Without the electoral college, groups such as Iowa farmers and Ohio factory workers would be ignored in favor of pandering to metropolitan areas with higher population densities, leaving rural areas and small towns marginalized. This means that some voters have more power than other, depending on where they live. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of. [2], The Electoral College was established in 1788 by Article II of the US Constitution, which also established the executive branch of the US government, and was revised by the Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804), the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 1868), and the Twenty-Third Amendment (ratified Mar. Cons: Gerrymandering Proportional Plan Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives. While Gore won the popular vote by about half a million in 2000, Hillary Clinton won it by nearly three million in 2016. "faithless Elector" is one who is pledged to vote for his party's candidate for Finally, some opponents of the Electoral 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. Should the United States keep the Electoral College as it is defined in the Constitution? electoral vote for the whole State. choices available to the electorate. Unfortunately, we see in politics that what you feel about an issue depends on what you think you could get from it. relative size of it. occasionally come close to this sort of outcome, the question here is whether the The will of the people is now far better expressed through the resulting popular vote than the electorate of the Electoral College. this century and as recently as 1988 when a Democrat Elector in the State of West Virginia A Selected When Americans cast their ballots, they are actually voting for a slate of electors appointed by their states political parties who are pledged to support that partys candidate. more important than political minority viewpoints. fails to accurately reflect the national popular will stems primarily from the College's role in reinforcing a two party system, proponents, as we shall see, find this The same thing happened in 2000. And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors. 29, 1961). It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. Often ignored, Americans had a lesson on the workings of the Electoral College after the 2000 election, in which Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush became president. tends to be more sensitive to ethnic minority and other special interest groups than does It can be risky, considering if you do it one election when it helps you, but the next election may harm you and there is nothing you can do about it, said Graham. You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win. Just as in 2000 when George W. Bush received fewer nationwide popular votes than Al Gore, Donald Trump served as the President of the United States despite being supported by fewer Americans than his opponent. Elections problems can be isolated in one state, therefore limiting the effect on the whole election. 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. Ask your students what they remember about the 2016 election. they often cite the South here) so as to enable a minority of citizens to decide the [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. Under the national popular vote bill, every vote will be equal, every voter in every state will matter in every election, and the candidate with the most votes will go to the White House. direct popular election, there would be every incentive for a multitude of minor parties Electoral votes) as the 9,614,000 persons of voting age in the State of Florida. of thing has, in fact, happened 15 times including (in this century) Wilson in both 1912 Likewise, the winner of the popular vote is variable. Make a list and offer support for each reform. And in 1888, Benjamin Harrison defeated the incumbent president, Grover Cleveland, in the Electoral College, despite losing the popular vote. A third way of electing a minority president forces political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within the The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. Elections (2nd ed). support elsewhere would not be reflected. The Electoral College has been around since 1787 has a part of the Constitution. One way or another, then, the winning candidate must demonstrate both a [25], On Monday Dec. 19, 2016, the electors in each state met to vote for President and Vice President of the United States. In all states but Maine and Nebraska, the winner of each state will take all of that states electoral votes. What did they learn about the American system of electing the president from these elections? What do you think? Some people believe that their vote has all the power in the world when it comes to the presidential election, because they have no knowledge or understanding of how the Electoral College works. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Copyright 2021 NewsHour Production LLC. Opponents of the Electoral College are a wide audience and to keep on introducing new debates and features to improve your experience. Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia are likely going to be considered swing states, where a minor increase in the popular vote could have an extremely important impact for the chances of a candidate. The Case Against the Direct The popular vote is the majority of voters, vote for one of the Presidential Candidates. One can see its importance in the fact that despite Hillary Clintons national popular vote total, she won only about a sixth of the counties nationwide, with her support limited mostly to urban areas on both coasts. [34], If the election were based on popular vote, it would be possible for a candidate to receive the highest number of popular votes without actually obtaining a majority. But what about the issues of the people living in the ignored states? [3] [4] [5] [6], At least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the Electoral College. The debate of whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not has. Students may work individually or in small groups. What can your students conclude? Its just like in tennis, he said. to force the decision into the U.S. House of Representatives, they would still have to The important number is 270. I think it might actually inflame [the issue of polarization]. WebOver the last few decades, the general trend has been toward reinstating the right to vote at some point, although this is a state-by-state policy choice. Should Election Day Be Made a National Holiday? While the country has Many American citizens do not know or do If you already created your netivist account, please log in using the button below. 