In this article, Lourdes Garcia explains her opinion on the electoral college.
As the 2020 election just came to an end, much curiosity and speculation has arisen surrounding the electoral college. The electoral college, which is the method used by the United States government to determine it’s presidential elect, is something that’s highly disputed between politicians and the people of the U.S. To many the electoral college seems unnecessary and illogical to use as a president can just be determined by the popular vote. The electoral college was ratified as the 12th amendment in 1804 and it was even controversial back then. In my personal opinion I think the electoral college is redundant and there are many better options.
The electoral college essentially depends on the population of a state and the number of senators and representatives that state has in congress. When people go out to vote they aren’t voting for the president, they’re voting for electors who will then cast the presidential vote. Each state has a different value on the electoral college, for example a big state like California is worth 55 electoral votes, meanwhile Rhode Island is only worth 4 votes. There are definitely pros and cons to the electoral college, one pro is that it makes sure that all states are taken into consideration when choosing the next president. Another pro is that it ensures reliability in the presidential election, instead of relying solely on a popular vote. Cons of the electoral college is it discourages voting since the citizen’s votes don’t really matter in the end. A big con to the electoral college is it relies heavily on swing states, which means other states don’t influence the election as heavily.
The history of the electoral college begins with a chaotic America, they had just gotten rid of a controlling king and didn’t like the corrupt governors that controlled the states. When deciding who would lead the country the delegates were at a disagreement, one group believed congress shouldnt have anything to do with choosing the president and others thought a popular vote was the way to go. So to resolve this matter they decided to have electors for states vote.
But, along with this came the dispute of how many electors each state would get and if slaves would be included in the population. Pro-slavery states supported this as slaves were a big part of the population, while anti-slavery states disagreed. To bargain for both sides congress made the 3/5th compromise, which counted each slave as 3/5ths of a person. This basically meant most southern states at the time which were rebuplican got more representation in the congress
Although the electoral college doesn’t work as it did back then and the 3/5th compromise is no longer in effect, the basic premise is overall the same. In my opinion, the electoral college seems very pointless, and goes against democracy. The fact that states have different values seems illogical to me and I believe all states should be weighed fairly. I think that the citizens of a country should have the right to personally elect who they want to represent and lead their country, the electoral college takes that right away from them. Instead, like almost all democratic countries, the U.S should rely on the popular vote to elect the president. The electoral college chooses electors to vote for the state, but it doesn’t take into consideration the people’s will to choose the president.
In conclusion, the electoral college is the way the U.S chooses its president-elect and whether or not it’s efficient or successful is up for argument. Views are divided on this topic, ever since its ratification. Depending on your view you might see it as an efficient way of choosing a president, while others believe it's useless and untrustworthy. From my perspective the electoral college doesn’t give the American people the right to vote for their next president, instead it gives this right to electors. I think this takes away from the U.S as democracy and using a popular vote seems like the best option.
Sources
The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons. (2020, October 02). Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.procon.org/headlines/the-electoral-college-top-3-pros-and-cons/
Roos, D. (2019, July 15). Why Was the Electoral College Created? Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.history.com/news/electoral-college-founding-fathers-constitutional-conventio n
Distribution of Electoral Votes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2020, from
https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/allocation
Three-fifths compromise. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2020, from
https://www.brittanica.com/topic/three-fifths-compromise
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