The Winners and Losers of the Electoral College

Issues of the Electoral College

  The political strata, consisting of politically active people, have all eyes on the Presidential Election when the office is up for re-election. Many of those Americans that take interest in the Presidential Election have issues with the Electoral College. The Electoral College represents an indirect democracy, or a republic, but not a direct democracy. Many have a problem with the President of the United States being elected indirectly rather than directly elected by the American people. During the course of the history of the United States, candidates have won the presidency without winning the popular vote, but by winning the Electoral College.

    These are the results for the 2000 Presidential Election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. This figure shows that Bush was able to win the election by winning only the electoral vote, and not the popular vote. This election was very controversial, and had to go to the Supreme Court. The most controversial part of the whole election was the counting of the ballots in Florida because of the ballots that were hole punched. 

Source: (http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2000/morph)

   The 2000 Presidential Election was not the first time where the winner of the popular vote did not win the election. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote and lost the election. In 1876, Samuel Tilden won the popular and also lost the election. In 1888, Rutherford B. Hayes beat Grover Cleveland in the Presidential Election without winning the popular vote (http://www.history.com/topics/presidential-election-facts). The main concern with the Electoral College is that it has caused election years where the people did not even really elect the president "indirectly." The Electoral College was supposed to create a republican style of voting for the United States because the president would be indirectly elected by the people. There have been four election years, however, where this was not the case. 

   Another dilemma with the current election system is that some states have more influence in the election than others. With the Electoral College, a state such as California has more weight and influence because of its large population. A state like Rhode Island would have little influence unless the election was a tight race, and if Rhode Island itself was a tight race. 

                                                                                                                                                                                

   This map shows how each of the states are represented in the Electoral College. South Carolina for example, has 9 electoral votes because of the seven congressional districts and the two senators. California has a huge impact on the Presidential Election because of this system. In recent years, California has tended to be won by the Democratic candidate. This poses a problem because of the fact that one state holds 55 of the 270 votes needed to win the election.  

                                                                  

 Source: (http://jamesminshall.com/2012/10/01/the-electoral-college-an-antiquated-system-of-representation/)

Ross Perot 

   The Electoral College has another power that has not yet been mentioned. It has the power to keep two parties in power because of the use of electoral votes. With the use of the electoral college, it is nearly impossible for a third party candidate to win electoral votes. For example, in 1992 Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote, but did not receive any electoral votes (http://jamesminshall.com/2012/10/01/the-electoral-college-an-antiquated-system-of-representation/). People are thus less likely to vote for a third party candidate because of this harsh reality. 

The following results are for a poll that was taken for the Electoral College. Results showed that regardless of the group, such as Republican or Democrat, people support the idea of the president being elected by direct popular vote. The results shows that the Electoral College is a non-partisan issue, and that many people reject it because of the controversy that it has caused. 

"For future presidential elections, would you support or oppose changing to a system in which the president is elected by direct popular vote, instead of by the Electoral College?"

All adults:
70%  support 
21%  oppose
 9%  don't know

Likely voters:
70%  support
22%  oppose
 8%  don't know

Democrats:
76%  support
15%  oppose
 9%  don't know

Republicans:
61%  support
30%  oppose
 9%  don't know

Source: (http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/polls.php)

   In an effort for reform of the Presidential Election, I propose that the Electoral College be abolished, and for the office of the president to be elected directly by the people. This new system would give everyone's vote an equal weight in the election instead of some people's votes "not counting." In states like New York and California the voters that vote for the Republican candidate do not really have an effect on the election because of the fact that California and New York are most likely to be won by a Democrat.