Concordia High School

Concordia, Kansas

Teacher: Timothy Berger

 

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Take A Stand, Change the Electoral College
By Dana Maxwell
12th grade

 

 

What are electoral votes?  Many Americans see or hear this phrase around election time but do not know the true meaning.  The same applies when Americans go to the polls.  They do not realize they are not really electing the president.  The 1992 election made it clear that many people have little understanding of how a President and Vice President are actually chosen.  The election came close to having no majority due to Ross Perot, the third party. The Electoral College system has many downfalls and that is why it should change to the Direct Vote system. The vote is not really from the people. Electors can vote either way, there is unequal campaigning, and a third party candidate can not get elected under the Electoral College system.

         

 “The Electoral College is a collective name for a group of electors, nominated by political parties within the states and popularly elected, who meet to vote for the President and Vice President of the United States.”1 So when one votes for President and Vice President on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November they are really deciding which electors to send to their state capital and vote for President.  There are 538 electors, with each state getting one elector for each representative and senator it has. Although people are anxious for the results of the popular election, it is no use to lose sleep. The real results do not come until the electors meet in December to cast their votes and officially elect the President. Does this mean that the electors, who are normal citizens, have more voting power than the rest of the citizens? For example, if you voted democratic and your state majority was for a republican your electors will vote for the republican, so what happened to your vote? It does not really count anymore. With the direct or popular vote system every vote will count and every vote is very important.  The Electoral College system is outdated.  States used to send out electors because they did not know anything about the President and Vice President candidates.  They didn’t have the media following every move of each candidate.  There were no national party organizations and the framers of the constitution feared that many regional candidates would divide the vote.2

         

 Did you know that the electors from your state could switch and vote either way? Like any other election the electors do not have to put their name on the ballot.  You would never know if your state’s electors switched.  There is a possibility of a “faithless” elector not casting his vote for the people’s choice but for his own preference.2   In U.S. history this has happened seven times and never really had an effect on the outcome of an election.  That does not mean it is not possible.  With elections as close as the one in 2000, one switch voter could decide who will be president. To be elected, a presidential candidate requires 270 electoral votes.3 So why is there no constitutional provision or Federal law requiring electors to vote in accordance with the popular vote in their state? Some say we do not need a law because states are allowed to choose their electors and should choose ones that will be faithful.

         

 Have you ever noticed that delegates campaign in states with the largest amount of electoral votes? States like Kansas rarely see a candidate campaigning in their state. They concentrate on states like California, Texas, and New York who have the greatest amount of electoral votes. “Most of the small states would prefer a direct vote system because it would divide the huge blocks of electoral votes possessed by the large states.” 4   For example, if a republican takes California and wins 54 electoral votes he may win the election without actually winning the popular vote.  The democrats may have 1/3 of the votes in that state. With the direct vote system these democratic votes would count. Another example is George W. Bush.  He is against gun control and with the direct vote system he would campaign where there is a greater population of hunters.  The election would become more about the major issues and less about a state’s population. Another concern is soft money. Candidates, who get money from outside places, buy their way into office.  An election and all of it’s campaigning should not have anything to do with who has the most money. There should be a law that limits the amount of money a delegate can spend while campaigning to make an election equal.

         

 No matter how many millions of dollars they have to spend, the Electoral College is set up to guarantee that no third party can win.5   Ross Perot, for example, received 0 electoral votes despite the fact that he received 20 million popular votes.  What is the reason for this? Each state’s electoral votes are on a winner-take-all basis; a third party candidate rarely wins the majority of states electoral votes. So, as faithful electors they do not vote for a third party.

