Why do some people support the Electoral College?
Reasons to Keep the Electoral College The Founding Fathers thought it was the best way to choose the president. The U.S. Constitution should be amended only rarely. It safeguards against uninformed or uneducated voters. It prevents states with larger populations from having undue influence.
What is the good and bad about the Electoral College?
“More people live in D.C. than in Wyoming, the least populous state in the union; but they both get three electoral votes.” (Plus, unlike Wyoming, D.C. gets no voting representation in Congress.) The biggest problem with the Electoral College is that it encourages vote suppression, says DeRosa.
Who benefits most from the existence of the Electoral College?
There are various benefits of using the Electoral College and some of them are as follows. 1. Assists in selecting the most suitable president The Electoral College allows the voters to vote for electors with each state permitted a certain number of electors equivalent to the number of representatives in that state in the House of Senate.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College?
advantages of electoral college 1) The Electoral College gives states power in our federal system. 2) The Electoral College encourages more person-to-person campaigning by candidates, as they spend time in both the big cities and smaller cities in battleground states.
Who does the Electoral College benefit quizlet?
1) The Electoral College gives states power in our federal system. 2) The Electoral College encourages more person-to-person campaigning by candidates, as they spend time in both the big cities and smaller cities in battleground states.
Whats the purpose of the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is how we refer to the process by which the United States elects the President, even though that term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. In this process, the States (which includes the District of Columbia just for this process) elect the President and Vice President.
How does the Electoral College help decide the presidency?
A candidate must receive 270 of the 538 electoral votes to become President or Vice President. If a candidate for President fails to receive 270 votes, the House itself will choose the President from among the three individuals who received the most electoral votes.
What would happen if the Electoral College was removed?
If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, the Presidential election leaves the Electoral College process and moves to Congress. The House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most electoral votes.
What are 3 major flaws in the Electoral College?
Three criticisms of the College are made: It is “undemocratic;” It permits the election of a candidate who does not win the most votes; and. Its winner-takes-all approach cancels the votes of the losing candidates in each state.
What is the Electoral College in simple terms?
The United States Electoral College is a name used to describe the official 538 Presidential electors who come together every four years during the presidential election to give their official votes for President and Vice President of the United States.
Does the Electoral College have to follow the popular vote?
There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their States. Some States, however, require electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote.
Who selects the electors in the Electoral College?
Voters in each state choose electors by casting a vote for the presidential candidate of their choice. The slate winning the most popular votes is the winner. Only two states, Nebraska and Maine, do not follow this winner-take-all method. In those states, electoral votes are proportionally allocated.
How are electoral votes determined?
The formula for determining the number of votes for each state is simple: each state gets two votes for its two US Senators, and then one more additional vote for each member it has in the House of Representatives.
Why we should abolish the Electoral College quizlet?
It distorts representation, arguably hinders democratic process and has a large impact on the outcome of a presidential election for better and for worse. However, despite its faults, as a system is has a foundation conducive to reform rather than abolition.
Who was the first President elected by the Electoral College?
George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president and John Adams became the first vice president.
What states have no winner-take-all?
Even though Maine and Nebraska don't use a winner-take-all system, it is rare for either State to have a split vote. Each has done so once: Nebraska in 2008 and Maine in 2016.
How does the electoral college work?
In a simple democratic election with two candidates, every voter has the same probability of affecting the result of the election. In the United States, the electoral college ensures that this is not the case. Instead, the chance that your vote matters is dependent on which state you live in, and the political composition ...
What are the arguments for the electoral college?
Arguments about the merits of the electoral college often turn to how it affects certain categories of voters. Proponents of the electoral college sometimes argue that voters in cities should have less power than voters in rural areas. Opponents of the system argue that it privileges white voters over minorities.
What percentage of Hispanics are disadvantaged by electoral college?
Those disadvantaged by the electoral college are Hispanics (21.8%) and those who fall into other racial categories (19.0%). The disadvantage to Hispanic voters is likely due to the high percentage of Hispanics in non-swing states of Texas and California. This could change if Texas were to become a swing state, as some predict .
Do Republicans benefit from the electoral college?
Although Republican presidential candidates have benefited from the electoral college in recent years—2 of their last 3 election winners lost the popular vote—there is nothing about the electoral college that specifically favors Republicans. Its effects are largely random, and can be expected to change over time.
Why is the electoral college important?
