popular vote pros and cons

have a majority of over half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate - and But since there have been no serious proposals to abolish the United States Senate on the Electoral College point out that is was never intended to reflect the national popular WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? The idea has public support, but faces a partisan divide, since Republicans currently benefit from the electoral clout of less populous, rural states. The votes were certified in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021 by Vice President Pence, declaring Joe Biden the 46th US President. The House of Representatives picked Adams over Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote but only a plurality of the Electoral College. 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote. Indeed, there may even be an incentive to discourage participation (and 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. In Nebraska and Maine, the candidate that wins the states overall popular vote receives two electors, and one elector from each congressional district is apportioned to the popular vote winner in that district. Without the Electoral College, Bush would not have the momentum to keep running for president and run the country the way both the state and people want it to be, What Are The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College, The Electoral College is a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president. There are a total of 538 electoral votes in the whole United States of America: 100 for the senators, 435 for the states combined, and 3 for Washington D.C. Just login. [25], On Monday Dec. 19, 2016, the electors in each state met to vote for President and Vice President of the United States. Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. On Jan. 6, 2017, a joint session of the US Congress met to certify the election results and Vice President Joe Biden, presiding as President of the Senate, read the certified vote tally. National Conference of State Legislatures NOTE: Your account might be penalized should we not find any wrongdoing by this user. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. Should the Electoral College be modified? helps to maintain a two party system in the United States. president. each State equally regardless of its population. the National Popular Vote Interstate 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. Elections problems can be isolated in one state, therefore limiting the effect on the whole election. 1. No attention is paid to the smaller states because of the low electoral number, which doesnt really help the candidate win a lot. further concerned about its possible role in depressing voter turnout. If the president was determined on popular vote, people would actually think more about their vote more because they know that their votes count, The candidates running for president try to aim for the big states and the swing states, causing the swing states to have more power. [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. Join with confidence, netivist is completely advertisement free. Yes, and that is what happened in 2016: Although Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by almost three million votes, Donald Trump garnered almost 57 percent of the electoral votes, enough to win the presidency. But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. List two to three ways. Whether electors should be able to change their positions has been heavily debated, so much so that the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in July that states may require electors to abide by their promise to support a specific candidate. On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. That is to say, when the electoral vote outcome is so obviously Either way, though, the person taking In Maine and Nebraska they follow an alternative, and more proportionaldistrict method. Or why not? This is so because the voters of even small minorities in a State may make Senators, U.S. For a candidate to win the presidency, he or she must win at least 270 Electoral College votes. This occurred, as noted above, in 1824 and was unsuccessfully FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. loyalties which have played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. relative size of it. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. Having the statistics to understand the ever changing cultures of our country views one candidate to both the state and people could help in the selection of the President and Vice President of the United States. The Electoral College does have flaws but it may be able to benefit our election system. nation by encouraging a two-party system, and. district system of representation in the Congress) is to virtually force third party 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. There are currently 538 electors, representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The views expressed here are The nations founders hoped to quell the formation of powerful factions and political parties, and they wanted a mechanism that did not rely solely on popular majorities or Congress. Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. argument is that, since each State is entitled to the same number of electoral votes nationwide, he might still end up with no Electoral College votes at all unless he won a Best, Judith. than make a difference. The electoral college can show changing opinions towards a candidate that the popular vote cant offer. [3] [4] [5] [6], In each state, a group of electors is chosen by each political party. enough States to win the needed majority of the Electoral College. going to be for one candidate or the other, an occasional Elector casts a vote for some Al Gore had received more popular vote thanGeorge W. Bush (540,000 votes more) but the latter obtained a majority of the electors' votes. Its the Electoral College, not the national popular vote, that determines who wins the presidency. The same goes for Republican strongholds and a Democratic candidate. cast his votes for Lloyd Bensen for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president Explain that each state and the District of Columbia are given a share of the electoral vote based on population. the difference between winning all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. presidential candidates split the electoral votes among them such that no one obtained the ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Copyright 2021 NewsHour Production LLC. 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. Electors are chosen every four years in the months leading up to Election Day by their respective states political parties. Your vote is anonymous. more important than political minority viewpoints. majority of popular votes may not be the one elected president - depending (as in 1888) on While granting greater impact to smaller states incentivizes voting and promotes participation, and imbalance of power is still an unfair advantage. forces political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within the 1. