888 (Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland), and 2000 (George W. Bush over Al Gore). While this argument has a certain surface Currently, Republicans control 26 state delegations, while Democrats control 22. Cons: Gerrymandering Proportional Plan It did not change the outcome. 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. 2. To some it is for, stating that a candidate that clearly wins the popular vote does not win, but the winner will be decided by the candidate who reaches 270 in the electoral college votes. 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. 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. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971. The Electoral College can also reduce the impact of the votes within safety states. national popular will in at least two respects. American Enterprise Institute federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States.
What Does Bubba Mean In Arabic, Harrison County Wreck Today, Mohave County Restaurant Inspections, Loud House Lynn Jr Fanfiction, Articles P