The Electoral College makes elections more stable, and less likely to trigger contentious recounts. Every state has different procedural rules for the administration of elections, including how recounts are triggered and conducted and how provisional ballots are counted.
How does the electoral college prevent presidential candidates from winning an election?
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. This addresses the Founders’ fears of a “tyranny of the majority,” which has the potential to marginalize sizeable portions of the population, particularly in rural and more remote areas of the country.
How does the electoral college increase the legitimacy of elections?
The Electoral College increases the legitimacy and certainty of elections by magnifying the margin of victory, thereby diminishing the value of contentious recounts and providing a demonstrable election outcome and a mandate to govern.
What would happen if the popular vote system was a plurality requirement?
In contrast, a popular vote system with just a plurality requirement could lead to the election of presidential candidates by unprecedented, small margins. These smaller victory margins, combined with the overall decrease in popular support for a single candidate, could trigger chaotic and contested elections.
What percentage of the American people would not have a mandate to govern?
Furthermore, a President elected by only 25 percent or 35 percent of the American people would not have a mandate to govern, and questions about his or her legitimacy could pose grave consequences both for the nation and for any actions he or she took as President.
What is the advantage of electoral college?
The advantage of the electoral college is that it promotes fairness from a regional perspective. Individual votes count, but in a way that is represented by states. This prevents 2-3 very large states from overwhelming the popular vote count so that a greater portion of the country can be represented by the government.
Why does the electoral college require national support?
Because of the structure of the Electoral College, a President must receive national support to win an election. This promotes a healthy cohesiveness within the country because there must be a distribution of that support so that a majority of electoral votes can be received.
How many electoral votes are needed to be a president?
A majority of 270 electoral votes is required for a President to be elected. How each allotment of electoral votes is given is based on the number of representatives in the House and the two senators which represent the state. That means the minimum number of electoral votes is 3, while there is no maximum.
Why is a national level of support required?
Since a national level of support is required because of the Electoral College, minority causes, interests, and concerns are given a voice that reaches a national level. The votes of a small minority in a state can sway the difference in an election, especially since most states award all their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote.
Why did the US elect two minority presidents?
1. It creates the possibility of a minority president being elected. The US has elected two minority presidents in the last 20 years because of the Electoral College. In 1992, President Bill Clinton was elected with less than 50% of the total popular vote as well.
How much of the Republican vote did Donald Trump get in 2016?
In the Republican primaries leading up to the 2016 Presidential election, Donald Trump was consistently receiving about 35% of the Republican vote. 30% were voting for Marco Rubio and another 30% were voting for Ted Cruz – both men part of the Tea Party movement and the son of an immigrant.
Who was the last third party candidate to win a state's electoral votes?
The last third-party candidate to win a state’s electoral votes was George Wallace in 1968.
What are the advantages of the electoral college?
List of the Advantages of the Electoral College. 1. It maintains the rights of the minority so that equal protection exists. One of the primary duties of the Electoral College is that it does an excellent job of protecting the best interests of the minority in each election. It gives each community the ability to have a say in what they think is ...
How often does the electoral college change?
Although some people don’t enjoy the slow nature of a gridlocked two-party system, the Electoral College allows voters to make changes every four years. This process stops the other branches of government (under most circumstances) from choosing who will get to serve in the executive branch.
How many electors can a state have?
This structure means the minimum number of electors that a state can have is three , but there is also no maximum cap. It is also the only time that the District of Columbia gets to act as a state since the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution allocates three electors to it as well.
Why do some voters have more weight in the election than others?
Because the structure of the Electoral College is based on state population levels and representation in Congress, some voters have a ballot that carries more weight per delegate than others do.
Why are there 51 presidential contests?
5. It allows each community to send a message to the national government. There are 51 unique Presidential contests that occur because of the Electoral College today. That means each state (including Washington, D.C.) can send a message that represents the majority of their community to the rest of the nation.
How many elections have there been in which the winner didn't get a majority of the vote?
There have been five elections in the United States where the eventual winner didn’t receive a majority of the vote. Two of those elections have occurred since 2000 (George W. Bush and Donald Trump). Only one election in history was close enough that it had to go into the House of Representatives for a decision.
When did the electoral college winner not receive the same endorsement?
After two elections where the Electoral College winner didn’t receive the same endorsement from the popular vote since 2000, there are several advantages and disadvantages to consider when keeping it.
