Rockridge
High School
Taylor
Ridge, Illinois
Teacher:
Barbara Downey
Are
Elections Really Fair?”
By Heather McGonigle
12th grade
Have you ever asked yourself who really is in charge of the United
States Government? Is it the
person that the majority of the people have elected?
Some people may think that the President of the United States is in
charge. Really, the citizens are
in control. He may be the one
sitting in the White House, but how did he get there?
We voted for him.
The United States Constitution employs the Electoral College process.
The Electoral College process begins in the hands of the United States
citizens. Citizens from all of
the fifty states vote for whom they want for president.
The winner of the "people's vote" becomes the popular vote.
Once popular votes are counted, then the winner of the popular votes
wins the number of electoral votes for that state.
Then the electorals chosen by each political party go to the Electoral
College and vote. This is the
best way to organize voting in the United States.
The Electoral College Process allows all of the citizens to vote for
which representative they want as their president.
If we did not have the Electoral College Process, then the larger
states would have more of an impact on the outcome of the election because of
the population of the state. This
is not fair for the smaller states.
Every time that we have an election year, the candidates publicize more
and more. Many voters feel that
the campaigns are too expensive. Some
people feel that the participating candidates spend too much money.
In today's elections the candidates seem to have to spend a lot of
money just to get people to recognize them.
Candidates who really want a chance for president have ads on
television, signs in people's yards, and they campaign around different areas
of the United States before the states have their primaries.
In the election of 2000, Al Gore raised about $132,624,544 and out of
those millions he spent $117,999,909. While
Al Gore raised that much money, George W. Bush was raising $191,617,196.
Bush might have raised more than Gore, but he also spent $183,052,265.
Because these two candidates spent so much money for their campaigning,
they became the top two candidates for president.
Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, and Harry Browne were also running for
president, but they did not have as much money.
Since they did not have as much monetary support, some people seemed to
forget about them. In response,
they began to drop out of the presidential race.
Some voters have gotten together to help with the campaign finances.
They have come up with "The Clean Money Campaign Reform"
which offers real reform by providing full public financing to candidates who
reject special-interest contributions and agree to campaign spending limits.
Voters feel that special interest has too much influence on the amount
of money that the candidate is raising. "The
Clean Money Campaign Reform" may be able to help with this issue because
it would lower the cost of campaigning because the candidates would have a
spending limit.
George W. Bush and Al
Gore asked retired people, lawyers and law firms, real estates, and securities
and investments to help fund their campaigns.
Because they went for the top donators, Bush and Gore left little money
for the rest of the people campaigning. Pat
Buchanan, Ralph Nader, and Harry Browne were still able to get money from the
retired people, but they had to hunt for other industries to back them.
They solicited from television, movies, and music to miscellaneous
financial institutions and businesses. "The
Clean Money Campaign Reform" would prohibit special-interest
contributions to participating candidates.
That would make it easier for candidates to have money and not have to
search for places from which to receive it .
Another concern that
voters have is that good people do not have a fair chance to compete.
This is a very good point because if candidates do not have enough
money, then they will not be able to advertise as much.
If the candidates do not have enough money to be making commercials on
television, then they might not even be considered when it comes time for the
voters to make their final decisions at the end of the election race.
Some of the best presidents could possibly be the ones that never make
it to the White House because they lack the funds necessary to run a
successful campaign. We could be
missing out on the best president of the United States all because he did not
advertise as much as the others did. "The
Clean Money Campaign Reform" eliminates the need for fundraising for
participating candidates. The
candidates would receive the same amount of money so that they would have
equal opportunities to advertise. (That
is, if they choose to use their money for that purpose).
Finally, the last concern of voters is that the politicians are
spending too much time raising money instead of devoting their full energies
to the duties of public office. A
great example of this was in the election of 2000.
Al Gore was our vice-president, but he was busy traveling all over the
United States campaigning and raising funds.
Meanwhile Bill Clinton was traveling to far-off countries to meet with
their leaders and possibly settle some disputes.
Now, if both of them are traveling, and they are not in the White
House, then who is running the United States?
The Electoral College
process is a great way for voting for the president of the United States.
In addition, "The Clean Money Campaign Reform" is a great way
to make the campaign finances equal. It
provides a financially level playing field by giving participating candidates
enough money to compete in an election. The
Electoral process is the right choice for us.
Bibliography
All
Presidential Candidates: Top Contributors."
On-line. 4 Jan.
2001
Clean
Money Campaign Reform." On-line.
4 Jan. 2001
Electoral
College Questions
1.
How and when did the United
States elect a president and vice president?
They
used the Electoral College Process in the election of 1796.
John Adams, a Federalist, was voted the president and Thomas Jefferson,
a Republican, was voted the vice president.
2.
Describe four ways that were
suggested to elect the President between
In
1808, the candidates were to be chosen by lot were to come from retiring
Senators; in later proposals the states were each to elect a native-son
candidate. In 1816 the first
direct-vote plan was proposed by Senator Abner Lacock of Pennsylvania.
In 1822 it was proposed that the president be chosen by four regions on
a rotating basis. Finally, in 1826 Representative Charles Haynes of Georgia
introduced the automatic plan whereby all of a state's electoral votes would
automatically be casted for the candidate who received the highest popular
vote.
3.
Name five U.S. Presidents who
were elected with less than a popular vote.
1824-John Quincy Adams
1844-J. Polk
1848-Z. Taylor
1856-J. Buchanan
1860-A. Lincoln
4.
Describe the winner-take-all
system. Which states use this
system?
Common people vote and the winner of that becomes the popular vote.
5.
When do electors vote and when
are the results known?
They vote the first Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December.
In
6.
What affect would substituting
a direct popular vote for the Electoral
People thought that the direct vote would encourage minority
parties
7.
Give four arguments for and
against a direct vote system.
Advocates of direct elections claim such a system would always
ensure
8.
Describe the differences
between the district plan, the proportional plan
The district plan says that the popular vote should be voted by
state
9.
State four points experts in
1969 agreed should be included in an ideal
(1) The need for a quick decision and clear-cut winner; (2) The
victor
The ideal system should not
10.
Write a paragraph describing
what is meant by one of the following:
This describes the current situation in the election.
Right now there is a crisis in Florida on the vote counts.
This is giving us the
opportunity
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