Posted by Reuben Nicholson

 

The Electoral College

Here in the United States, the general public is encouraged to vote at each election. This is especially true when it comes to electing our President. The majority of our population is under the impression that they directly elect the President and Vice President. What most people don’t realize is that these elected officials are actually voted for through the Electoral College, which I believe should be abolished.

During the infancy of our government, there was debate as to how our president should be chosen. A meeting of delegates in 1787, referred to as the Constitutional Convention, eventually led to the birth of the Electoral College. It was decided that the general public was too ignorant to capably select a president. However, it was also felt that if Congress selected the President, we would have a President who would be subjected to the influence of Congress. The compromise made was the Electoral College. Currently, according to Encarta encyclopedia, each state is allotted a number of electors equal to the number of its representatives and senators. The District of Columbia was allotted three electoral votes” in 1961. Today there are a total of 538 electors whose sole responsibility is to select the president and vice president. The Electoral College was meant to give states equitable voting power regardless of size, and to mirror the popular vote of the nation. In the event a candidate doesn’t receive the 270 electoral votes needed for a majority vote, the vote is then turned over to the House of Representatives where each state gets one vote and a candidate then wins with a majority of twenty-six votes. The current system is a winner-take-all system. This means that even if a candidate loses in a state by a narrow margin, that candidate will receive no electoral votes from that state.

Almost all of the reasons given for retaining the Electoral College are vague at best. The primary argument to keep the Electoral College is that it “magnifies and legitimizes” the popular vote. Defenders say that to abolish the Electoral College would change our political system, as we know it. Defenders of the Electoral College state that the current system prevents “a third party upstart” from obtaining enough electoral votes to prevent established party candidates from obtaining a majority vote, thus having to turn the election over to the House of Representatives.

Those in favor of abolishing the Electoral College say the selection of the person who is to govern them should be made directly by the people, not through the “intervention of intermediaries.” Of all the arguments to abolish the Electoral College, I believe they can be summed up in saying that the Electoral College stifles the will of the people and gives an unfair advantage to those already in power who belong to the two primary political parties, the Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats and Republicans have been the “powers that be” basically since our government was started. Other parties, such as the Independent and Green Parties, are still in their infancy compared to the Democrats and Republicans. Nearly all of our presidents and vice presidents have come from families of wealth, and it is primarily through these positions that they are able to hold and maintain their wealth and power. Those in favor of abolishing the Electoral College believe this will release the stranglehold held by the established parties. Critics of the Electoral College believe this would give opportunity to those who might not have otherwise a chance to hold our highest office. I earnestly believe that the established parties have over the years purposefully kept minorities and women from ever being able to become the President of our United States.

I believe the people of our country are ready for political change. Certainly the tasks at hand that our government faces are daunting, and by no means will putting a minority or a woman in the presidential seat automatically fix the issues facing our country. However, these people should have every equitable right to obtain and hold this seat if it is the will of the people. After all, our constitution is built upon the premise of a government, “Of the People, By the People, For the People.”

 

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