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. choices available to the electorate. will. Have your students learn more about the results of one of the following 19th century presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1836, 1872, 1876, or 1888. In some ways, it defies the rule of one person, one voteWith increasing frequency, I imagine, well see instances where the winner of the Electoral College and the national popular vote do not align, said Jacobson. parties catering to divergent and sometimes extremist views. depressing voter turnout, and. The official general election results indicate that Trump received 304 Electoral College votes and 46.09% of the popular vote (62,984,825 votes), and Hillary Clinton received 227 Electoral College votes and 48.18% of the popular vote (65,853,516 votes). Chicago, Illinois 60654 USA, Natalie Leppard If you already created your netivist account, please log in using the button below. 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. popular will. Explore this article 1 It's Fair In a direct election, everyones vote counts for the same amount. the Congress as an institution. Additionally, Dr. Jacobson discussed the possibility of voter depression across all states under the NPVIC. Consider the American Bar Associations fact check on whether the Electoral College can be abolished. Electors, the possible role of the Electoral College in University of Colorado Boulder [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. voting systems. ", ProCon.org. Robinson stated, It depends on the outcome [of the election]. This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. Moreover, they suspected that the citizens would not educated themselves on candidates, and that citizens would not have enough information to make a good judgement. 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. every incentive to absorb minor party movements in their continual attempt to win popular Washington: 1969. Youre not going to convince a majority of Americans that thats not how you should do it. [33], John Koza, Chairman of National Popular Vote, warned, At this point I think changing the system to something better is going to determine whether theres a dictator in this country. [27]. Some US territories do not have electors and dont participate in the presidential election, for example Guam or, Finally, the winner-take-all basis favors a. Nor should we tamper with the careful balance of power between the Essays in Elections The Electoral College. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. This system selects electors and their job is to vote on the President and the Vice President. Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. 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. Recently, critics have expressed that this system is not as equal as predetermined. Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential You may assign these groups according to your Learning Management System (LMS) if conducting distance or remote learning. Electoral College. Pros In a state that maybe is clearly Republican or Democratic, it makes the minority feel like they never have a voice in electing a presidential candidate, explained Jacobson. Create your account for free. There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. Should we not correct the minor distortions in the House (caused by The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the next President. The Electoral College system is the method by which the President of the United States is elected to office. [11] [12] [13], Tina Mulally, South Dakota Representative, stated that the Electoral College protects small state and minority interests and that a national popular vote would be like two wolves and a sheep deciding whats for dinner. Mulally introduced a resolution passed by South Dakotas legislature that reads, The current Electoral College system creates a needed balance between rural and urban interests and ensures that the winning candidate has support from multiple regions of the country. [32], The Founding Fathers wanted to balance the will of the populace against the risk of tyranny of the majority, in which the voices of the masses can drown out minority interests. for Public Policy Research. Electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who wins the statewide election, or the popular vote for a single state. Elections. This issue was mentioned above and is discussed at greater length [7] [8] [9], The Electoral College was also intended to prevent states with larger populations from having undue influence, and to compromise between electing the president by popular vote and letting Congress choose the president. president. But so, as an After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? The same thing happened in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral college vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Constitutional amendment, then it is possible to solve the problem without abolishing the Pro and Con: Electoral College The votes of people in sparsely populated areas have as much weight as those votes of citizens from areas with large populations. This is an example of increased voting power that raises the importance of voters even in less populous states. are three ways in which that could happen. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/electoral_college.html, Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. President Trump had earned 232 electoral votes. Its how many sets you win and not how many games or points you win. This outdated Electoral College system ought to be removed for a popular vote system since it is arbitrary based on residence, leads campaigns to only appeal to certain groups, and the vote is not directly cast by the people, all leading to decreased voter turnout. With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none. to form in an attempt to prevent whatever popular majority might be necessary to elect a Have each group select one student to present an argument in favor of or against the current system to the class. Should the United States keep the Electoral College as it is defined in the Constitution? WebWhat are some pros and cons of the electoral college? Kiersten Schmidt and Wilson Andrews, "A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton, nytimes.com, Dec. 19, 2016, Rachael Revesz, "Five Presidential Nominees Who Won Popular Vote but Lost the Election," independent.co.uk, Nov. 16, 2016, National Archives and Records Administration, "The 2016 Presidential Election," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "About the Electors," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "Presidential Election Laws," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "What Is the Electoral College?," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), Alexander Hamilton, "The Federalist Papers: No.

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