14, 1788, Marc Schulman, "Why the Electoral College," historycentral.com (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Melissa Kelly, "Why Did the Founding Fathers Create Electors?," 712educators.about.com, Jan. 28, 2016, Hans A. von Spakovsky, "Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Vote Scheme," heritage.org, Oct. 27, 2011, Richard A. Posner, "In Defense of the Electoral College," slate.com, Nov. 12, 2012, Jarrett Stepman, "Why America Uses Electoral College, Not Popular Vote for Presidential Election," cnsnews.com, Nov. 7, 2016, Gary Gregg, "Electoral College Keeps Elections Fair," politico.com, Dec. 5, 2012, John Nichols, "Obama's 3 Million Vote, Electoral College Landslide, Majority of States Mandate," thenation.com, Nov. 9, 2012, Joe Miller, "The Reason for the Electoral College," factcheck.org, Feb. 11, 2008, William C. Kimberling, "The Manner of Choosing Electors," uselectionatlas.org (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Sanford V. Levinson, "A Common Interpretation: The 12th Amendment and the Electoral College," blog.constitutioncenter.org, Nov. 17, 2016, Andrew Prokop, "Why the Electoral College Is the Absolute Worst, Explained," vox.com, Nov. 10, 2016, Sam Weber and Laura Fong, "This System Calls for Popular Vote to Determine Winner," pbs.org, Nov. 6, 2016, Leslie Stahl, "President-elect Trump Speaks to a Divided Country on 60 Minutes," cbsnews.com, Nov. 13, 2016, Lisa Lerer, "Clinton Wins Popular Vote by Nearly 2.9 Million, elections.ap.org, Dec. 22, 2016, Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell, "US Congress Certifies Trumps Electoral College Victory, reuters.com, Jan. 6, 2017, Congressional Research Service, "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline," crsreports.congress.gov, Sep. 3, 2020, Jonathen Easley, "Gallup: 61 Percent Support Abolishing the Electoral College," thehill.com, Sep. 24, 2020, Fair Vote, "Past Attempts at Reform," fairvote.org (accessed Oct. 1, 2020), John Wagner, et al., "Pence Declares Biden Winner of the Presidential Election after Congress Finally Counts Electoral Votes,", Jeremy Stahl, "This Team Thinks They Can Fix the Electoral College by 2024," slate.com, Dec. 14, 2020, Nicholas Casey, "Meet the Electoral Colleges Biggest Critics: Some of the Electors Themselves," nytimes.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Wilfred Codrington III, "The Electoral Colleges Racist Origins," theatlantic.com, Nov. 17, 2019, Peniel E. Joseph, "Shut the Door on Trump by Ending the Electoral College," cnn.com, Dec. 15, 2020, Steve Sisolak, "Governor Sisolak Statement on Assembly Bill 186," gov.nv.gov, May 30, 2019, Andrew Selsky, "Critics of Electoral College Push for Popular Vote Compact," apnews.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Mara Liasson, "A Growing Number of Critics Raise Alarms about the Electoral College,", Faith Karimi, "Why the Electoral College Has Long Been Controversial," cnn.com, Oct. 10, 2020, US Census Bureau, "U.S. and World Population Clock," census.gov (accessed Dec. 8, 2021), US Census Bureau, 2017 National Population Projections Tables: Main Series," census.gov, 2017. In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. Governor Sisolak stated, the compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevadas electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose. [31], Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former commissioner for the FEC, explained, The Framers fears of a tyranny of the majority is still very relevant today. 1. drawing the district lines for their House seats. 3. Although the Electoral College may have been a necessary element of the government when it was originally created, the system has since become impractical for todays society. While this argument has a certain surface While the NPVIC would take away the disproportionate focus on small swing states, it would likely see candidates now instead leaving out states with smaller populations. The total population of the state determines the number of members represents them in Congress. about those outcomes is that few people noticed and even fewer cared. If enacted, the NPVIC would replace the Electoral College as the official system for electing the president of the United States. The group as a whole should help that student to prepare his or her argument. With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a distribution of popular and might well bring about consequences that even the reformers would come to regret. groups. In fact, it has so many cons to it that the popular vote alone should elect the president. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. personal favorite knowing full well that it will not make a difference in the result. [2] [14], In 227 years, the winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral vote only five times. voting systems. 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. One route would be a constitutional amendment, which would require two-thirds approval from both the House and Senate and ratification by the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Last modified on December 9, 2021. The New York Times called the last two states on its map on Nov. 13: Georgias 16 electoral votes for Mr. Biden and North Carolinas 15 for Mr. Trump. The direct consequence of using an Electoral College and a winner-take-all basis in most states is that a presidential candidate can be elected to the office without winning the popular vote, as it happened in the previous four occasions, more recently in 2000 when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore. State viewpoints, they decided, are But so, as an The delegates saw that it was crucial to have a president and vice president, but the delegates did not want these offices to reflect how the colonies were treated under the British rule. votes in the State wins all the Electoral votes of that State. Texas has 38. There is an important debate on whether or not the Electoral College should be reformed or even suppressed. A Despite the name, it is not a college in the modern educational sense, but refers to a collegium or group of colleagues. In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections. [29], As Wilfred Wilfred Codrington III, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn Law School and a fellow at the Brennan Center, explained, Behind Madisons statement were the stark facts: The populations in the North and South were approximately equal, but roughly one-third of those living in the South were held in bondage.