Disputed results from the 2020 presidential . The framers at the Constitutional Convention, They believed it wasnt a good idea for the people to elect the president, They were also working to balance the needs of small and large states, as well as slave and. - Albert Einstein. Critics want the College abolished. On the other side of the debate are those who would keep the Electoral college in place. Dan Glickman served as agriculture secretary under President Clinton and represented Kansas as a member of Congress. Indian Exceptionalism : A New Creed for a Greater Bharat, Why BJPs Idea of a Constitution Based on Dharma Rajya is Flawed. Legendary commentator George Will once wrote an entire column to criticize me for my concerns that the Electoral College might lead to a new constitutional crisis when I said as much in the presidential contest in 1992. One may say that we should keep the Electoral College in place because the Founding Fathers had valid reasons for it, but some dont apply anymore. What Would Gandhi Think of Our Constitution? Both sides agreed to let the U.S. Supreme Court settle the outcome once and for all. Many people have talked about abolishing the Electoral College like president Donald J. Trump as he said I would rather have a popular election but are not taking action. But we need bipartisan support in Congress, a constitutional amendment, and a majority of the states to agree. New York: Walker Publishing. Q3 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more. Those ratings help inform our state-by-state assessments of the delegations. Alex Keyssar is Matthew W. Sterling Jr. Illing: But the dynamics have changed, right? Opponents of the College admit that yes, at one point in time, the Electoral College was a necessary component in electing the President of the Union. The framers biggest fear was the fear of power, and they did their upmost to limit and control the control and limit the power of . Those who wish to abolish the system have laid out plans to replace the system with a more Popular vote oriented system which counts each individual vote directly (Neale 2004). They think it antiquated, irrational and undemocratic and argue for scrapping it in favor of a national popular vote. Its appointed every four years for this sole purpose by state legislatures, and consists of Electors in a number equal to each states congressional delegation (Representatives and Senators). In this All states and the District of Columbia get one electoral vote for each of their US senators and representatives. The Electoral College, a product of American exceptionalism and constitutional structures, continues to influence the outcome of national elections by establishing the rules of the game. Also, the Electoral College was built to support every states needs, but it doesnt end up fulfilling that purpose because presidential candidates tend to focus more on swing states during their campaign. Subscribe to ValueWalk Newsletter. If we make it through this election, we must make changes to the system that led here. Nearly all states follow the winner-take-all system, awarding all electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in that state. Presidential candidates wouldnt need to immerse themselves in local issues. The direct nationwide presidential election, augmented by the Electoral College, reinforces Americas two-party polity. Abolish Electoral College Essay. Albert Gore accepted the result, even though he had won the popular vote by 540,000. Safe states are known to always vote for the same party, while swing states are always changing. Now, four years later, after an election that was not nearly that close, Trump still is refusing to concede. Answer key is compulsory to check all the results. Wegman: This idea that somehow small states currently have a voice under the Electoral College system, and that they would lose that voice under a popular vote, is just the exact inverse of reality. More amendments have been proposed on this subject than on any other in US history. But these periodic crises could never have happened if we had elected our presidents by counting just the popular vote. majority of the people are not always represented in the Electoral College, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. The bipartisan bill is designed to close loopholes that could lead to another Jan. 6-type incident that disrupts the electoral count process. Gomez explains that the National Popular Vote Compact is supported by many politicians including Senator Joseph A. Griffo, Newt Gingrich, and Billy Hewes of Mississippi. The Electoral College is a terrible system designed for electing the president of the United States. Could the BJP adopt the Presidential System? (function () { And state governments retained the power to appoint the electors. Yet this controversial system remains. But Trump considers himself the winner this year. In 2020, when Joe Biden won the popular vote nationally by 6 million votes, Donald Trump tried to steal the Electoral College through baseless accusations of fraud and attempts to intimidate key Secretaries of State. Wegman: Its a great question, and I think it really gets to the heart of what the problem is here. Trump won the presidential election despite losing the popular election by more than two million votes. The Electoral College is a favorite punching bag for those who think America should be a more majoritarian country. They view the Popular vote as a way to lessen the power of the people in rural areas, and make the focus of elections and political campaigns centered around the urban and city regions of each state. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. [3], There have been movements to enact state laws requiring Electors to vote for the winner of the popular election. Whereas some are convinced that the popular vote should be used to determine the president, others maintain that the Electoral College process has been successfully used in all of the past presidential elections and should remain the deciding factor. We must abolish the electoral college and replace it with the national popular vote. The 2016 presidential election has sparked an unprecedented interest in the Electoral College. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. (download the rest of the essay above). At 100 signatures, this petition is more likely to be featured in recommendations! . Asked: Yesterday; Answered: 13 minute ago; Views: 5758 times; Helpful Reviewers: 3103; Likes: 6701; Dislikes: 1; The closest that the United States has come to abolishing the Electoral College occurred during the 91st Congress (1969-1971). Yes! These issues still affect out modern day political sphere. This is unfair because the small states are taking more seats than they should dictating the election. By: Emilee Delap Doc. In fact, if given the choice of either accepting his loss or preserving our democracy, which outcome would Trump choose? If 60,000 votes went the other way in Ohio, George W. Bush would have won the national popular. Established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President. The main complaints against the Electoral College are that it can elect someone who didnt win the nationwide popular vote and that it causes candidates to campaign heavily in battleground states while ignoring those they think they are certain to carry or not. