Kadoka High School
Kadoka, South Dakota
Teacher:  Teresa Shuck

The Election Process 
By Ty Eisenbraun
Grade 11

 

There is no perfect election system.  I believe that the Electoral College is the best choice.  It has its upsides and its down sides both.  In my opinion the good out weights the bad in this election system.

         

Electoral College, the constitutional system for the election of the president and vice president of the United States it is the collective name for a group of electors, nominated by political parties within the states and popularly elected, who meet to vote for those two offices.

         

Each party within a state selects a slate of electors numerically equal to the state's congressional delegation representatives plus senators. The electors normally pledge to vote for the nominees of their party, but they are not constitutionally required to do so, but the usually do so. When the American people vote for president and vice president, they are actually voting for slates of electors pledged to their candidates.  Because the electors usually are chosen at large, the electoral vote of each state is cast as a unit, and the victorious presidential and vice presidential nominees in each state win the state's entire electoral vote. The candidates receiving a majority of the total electoral vote in the United States are elected to the presidency.

         

The Electoral College systems was established in Article II, section I, of the U. S. constitution and has been modified mainly by the 12th Amendment.  Numerous plans have been proposed for eliminating or altering the Electoral College, including direct election of the president and vice president by popular vote.

         

The Constitution leaves the selection of electors to the state legislatures, stipulating only that their number equal that of the congressional delegation and that officers of the federal government are not eligible. Candidates for elector usually are nominated by party conventions, in primary elections, or by party organizations.

         

The electors, popularly elected on Election Day, meet in their respective state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December in presidential election years. They vote by ballot separately for president and vice president.

         

Having a president and vice president from the same state, at least one of the candidates for whom they vote must not be a resident of the electors' own state.

 

Certified lists of votes cast for the two offices are transmitted to the president of the U. S. Senate since 1950 through the General Services Administration. On the following January 6 the president of the Senate, presiding at a joint session of congress, opens the certificates, and the votes are counted by tellers. The election is decided by a majority of the total Electoral College vote.

         

In the absence of a majority of electoral votes for president, the house of representatives proceeds quickly to elect by ballot from the three candidates standing highest in electoral votes. Each state has only one vote, cast as a majority of its representatives determines, and a majority of all the states is necessary for election. For vice president, if a majority is lacking in the Electoral College, the Senate elects from the two highest candidates. A majority vote is necessary for election.

         

The Electoral College system generally gives all of a state's electoral votes to the winner in that state, no matter how slim the margin. Thus it has happened that candidates have been elected even though they received fewer popular votes than their opponents.  This is one of its major down falls.  I do not agree with that.  I believe if you get more votes you should win the election.

 

There have been two different incidents where this has happened before.

         

John Quincy Adams also received fewer popular votes than his opponent, Andrew Jackson, in the election of 1824, but the house of reprehensive decided his election because Jackson failed to win a majority of Electoral College votes.  This is where the Electoral College gets complicated. On several occasions the popular vote of the Electoral College victors have been razor thin or even questionable. One instance was when John F. Kennedy beat Richard M. Nixon in 1960, by a very slim margin.  There has been a large amount of speculation that has come up when this has happened.

         

There are many flaws in the Electoral College system.  There are also many flaws in the direct election.  I believe if they came up with a new system it to would not be flaw proof.  I believe that this is the best system that we have. I think we should just stick with what we have and quit the bickering and learn to live with the mistakes of the system.

Questions

1.  John Adams was the president and Thomas Jefferson was the vice President.  This
happened because the ballot did not clarify which was for president and which was for
vice president.  John Adams was a federalist, and Jefferson was a republican.

2.  One was to elect a president by lot.  These presidents were to be retrieving senators.
Another would be to elect a Native-son candidate.  Another was the automatic plan
whereas all of a state electoral vote would automatically be cast for the candidate who
received the highest popular vote.  A direct vote plan was proposed by Abner Locock and
was defeated 21 to 12.  In 1820 James Monroe proposed the plan of the unanimous vote
in the Electoral College.

3.  J. Polk
    Z. Taylor
    W. Wilson
    Harry Truman
    J. Kennedy

4. The winner-take-all system is used in every state but Maine.  It is a system where all
the people who get all the votes get all the electoral votes.

5.  They vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.  In January
the votes are officially announced.

6.  The third party candidate doesn’t get enough votes so everyone in the Electoral College
has to vote for the person who got all the votes.  So if someone is the Electoral College
wants to vote for them they couldn’t.

7.  The population for the person would win.
A person who is favored should win.
It gives the 3rd party a better chance.  It allows people to have who they want for
president.

Bigger populated states would have more control than littler states.
Some of the best Presidents have narrowly won by this system.
This way one party can’t dominate over another just because one city is largely
populated somewhere.
The winner should get all the electoral votes because they won them fair and square.

8.  The district plan wants the president to be elected directly by popular vote.  The
proportional plan wants to give out electoral votes according to the percentage of people
that voted for them.  The winner-take-all plan gives all the electoral votes to the person
with the highest percentage.
9.  A way that all states are equal.
A way that the popular vote helps determines the President.
It is a way that the third party can get into the election process.

10.  When Americans prefer pragmatist to ideologues, they don’t realize what the
pragmatists are saying.  People like the person who will have big ideas and try to do
something even if it is impossible seeming.

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