Electoral College System Analysis
The idea of the Electoral College was first introduced at the 1787 constitutional convention. Some delegates argued that the president should be selected by the legislature, however that might create a conflict of interest with the president trying to please the legislature and not actually being independent. Other delegates favored a direct election, where the popular vote would decide the president. The argument was that more populous states would have more control over the less populous states. Another argument is if the people would have enough knowledge about the candidates to make an informed decision. The idea of an indirect election where the president was elected through a College of Electors garnered much support. Each state, have
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Minority party candidates, such as Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party in the 2016 election, do not stand of chance of getting elected because the majority of people support one of the two party candidates. There is also a risk of faithless electors changing the outcome of an election. There have only been a handful of faithless electors in the past hundred years. (“The Electoral College.”). The majority of them being cases where the elector wanted to send a message or just vote for their candidate because it would not affect the outcome of the election. There is a fear that if a movement was led then these faithless electors could change the outcome on an election. The Electoral College system also pays a role in depressing voter turnout. Since each state is guaranteed a certain number of electoral votes regardless of the voter turnout, there is not much encouragement for the state to look into increasing its voter …show more content…
The Electoral College system tends to over represent rural states and less populous states. If you combine the Electoral College votes of the bottom seven less populated states, you would have 21 electoral votes to a population of roughly 5.5 million people. If you compare a state with a similar number of electoral college votes, Pennsylvania caries 20 electoral votes to a population of roughly 12.5 million people (“Pros and Cons.”). This shows that the smaller states do get over represented when compared to states of bigger populations. In theory, if voter turnout was pretty high, compared to less populous states, then your vote would carry less weight in you lived in a more populated
Minority party candidates, such as Jill Stein of the Green Party and Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party in the 2016 election, do not stand of chance of getting elected because the majority of people support one of the two party candidates. There is also a risk of faithless electors changing the outcome of an election. There have only been a handful of faithless electors in the past hundred years. (“The Electoral College.”). The majority of them being cases where the elector wanted to send a message or just vote for their candidate because it would not affect the outcome of the election. There is a fear that if a movement was led then these faithless electors could change the outcome on an election. The Electoral College system also pays a role in depressing voter turnout. Since each state is guaranteed a certain number of electoral votes regardless of the voter turnout, there is not much encouragement for the state to look into increasing its voter …show more content…
The Electoral College system tends to over represent rural states and less populous states. If you combine the Electoral College votes of the bottom seven less populated states, you would have 21 electoral votes to a population of roughly 5.5 million people. If you compare a state with a similar number of electoral college votes, Pennsylvania caries 20 electoral votes to a population of roughly 12.5 million people (“Pros and Cons.”). This shows that the smaller states do get over represented when compared to states of bigger populations. In theory, if voter turnout was pretty high, compared to less populous states, then your vote would carry less weight in you lived in a more populated