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3. Supporters of the Electoral College want every state to have a say in the outcome of an election, but the candidates behave in ways that the Founding Fathers feared they would by targeting a majority population group. 4 min read The Current Threat. Reasons to Keep the Electoral College. 2. 6. Disadvantages of the Electoral College. That means the swing areas would be the suburban communities, so Americans would have the same issues without this compromise just in a different way. This is because fraudulent votes may win the state, securing the electoral votes, but it would make no difference for the candidate to win that state with 100 stolen votes or 100,000 since the candidate would secure the same electoral votes regardless.5 Under a national popular vote system, though, votes stolen in one state would have an impact beyond that states border, since those illegitimate votes would be added to the national vote total. The Electoral College as it functions today is the most glaring reminder of many that our democracy is not fair, not equal and not representative. that makes electoral votes and not popular votes key.. It gives each community the ability to have a say in what they think is the best course of action to take for the United States. It can depress voter turnout in some areas. Otherwise, the impetus to blame the nation's woes on the Electoral College system will never materialize. Here are some of their telling statements from the Constitutional Convention of 1787. By design, the Electoral College system grants the states the power to elect the president of the United States. Stop by SmartAssets. The Electoral College prevents presidential candidates from winning an election by focusing solely on high-population urban centers and dense media markets, forcing them to seek the support of a larger cross-section of the American electorate. The United States focuses on a two-party system because of the structure in the Electoral College. It was devised by the framers of the United States Constitution to provide a method of election that was feasible, desirable, and consistent with a republican form of government. The point was to persuade Mr. Pence to say that the election was somehow flawed or in doubt, or to delay the certification of the electors count. Every state gets a minimum of three electoral votes. The system calls for the creation, every four years, of a temporary group of electors equal to the total number of representatives in Congress. The current structure of the Electoral college consists of 538 electors. Only twice have the electors stumbled and been unable to choose a president, thus throwing the decision to the House of Representatives. California has the . On the heels of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and revoking the constitutionally protected right to an abortion in America, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri predicted a dramatic shift in the country's political fabric. In a popular vote, that often occurs if a voter frequently finds themselves in a minority position. He also said the alliance between big business and social conservatives that underpins the GOP is now "over. If that happens in the Electoral College, then the election decision goes to the newly seated House of Representatives, with each states representatives voting as a unit. Some scholars have said they do not wholeheartedly agree with that decision, arguing that it endangers an electors freedom to make the decisions they want, and that electors are usually picked for their loyalty to a candidate or party. One of the advantages is the end result is clear: "Somebody wins; somebody gets a majority of the electoral votes," says DeRosa. How Much Do I Need to Save for Retirement? In fact, this result has ended up creating the same thing that the electoral college is supposed to prevent, which is candidates focusing on a few specific areas. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson became president and Burr became vice president. 4. There are arguments that the states with smaller populations are overrepresented in the Electoral College, because every state gets at least 3 electors regardless of population. This means candidates can't just go to their strongholds and drive up turnoutor stuff ballot boxes. Levinson holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School and is a visiting professor at HLS this semester. One of the advantages is the end result is clear: Somebody wins; somebody gets a majority of the electoral votes, says DeRosa. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. One of the biggest complaints that comes out of any election is that a voter feels like their vote does not count. 1. The electoral college means that swing states which arent necessarily the most representative of the country as a whole get most of the attention. 4. Then each set of electoral votes is counted during a joint session of Congress on January 6 of the year following the meeting of electors in each state. Penalties exist in other states. That was enough to turn some Americans off from the electoral college forever. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/why-keep-the-electoral-college-3322050. The . For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. Even the harshest critics would have trouble proving that in more than 200 years of operation, the Electoral College system has produced bad results. This is not an opportunity we should pass up.. SmartAsset does more than cover the electoral college. That means the elections in each 10-year period are based on this information. With the Electoral College, a general consensus can be maintained so the structure of the government and the independent political powers of each state and local government can continue existing. Here Are the Advantages of the Electoral College 1. In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after you vote. The Electoral College may not be the best answer for U.S. elections for the executive branch, but it might also be the correct system to continue using today. By allocating electoral votes by the total number of representatives in a given state, the Electoral College allows more states to have an impact on the choice of the President. A special commission named by the House chose Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden, after 20 electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed. Article II of the U.S. Constitution grants the power to elect the president and vice president to the states through the Electoral College system. These smaller victory margins, combined with the overall decrease in popular support for a single candidate, could trigger chaotic and contested elections. That is how John Quincy Adams won over Andrew Jackson. [pull-quote content=To support his claim that the Electoral College shapes the outcomes of American presidential contests, Levinson cited the 1968 and 1992 elections, when candidates who garnered less than half of the popular vote reached the Oval Office on the strength of their electoral vote