Hainline 6
Electoral College or Run off
There is more to voting then most people really know. The Electoral College system was created by the United States constitution to speed up the voting process from the horseback ways of long before. This system was created by our four fathers on September 6, 1776. It is a name for how our country votes on the next president in an election. It has been mistaken for a school over the years, instead of what it really is. The Electoral College system was established so that the congressman and congresswomen in each state could keep each other updated on political decisions in a timely manner. Over the years the system has updated to accommodate the changing technological advances. We have the internet now to help us, so why are we still using this dinosaur system?
There is a number you need to remember, 538. Every state gets a certain number of people to go to congress. When Americans vote for a President and Vice President, they are voting for presidential electors, known as the electoral college. It is these electors, chosen by the people, who elect the chief executive. They changed the original process, allowing for separate ballots for determining the President and Vice President. States are given votes based on their population. The bigger the population the more votes that state would get. However, states are automatically given three votes, no matter what the states’ population is. So basically, some states are getting more votes for people who are not actually in that state at the time of the vote, and taking away votes from people who are actually in the state for the vote. This system has a fair amount of pros and cons with it. One pro factor is that is protects the minority interests. It also directs more power to the states.
People tend to think that, if it weren’t for electoral college, a candidate could win by an simply by the number of votes in one region of the country. It is forcing the vote on rest of the country. If you look into the census it shows that this is impossible.
“In 2016, Donald Trump won a smaller percentage than Hillary Clinton among women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, voters ages 18 to 44, members of labor unions, those with an income under $50,000, college graduates and those with postgraduate educations, Jews, liberals and moderates, urbanites, and those living in the East and the West”. (The Washington Post, 2016)
This system seems like a misuse of power. They also use this to vote on the next vice president. There are 538 voters in the congress and you need 270 to win the president or vice president position. The United States as a whole are not even represented in this voting process. There is an approximate population of 11 million people from areas such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico that are not included.
Another problem with the Electoral College system is that the US runs on a two-party system and that leaves three hund...