What is the argument for the electoral college?
A key argument made by proponents of the Electoral College is that small states and rural areas are protected — candidates are forced to gain support from a wide variety of places. With a popular vote, candidates could just focus on big cities or states, ignoring many other regions of the population.
What is the common defense for the electoral college?
A common defense for the Electoral College is that it protects the rights of the states. The “rights of states” includes not only people’s rights but also the power of state governments. Basically the national government shouldn’t be able to flick state governments aside whenever it wants.
How many votes does Illinois have?
Illinois has 20 votes in the electoral college — there’s a slate of 20 Democratic electors and another slate of 20 Republican electors who are pledged to their respective parties, but they can vote however they want, even for the opposite party (but that’s very unlikely).
How did the 1824 rule help the state party?
This rule helps boost the voting power of the state party coalitions by amplifying their representation in the Electoral College.
How many votes did Donald Trump lose in the 2016 election?
Introduction: If you paid any attention to the 2016 Presidential election, you may or may not remember that then-candidate Donald Trump won the electoral college 306 to 232 but lost the popular vote by 2.8 million votes. This has sparked intense debate over the value and necessity of the electoral college.
How many democratic elections are there in November?
If you don’t know how the Electoral College works, here’s a refresher. In electing the president, there’s 51 democratic elections nationwide on election day in November — one in each state plus Washington D.C. Then, the electoral college votes on who will be President in December.
What is the split in voting power between the public and states?
The split in voting power between the public and states is a grey area , and there’s arguments to be made on both sides for whether or not the electoral college helps with that. A second counter-argument to protecting states’ rights is the method of choosing electors.
Why is the electoral college important?
The Electoral College protects that diversity and ensures that all voters matter, not just those who reside in urban areas or states.
Why did the founders of the Electoral College create the electoral college?
The founders designed the Electoral College to moderate the influence of large states and big cities over small states and rural districts. Rhode Island, for example, with three electoral votes would hardly matter if the presidency were decided strictly by a national popular vote. Presidential candidates could and would ignore states like Rhode ...
How does the small state electoral vote affect the national outcome?
Small-state electoral votes have often affected the national outcome. Eliminate the Electoral College, and the voice of voters in small states all but disappears in the presidential election. Equally important, a direct popular vote would further erode the power of the states in maintaining the intended constitutional balance between ...
Why is patience important in elections?
Yet patience should be in greater demand. Getting elections as close to correct as possible is essential to democracy. It’s also important that the election system minimize the potential for corruption, demagoguery, and especially a concentration of power that invites tyranny. The Electoral College preserves the constitutional checks ...
When will Biden win the 2020 election?
November 19, 2020. If former Vice President Joe Biden prevails in the 2020 election by scoring a victory in both the electoral and popular vote tallies, it will not curtail the clamoring nor the movement to send the Electoral College to a crematorium.
Why is the electoral college important?
The electoral college helps keep the two-party system strong. It makes it very hard for a third party to break through at the national level and increases the risk that a third party could spoil a candidate’s chance of winning, which in turn discourages people from voting for third-party candidates. Some analysts credit the two-party system ...
Why do some analysts support the electoral college?
One reason that some analysts support the electoral college is that it encourages candidates to pay attention to small states and not just get out the vote in big, populous states and cities. The electoral college gives small states more weight in the political process than their population would otherwise confer.
What is electoral college?
The electoral college means that swing states – which aren’t necessarily the most representative of the country as a whole – get most of the attention. And even within swing states, certain counties are more competitive than others. That means voters in those counties are courted particularly hard.
Do you need a recount in an electoral college?
There’s no need for a national recount when you have an electoral college. If one state has voting issues, you can just do a recount in that state rather than creating national upheaval. And to win, a candidate must garner the support of voters in a variety of regions. That means whoever wins the presidency must build a truly national coalition.
Does every vote matter in the electoral college?
In the electoral college, it’s true that not every vote matters. A Democrat in California who gets stuck in traffic and doesn’t make it to the polls probably shouldn’t beat themselves up. The same can’t be said for a voter in Florida, Ohio or another swing state.
Is the electoral college based on tradition?
Electors in these states are “unbound.”. Therefore, the electoral college is based on a set of traditions that electors vote the way their state votes. However, there’s always the possibility of “rogue” or “faithless” electors who could give a vote to a candidate who didn’t win the elector’s state. This also worries critics of the electoral college.