totals. float=right] It maintains the rights of the minority so that equal protection exists. Did the Founding Fathersthe framers of the Constitutionnot realize that the Electoral College system effectively took the power to select the American president out of the hands of the American people? A majority is necessary from these voters to elect the President and the Vice President to a four-year term. They will do as promised if the candidates do a very good job vetting them and picking people who are rock solid, said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor of law and political science at Yale University. No other advanced democracy in the world uses . The President has control of where to send disaster funds, and the electoral college incentivizes the President to prioritize helping out losable states like Florida, North Carolina and. The Electoral College makes it possible for citizens' votes in certain states to essentially not matter at all. The electoral college helps keep the two-party system strong. The Electoral College has also awarded the presidency to candidates with the most popular votes but not a majority (more than half) in a number of cases, notably Abraham Lincoln in 1860, John F. Kennedy in 1960 and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Their vote doesnt contribute to a national result. Mr. Trump and his allies barreled ahead with the fake electors plan nonetheless, with an increasing focus on using the ceremonial congressional certification process on Jan. 6 to derail the transfer of power. Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. Technically, it is. AP Photo/John Raoux. The local laws would take effect only once the compact has enough states to total 270 electoral votes. In national representation, each state and population district receives equal representation, in either the house or the senate, and that allows individual voters to still have a say in what happens. This one is either a pro or a con, depending on your point of view. That gave the states extra representation for people they werent really representing at all. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required for a President to be elected. Sen. Josh Hawley predicted that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will help Republicans in the long run. This means there is a reasonable certainty as to how the government will run, no matter which major party in the US winds up with the white house. After two elections where the Electoral College winner didnt receive the same endorsement from the popular vote since 2000, there are several advantages and disadvantages to consider when keeping it. We can access the Internet, talk on the phone, or send an email for instant information. 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. 10. Its hard to say. Only Nebraska and Maine continue to use the proportional representation where each district allocates a single elector based on the vote totals from its assigned communities. The Electoral College makes elections more stable, and less likely to trigger contentious recounts. It may not be an accurate reflection of the will of the people. Democratic electors in Nevada signing their ballots for the Electoral College in 2016. ". And to win, a candidate must garner the support of voters in a variety of regions. The disadvantage is that individual votes feel like they do not count either. We can help you with many aspects of your finances, including investing, financial planning, retirement and more. The threshold that election results must reach to begin an automatic recount is a 0.5% difference between the candidates. 7. Some states replace electors and cancel their votes if they break that pledge. That means the general public may not have any control over who gets put into this critical role. Until that time arrives, this option is the next best solution compared to having Congress select the President and Vice President without any input from the people. Longley, Robert. The 2016 election saw a record number of these ballots in the modern era, with four of them coming from Washington State alone. The current electoral system in the United States allows for the possibility that the winner of the popular vote may not be able to secure enough Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Overall, the Electoral College should be eradicated from the Constitution, mainly because it is not an accurate representation of the peoples of the nation's vote, and voters have access to information to make an educated vote. That, in turn, may give Republicans an even greater advantage in the Electoral College, the country's system for electing presidents. The advantage of the electoral college is that it promotes fairness from a regional perspective. This structure means the minimum number of electors that a state can have is three, but there is also no maximum cap. It requires a distribution of popular support. Its effects are largely random, and can be expected to change over time. Due to the Electoral College process, candidates must get votes from multiple stateslarge and smallthus helping to ensure that the president will address the needs of the entire country. Although it doesnt allow the popular vote majority to control the final outcome of an election, there must still be a majority of state electoral votes available to secure the White House. Because of the structure of the Electoral College, a President must receive national support to win an election. Washington DC: Office of the Federal Register, 2020. After the Civil War, former slaves were counted as whole persons, not three-fifths of one, for purposes of electoral vote allotment. America is, after all, a democracy, is it not? Time will tell whether that reform and others come to pass. You have to win the set, and in our system, you have to win the state.. "I think that alliance is over today. Direct democracy works only when all or at least most of the people participate in the process. This disadvantage causes the 2010 data to be valid for three Presidential elections, but the 2020 census will only be valid for two elections. The same goes for Republican candidates and right-leaning Texas. Sign up for notifications from Insider! The benefits of the Electoral College come from the need to win state-by-state. Once the false pro-Trump slates of electors had been created, Mr. Trump and his allies turned to the second part of the plan: strong-arming Vice President Mike Pence into considering them during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. The process of choosing electors can be an insiders game, said Kimberly Wehle, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of What You Need to Know About Voting and Why. They are often state legislators, party leaders or donors, she said. Without this structure, a candidate would spend most of their time in large population centers campaigning because thats where the popular vote would be won. In 2020, Gallup reported that 61 percent of Americans supported abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. 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