Rockridge High School

Taylor Ridge, Illinois

Teacher: Barbara Downey

 

Is The Direct Election Right For Us?
By Catie Koehler
12^th grade 

          The year 2000 was a hectic year for the United States Presidential Election.  The election process of America had many citizens wondering whether or not our Electoral College system was really best for our country.  With the direct election the people would most likely better understand the election process, because they would know that their vote actually counted, unlike the Electoral College.  This brings many people to the conclusion that maybe a direct election would be better for the American society. 

          If the American government were to eliminate the Electoral College and establish a direct election, it would give the President more credibility.  The President would be more respected because it would be the actual people, the majority of people, who voted him into office.  In my opinion as a first time voter this election, I would have liked it if I could have felt like my one vote out of the millions of citizens who voted actually made a difference in the outcome of the election.

          In the electoral college, the people vote, but then the electors of the Electoral College actually choose for the state that the voter is living in.  Many people do not realize that the Electoral College is actually like this. A vast majority of the people are confused with how our election process works.  If we switched to a direct election, many people would understand the election process much better. 

          Also, the direct election would also help Third Party candidates because it would give them more of a chance to get a larger majority in the election. The better chances of the Third Party candidates getting more votes helps us get back to America’s original elections of a true democracy, with more than just two political parties being the major players of our elections.

          The direct election would also make the citizens happier because the President who won the popular vote would be guaranteed to win the election.  An example of this is going on right now in our country.  Many people are upset that George W. Bush won the election even though he lost the popular vote.  So if we had a direct election, the people of America would be happy because the person they voted for would be put into office.  In this, happy people make a happy nation.

          Another factor in America’s elections is campaign finance reform.  The Citizens for True Democracy have the opinion that all contributors for campaigns, even private ones, should be eliminated.   The CTD also believes that the budgets for all candidates, ranging from Presidential to local, should be provided a budget from the institutions for which the candidate is running.  The only problem with this is that these kinds of reforms have to be constitutionally amended.

          The direct election would be a major change in the state of the election process of America.  The people would be able to understand the process much better than the Electoral College.  With all these points, people should be able to see that the people of the United States would be much better with a direct election than the Electoral College.

 

SOURCES:     

“Citizens for True Democracy: Campaign Finance Reform.”  Internet. 9 December 2000.  Available: WWW: http://claremontmckenna.com/ctd/fcdleg2.html

 

Questions and answers:

1.                 How and when did the United States elect a president and vice president of different parties?  Name them and their respective parties.

The person with the most votes would be president; the runner-up would be vice-president.  This happened in 1787; problems began in 1796.  In 1796, President John Adams was a federalist and Vice-President Thomas Jefferson was a republican.

 

2.                 Describe four ways that were suggested to elect the President between 1808 and 1846.

In 1808 the candidates chosen by lots were to come from retiring Senators; in later proposals the states were each to elect a native-son candidate.  In 1822 it was proposed that four regions on a rotating basis would choose the President.  In 1826, all of the states electoral votes would automatically be cast for the candidates who received the highest popular vote.  And in 1846 each party used the proportional plan.

 

3.                 Name five U.S. Presidents who were elected with less than a popular vote.

The five are; in 1824, John Adams with 37%, in 1844, James Polk with 49.6%1848 Z. Taylor, with 47.3%, in 1856, James Buchanan with 45.6%, and in 1860 with 39.8% was Abraham Lincoln.

 

4.                 Describe the winner-take-all system.  Which state uses this system?

It is used in every state but Maine.  The candidate with the majority wins, even if the other candidates together have more votes than he does.

 

5.                 When do electors vote and when are the results known?

The electors vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.  In January the votes are counted before both houses.

 

6.                 What effect would substituting a direct popular vote with the Electoral College have on third party candidates?  Why?

The effect for third party candidates would be bad because the third party candidates don’t get that much publicity.  The effect would be that the election would pretty much become a two-party election.

 

 

7.                 Give four arguments for and against a direct vote system.

Four arguments against a direct election are (1) it makes the population more important than actual voting, (2) it would take away from the poor non-voters, (3) a candidate could convincingly win votes for special interests, and (4) it weakens the power of states and weakens the national government.

 

 

8.                 Describe the differences between the district plan, the proportional plan and the winner-take-all plan.

The district plan would encourage minor party candidates, helping them get atleast a few electoral votes.  It would also help to heighten local leaders at the expense of national party officials.  The proportional plan, as always, ensures that the winner in the presidential election has received a greater margin in electoral votes than popular votes.  The winner-take-all plan gives a lot of leverage to a few popular votes in the low turnout states; it would effect the whole nation.

 

 

9.                 State the four points experts in 1969 agreed should be included in an ideal                                                                                                                   

The four points are the need for a quick decision and clear-cut winner, the victor should be the people’s choice winner of the popular votes, the president-elect should have a mandate to govern, a legitimacy which comes from a good margin of victory, and the ideal system should not undermine the two-party system.

 

 

10.             Write a paragraph describing what is meant by “Crisis is opportunity”.

When they say that “crisis is opportunity, they mean that if the nation is in a crisis, then the president has the opportunity to make things right and then be known as a great president.  For examples, Lincoln is well known for the Civil War, and FDR is well known for his crisis like the Depression and World War II.

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