Centerville High
School
Centerville, South
Dakota
Teacher: Terri
Buechler
The Electoral College
By Sylvia Janovick
Until
now, I did not understand the difference between the Electoral College and the Popular
Vote. Now that I understand the difference, I do not understand the point of the Electoral
College, congress should let the people choose. I
think that there is no reason to have it and it should be eliminated. Even though the people vote now in the Popular
Vote, it is like their votes do not really count in the end because of the Electoral
College.
I do not
like the Electoral College because it does not let the people choose. So, in the end, not everyone’s vote counts.
There is no need to continue to have the Electoral College because the minority candidate
could end up being elected for President. When the voters of America go to vote for the
candidate of their choice, they expect their vote to count, but their votes do not always
count because their state could choose a different candidate than whom the voters choose.
Even
though there have been many ways discussed as methods of electing a president, the
Electoral College and Popular vote are kept in use. One suggested way has been to let
Congress elect the president, but this would not work because of suspicion of corruption,
and concerns of unbalanced power. Another
suggested way was to let the State Legislature choose, but this would not work because
Framers thought that federal authority would be compromised in exchange for votes. A third
way was direct popular vote; this way was voted down because of concern that voters would
only select candidates from their state. The suggested way that is used now was to have an
Electoral indirect vote. The system was meant to work in a system without political
parties and national campaigns, which forced some of the features of the Electoral College
to change.
A change
in design in the Electoral College happened in the election of 1800. In the Electoral College there was a tie in votes,
and the decision was left to the House of Representatives, to stop this from occurring
again, the 12th Amendment was passed. The 12th Amendment states that
if no one receives absolute majority, the House of Representatives will cast the deciding
vote from the top three candidates. Even though there are several disadvantages, there are
some advantages also, the following are examples of both.
Advantages
to the Electoral College are: it requires a distribution of popular support to be elected
President, it strengthens the status of minority groups, it enhances the political
stability of the nation, and it maintains the federal system of government and
representation. Some disadvantages are: there is a possibility of electing a minority
candidate, there is risk of having an elector who will not be loyal to their party, and it
does not reflect the national popular vote because it does not elect a President by direct
popular vote.
Senators
John McCain and Russ Feingold reintroduced their campaign finance reform bill. The object
of the bill is to stop the use of “soft money”. Soft money allows unlimited fund
raising by the political parties. Along with banning soft money contributions, they plan
to raise the limit of individual contributions to candidates; also, this will prohibit
union and corporation funded advertisements that mention candidates at any time within 60
days of general election. I think that this bill should pass because it is not right to
persuade voters with expensive advertisements and costly campaigns. When there is a limit
on costs for campaigning then no candidate would be able to “out buy” votes from
another candidate because they would all have the same price limit. I do not think it is
right for a presidential candidate to buy the votes of the American people, and a price
limit should be set. This would work in favor
of every candidate; also it would make voting for the American people a lot simpler.
When I
think about our political system and the way we vote, it makes me angry. I do not think it is fair for the people when our
country uses the Electoral College and I think Congress should find an easier way of
electing a president. A way to eliminate the
Electoral College and allow the people to choose, the President is supposed to be chosen
for the people, by the people. When the Electoral College is taken, the people’s
votes don’t really count and it is not really fair.
I do not think it is very fair for the election decision to be up to the Electoral
College and not the Popular vote, because then, the people do not really choose the leader
of our nation.
Required Questions
1.
The United States first elected a President
and Vice President of different parties in 1796. John
Adams, a Federalist, was elected as President, and Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, was
elected as Vice President. The candidate with
the most votes was elected as President, and the candidate with second most votes was
elected as Vice President.
2.
Four ways suggested to elect a President
between 1808 and 1846 were: by lot, the direct-vote plan, the automatic plan, and by
regions on a rotating basis.
3.
Five presidents elected with less than a
popular vote were: John Quincy Adams, J. Polk, Z. Taylor, J. Buchanan, and A. Lincoln.
4.
The winner-take-all system is where all of a
state’s electoral votes would automatically be cast for the candidate who received
the highest popular vote. Every state but Maine uses the winner-take-all system.
5.
Electors vote on the first Monday after the
second Wednesday in December. Results from
this vote are known in January, when the votes are counted before both Houses.
6.
The affect the direct popular vote for the
Electoral College would have on third party candidates would be, urban areas lose power,
but it would make it fair so that each vote would count.
7.
Two arguments against the direct vote system
are: it would encourage minority parties because there would be greater probability that
two major parties would not receive a majority. And that it would weaken the power of the
states and strengthen the power of National government.
Two arguments for the direct vote would be that it would give equal weight to every
vote, and that it would reduce the chance of fraud.
8.
The differences between the district plan,
the proportional plan, and the winner-take-all plan are, the district plan is where two
electors are chosen on a statewide popular level, and one is chosen from each of two
congressional districts. The proportional plan is when there is a division of each
state’s Electoral College votes according to the popular vote received by each party.
The winner-take-all system is where all of a state’s votes are awarded to the
candidate with the most popular votes.
9.
Four points agreed upon by experts in 1969
are: the need for a quick decision and a clear-cut winner, the victor should be the
people’s choice winner of the most popular votes, the president-elect should have a
mandate to govern, and the ideal system should not undermine the two-party system.
10. When Democrats claimed that some votes had not been counted,
they were right. When the votes were counted,
it was difficult to tell what some people voted for because of hanging, or dimpled chads.
Since it was difficult to tell, some votes were just not counted.
11. I think that Florida and the Supreme Courts did not politicize
their decisions. I think they did what was legally right because keeping the counts going
was a waste of time, and even if the count kept up, Gore would have lost by more than if
they had stopped.
12. The election of 2000 made me ashamed to be an American. I think
that politicians and the presidential candidates should leave the decision as it lies,
instead of recounting hundreds of times, only to find a loss anyway.