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Last week, we released our initial House ratings for 2024. [5] Sabato, L. J. It's electors who decide elections, and there is a . A national popular election in 2020 would have made our problems immeasurably worse. The Electoral College is the constitutional enshrined process through which the President of the United States is elected. Republicans won the 2004 election, but the Electoral College actually gave the Democrats a boost. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Now, with an aspiring autocrat refusing to give up his presidency even after a clear-cut electoral defeat, our democratic form of government is being degraded, if not entirely destroyed. For the people who do not really know or understand the Electoral College, it is a body of people who ultimately decide who wins the presidential election. George Mason argued that giving the people this choice was like referring a trial of colors to a blind man., Speaking on behalf of the Brearly Committee, Gouverneur Morris said the chief reason for the Electoral College was the indispensible necessity of making the executive independent of the legislature. Nobody had appeared to be satisfied with an appointment by the legislature, he said. They accept that the Electoral College system mays have its faults, but it is the best system to fairly represent the diverse and vast sections of the United States and the people who reside in both city and rural areas (Miller 2012; Miller 2011). And the other is power after Trump. Although this is very unlikely to happen, the fact that a candidate could win the elections with only 21.8 percent of the popular vote clearly shows that the majority of the people are not always represented in the Electoral College. Please sign this petition to pressure the government to change the process of our presidential election to a popular vote. Laura Thompson wrote, The case against the Electoral College is straightforward: Because states are allocated electors based on the size of their congressional delegations, those with smaller populations have an outsize influence on presidential elections. My stance to abolish the Electoral College has drawn some ire. We all know the answer. Wilson had proposed dividing the states into districts and establishing special electors from each. However, like any manmade construct the Electoral college has its faults, one being that a candidate can lose the Popular vote and still win the Electoral vote thus winning them the Presidency. Ask an Expert. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. It does not store any personal data. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. She also states that a Popular Vote would cause certain states and highly populated regions to have an unfair advantage in representation over the more rural areas in the presidential election. Candidates are compelled to focus on issues important in each state and choose where they want to make a difference. Let's Abolish the Electoral College . Twitter launches Violent Speech Policy with zero tolerance for severe Watch live: White House monkeypox response team holds briefing, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Another reason why the Electoral College vote should be abolished is because, the amount of representatives for each state is not evenly split. We won't send you spam. . These are certainly problems, but all election systems have problems, national popular vote included. Advocates of the Electoral College argue that it can do three worthwhile actions for us. Bush. It was compromise between the states and the people. Is Iran ready to build a nuclear bomb or not? This makes the candidates focus on swing states needs more than other states in order to win the election. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Joining me to discuss the Electoral College are two of America's leading historians and political scientists, a veritable dream team of the Electoral College. This hour, we look at the Electoral College, its history . At 100 signatures, this petition is more likely to be featured in recommendations! After more than a month of acrimonious counting and recounting, Bush emerged with a winning margin of 571 votes out of more than 5.4 million votes cast. Its primary function is to malapportion political power, and it does so indeed, has always done so with strikingly awful consequences. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2012/06/20/duvergers-law-is-dead/, [13] Constitutional Convention quotations are from Madisons Notes; https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/1909#Elliot_1314-05_2172, [14] https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#changes, [15] Actually, the Electoral College Was a Pro-Slavery Ploy by Akhil Reed Amar, The New York Times, 6 Apr 2019, Why India Needs the Presidential System [Book]. But the the closest Congress has come to amending the Electoral College since came in 1969, when a proposal for direct popular election of the president, with a runoff if no candidate got more. [7] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/books/review/let-the-people-pick-the-president-jesse-wegman.html, [8] https://www.vox.com/21142223/electoral-college-2020-election-jesse-wegman, [9] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/the-electoral-college-is-racist-heres-how-to-kill-it-without-a-constitutional-amendment/, [10] https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-electoral-college-saved-the-election-11610133725, [12] Duvergers Law is a dead parrot. Supreme Court must prevent it, Supreme Court delivers rare victory for death row inmate: the chance to spend rest of his life behind bars, Yes, hate speech is constitutionally protected, The pandemic spawned a better model for family courts, Senate group wades into tough talks on Social Security, Vance pitches PPP for Ohio while other Republicans say to wait, The Hills Morning Report SCOTUS skeptical about student loan forgiveness, McCarthy, GOP pump brakes on release of Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson, Zero-calorie sweetener popular in keto diets linked to strokes, heart attacks. The College was devised to quell fears of parochialism in the selection of the President. Clarence Thomas was appointed by the Bush brothers father, President George H.W. [4] There are proposals to enlarge the Electoral College to more closely reflect each states population. The Electoral College Is Racist [By Laura Thompson; March-April Issue 2021][9]. Amendment resolutions have tended to come in waves. 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