         

 The Electoral College system is very complex. The vote is not really from the people, electors can vote either way, there is unequal campaigning, and a third party candidate does not have a chance to be elected.  The Electoral College system needs to be changed.  The only way to get change is to get involved.  If every American that believes this system is wrong would speak up, changes might occur.6

 

1.Burdette, Franklin L. The American Presidency. 2000    <http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ca/side/elecollg.html>

2.Snug, Ellen. Time to Reform the Electoral College? 31 July. 2000                                         < http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc770.asp >

3.The U.s. Electoral College. 3 Nov.2000 < http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/elections/col.htm >

4.Best, Judith. The Case against Direct Election of the President. New York: Cornell University Press Ltd 1975. 16-28.

5. Kidd, Devvy. Why a Third Party Presidential Candidate can’t get Elected. 2 Feb. 2000 < http://www.devvy.com/thrdprty-20000303.html >

6.Wikman, Eric. The Electoral College: Then, Now, and Tomorrow. 1999                           < http://www.wikman.com/eric/electoral college.html >

 

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

   The United States elected a president and vice president of different parties when John Adams, a Federalist and Thomas Jefferson, a Republican were voted in for President and Vice President. A Federalist elector switched and voted for Thomas Jefferson in the Election of 1796.

 

 

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

   In 1808 the proposal to choose the President by lot came about. Originally the candidates to be chosen by lot were to come from senators that were retired; in later proposals the states were each to elect a native-son candidate. In 1816, Senator Abner Lacock proposed the direct-vote plan. In 1826 Representative Charles Haynes introduced the automatic plan, where all a state’s electoral votes would be automatically cast for the candidate who received the highest popular vote. In 1848 Representative William Lawrence of New York introduced the proportional plan that called for a division of each state’s Electoral College votes according to the popular vote received by each party.

 

 

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

                                     John Quincy Adams  1824

                                     J.Polk                         1844

                                     Z.Taylor                     1848

                                     J.Buchanan                 1856

                                     A. Lincoln                  1860

 

 

  1. Describe the winner-take-all system.  Which states use this system?

   In the winner-take-all system the candidate that gets all of the popular votes also gets all of the Electoral votes. Some people say that this gives to much leverage to a few popular votes in low turnout states; this also gives people who congregate in urban areas power beyond their numbers.  The winner-take-all system is used in every state but Maine.

 

 

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

   Electors vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. The results are known on January 6th.

 

 

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

   The direct vote would encourage minority parties because there would be a greater probability that two major parties would not receive a majority.

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

   Four arguments for a direct vote system would be that it would always ensure that the candidate with the greatest popular vote would win the office of president. It would give equal weight to every vote, and do away with the faithless elector problem. It would also reduce the chance of fraud.

   Four arguments against a direct vote system would be that it would weaken the powers of the states and strengthen the National Government. The state borders would be irrelevant in elections, and the federal standards of eligibility would eventually be determined to make the presidential choices uniform. Also, federal employees would end up tallying a national vote and all election officials would end up working for federal rather than state governments.

 

 

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

   In the district plan two electors are chosen on a popular level and one is chosen from each congressional district, therefore the state is subdivided. With the proportional plan the state’s Electoral College votes according to the popular vote received from each party. There is no division. With the winner-take-all system the candidate who gets the entire popular vote also gets all the electoral votes.

 

 

9.     State the four points experts in 1969 agreed should be included in an ideal plan for electing U.S. Presidents.

   The four points that should be included in an ideal plan are 1) the need for a quick decision and clear-cut winner 2) the victor should be the peoples’ choice winner of the most popular votes 3) the president-elect should have a mandate to govern a legitimacy which comes from a good margin of victory 4) the ideal system should not undermine the two-party system.

 

 

10.Write a paragraph describing what is meant by one of the following:

                                          Shrinkage Phenomenon

                                          Americans prefer pragmatists to ideologues

                                       * The people most likely to be under represented

                                          Crisis is opportunity

    The people who are most likely to be underrepresented are those who lack opinions. Those who don’t speak their minds like the strong liberals and conservatives.  If they don’t care or have an opinion about which party will win they shouldn’t be voting in the first place. These people should educate themselves so they can have an opinion and make a good personal decision.

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