Newell-Fonda
High School
Newell,
Iowa
Teacher:
Connie Doonan
The
Internet Changes the Way America Votes
By Michelle Morwitzer
12th grade
I am in favor of the Electoral College. The
Electoral College is in the best interest of the American people. Some uninformed voters could make the wrong choice
of a candidate that is running for the presidency. The
voters could go to the voters’ stand and pick a candidate by flipping a coin or by
listening to a friend’s opinion only to find out later that he or she should have
voted differently. It is of the utmost
importance that the American voter gets all the facts about all the candidates who are
running for office in the elections to make wise decisions. A person makes wiser decisions about which
candidate to vote for when he or she takes the time to become well informed. The Electoral College should stay because too many
voters out there are uniformed and often are mislead from true facts. The Internet provides a quick and efficient way to
be and stay informed. Voting will
change in the near future since new technology is rapidly developing. New technology has had an influence
and effect on the way the forty-third president of the United States was elected.
The Electoral College is the oldest ways of electing a president. This method dates back to 1787. The Founding Fathers of this country decided on
four ways to elect the president: election by Congress, election by the various state
governments and election by the people. Each
state decides how the citizens will vote for the electors, and how to cast votes for one
state resident and one non-resident. The
candidate who received the highest amount of votes would be the president and the
runner-up would be vice president. In case
there were no majority, the Senate would choose the top five candidates, but this method
was soon changed during the Constitutional Convention.
Since it was thought that House was more representative of the people, the House
was substituted for the Senate. Members from
the House were to vote by states.
A campaign issue that has been on a lot of people’s minds was whether or not
the Internet would have made a major difference in electing the forty-third president of
the United States. The Internet has helped
political candidates such as the Governor Jesse Ventura get his beliefs across to the
people. Jesse Ventura was elected governor of
Minnesota because the people thought that he would best represent the states’ ideas
and political points of view. The Internet
also gave Senator John McCain’s fund-raiser a boost after the New Hampshire primary. People have easy and unlimited access to the
Internet Knowledge is power. With new
technology rising to new heights daily, the amount of information the American people have
access to is unbelievable. In the near
future, many people will be able to vote in pajamas without ever stepping foot outside of
the house. People will find voting on-line
more convenient than standing in line at a voting booth.
New web sites are constantly being added to the Internet at a fast pace.
American
voters want to elect an official who will best represent the peoples’ ideas and
beliefs. What is truly unfortunate is that
the person who does not take the time to find out all the facts about the candidate who is
running for election does not get his or her interests represented in the best possible
way. It is imperative that the American
people get involved and more informed about what is going on in the United States
government; therefore, more people will be satisfied with what is happening in the world
today. It is equally important that America
has strong supporters, so great leaders may evolve, and more people participate. It is also of the utmost importance that the
American people are heard; after all, the United States of America is a democracy.
When people are informed, good decisions are made about which candidate is the best
one for the job. Political web sites and
advertisements on the Internet portray images of candidates, positively and negatively. It
is imperative that candidates build an electorate’s confidence in the official’s
abilities to fulfill the responsibilities of the office the candidate is running for. Candidates who use the Internet for political
reasons must do at least three things. The
first thing is that the campaign must be woven into the web site, updated several times a
day, and promoted heavily.
Even though Texas Governor George Walker Bush and Vice President Al Gore were
reluctant to say how much money was spent on web site campaigns and how much staff time
was devoted to this effort, both candidates’ persistence paid off in the end. The election of 2000 was an extremely race. The candidates were neck and neck. Each candidate had more than a thousand volunteers
signing up a day on the Internet. The
Internet is also useful because of e-mail.
New technology, the Internet being one, had had a major effect on the way the
forty-third president, George Walker Bush was elected.
E-mail is used to inform a large number of people in a shorter time frame. The Web is used as a direct line to voters. Voters are presented with information about
campaign issues, schedules, videos from TV advertisements and events on the campaign
trail. Candidates want to create an
atmosphere on the world wide web so that voters can feel like a part of campaign.
Required
Reading Questions
1. In
1796, the United States elected John Adams, a Federalist, as president and Thomas
Jefferson, a Republican, as vice president. This
happened when a Federalist elector voted for Thomas Jefferson.
2. The
four ways that were suggested to elect the president between 1808 and 1946 were to choose
by lot from retiring senators then to elect a native-son candidate, by a direct vote, a
regional vote, and by the automatic plan.
3. The
five United States presidents that were elected with less than a popular vote were John
Quincy Adams in 1824, Lincoln in 1860, Wilson
in 1912, Nixon in 1968, and Buchanan in 1856.
4. Under
the winner-take-all system, a candidate who receives the majority of votes from a certain
state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
Maine is the only state that doesn’t use the winner-take-all system.
5. Electors
vote the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In January the votes are counted before both
Houses and the results are officially announced.
6. Under
the direct-vote plan the president would be chosen by the nation as a whole instead of by
the government only, and would give more power to the people.
7. Some
pros about the direct-vote system is it reduces the chance of fraud, more power is given
to the people, it would encourage minority parties, and it does away with the faithless
elector problem. The cons about the
direct-vote system would be a single issue could decide an election, state borders would
be irrelevant in elections, weakens the power of the states and strengthens the national
government, and all election officials would end up working for federal rather than state
governments.
8. The
district-plan aggregates the popular votes by state subdivision. The proportional plan
says to aggregate votes by party votes. The
winner-take-all plan gives all the state’s electoral votes to the candidate who has
the majority of votes in that state.
9. The
four points experts in 1969 agreed on to elect the president would be the need for a quick
decision and clear-cut winner; the victor should by the peoples’ 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. Crisis
is opportunity. Crisis fosters great leaders. Some examples of presidents who have become the
nation’s greatest leaders are Lincoln and FDR (Franklin Roosevelt). These presidents presided over chaos and united
the country. Lincoln got the nation through
the Civil War and Roosevelt got the nation through the Depression. Great leaders turn chaos into order, and unite the
people and the country.