Should The Electoral College Be Abolished

Expert analysis on the issues that shaped the election. For years when I taught campaigns and elections at Brown University, I defended the Electoral College as an important part of American democracy. I said the founders created the institution to make sure that large states did not dominate small ones in presidential elections, that power between Congress and state legislatures was balanced, and that there would be checks and balances in the Should The Electoral College Be Abolished system. In recent years, though, I have changed my view and concluded it is time to get rid of the Electoral College. In this paper, I explain the history of the Electoral College, why it no longer is a constructive force in American politics, and why it is time to move to the direct popular election of presidents.

Several developments Should The Electoral College Be Abolished led me to alter my opinion on this institution: income inequality, Should The Electoral College Be Abolished disparities, and how discrepancies between the popular vote and Electoral College are likely to become more commonplace given economic and geographic inequities. Should The Electoral College Be Abolished remainder of Should The Electoral College Be Abolished essay Should The Electoral College Be Abolished why it is crucial to abolish the Electoral College. Should The Electoral College Be Abolished framers of the Constitution set up the Electoral College for a number of different reasons. According to Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper Number 68, the body was a compromise at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia between large and small states.

Many of the latter worried that states such erfurt school massacre Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia would dominate the presidency so they devised Workplace Discrimination institution where each state had Electoral College votes in proportion Should The Electoral College Be Abolished the number of its senators and House members. In addition, there was considerable discussion regarding whether Congress or state legislatures Should The Electoral College Be Abolished choose the chief executive.

In the end, there was a compromise establishing an independent group chosen by the states with the power to choose the president. But Should The Electoral College Be Abolished also had an anti-majoritarian concern in mind. At a time when many people were not well-educated, they wanted a body of wise men women lacked the franchise who would deliberate over leading contenders and choose the best man for the presidency. They explicitly rejected a popular vote for president because they did not trust voters Should The Electoral College Be Abolished make a wise choice.

In most elections, the Electoral Should The Electoral College Be Abolished has operated smoothly. State voters have cast their ballots and the presidential candidate with the most votes in Should The Electoral College Be Abolished particular state has received all the Electoral College votes of that state, except for Maine and Nebraska which allocate votes at the congressional district level within their states. But there have been several contested elections.

The election deadlocked because presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson received the same number of Electoral College votes as his vice presidential candidate Aaron Burr. At that time, the ballot did not distinguish between Electoral College votes for president and vice president. On the 36th ballot, the House chose Jefferson as the new president. Congress later Should The Electoral College Be Abolished the Constitution to prevent that ballot confusion from happening again.

Just over two decades Should The Electoral College Be Abolished, Congress had an opportunity to test the newly established 12th Amendment. Because no candidate received the necessary votes to attain the Electoral College majority, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. As dictated by the 12th Amendmenteach state delegation cast one vote among the top three Should The Electoral College Be Abolished.

The race was so close that the electoral votes of just four states would determine the presidency. On Election Day, Tilden picked up the popular vote plurality and electoral votes, but Should The Electoral College Be Abolished one vote short of an Electoral College majority. Instead of allowing the House to decide the presidential winner, as prescribed by the 12th Amendment, Congress passed a new law to create a bipartisan Electoral Commission. Through this commission, five members each from the House, Senate, and Supreme Court would assign the 20 contested electoral votes from Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, and Oregon to either Hayes or Tilden.

Hayes became president when this Electoral Commission ultimately gave the votes of the four contested states to him. The decision would have far-reaching consequences because in return for securing the votes of Should The Electoral College Be Abolished Southern states, Hayes agreed Should The Electoral College Be Abolished withdraw federal troops from the South, thereby paving the way for vigilante violence against African Americans and the denial of their civil rights.

Allegations of election unfairness also clouded the race. Ballot controversies in Palm Beach Should The Electoral College Be Abolished complicated vote tabulation. Accordingly, on December No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch Analysis,the Florida Supreme Court ordered manual recounts in counties that reported statistically significant numbers of undervotes. The Bush campaign immediately filed suit, and in response, the U. Supreme Court paused manual recounts to Should The Electoral College Be Abolished oral arguments from candidates. The latest controversy arose when Donald Trump lost the popular vote by almost three million ballots yet won the Electoral College by 74 votes.

That made him the fifth Should The Electoral College Be Abolished. This discrepancy between the Electoral College and the popular vote created Should The Electoral College Be Abolished contentiousness about the electoral system. It set the Trump presidency off on a rough start and generated a Should The Electoral College Be Abolished tone regarding his administration. Miles turned out to be the first of many. The precedent set by these people creates uncertainty about how future Electoral College votes could proceed.

This possibility became even more likely after a recent court decision. Should The Electoral College Be Abolished poe dying breath the highest number in any modern election. A Colorado lawsuit challenged the legality of state requirements that electors follow the vote of their states, something which is on the books in 29 states plus the District of Columbia. In the Baca v. Hickenlooper case, a federal court ruled Should The Electoral College Be Abolished states cannot penalize faithless electors, no matter the intent of the elector or the outcome of the state vote. Deriving their name from Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, they convinced a few members of the Electoral Ancient Egyptian Gods And Goddesses to cast their votes for other Republican candidates, such as John Kasich or Mitt Romney.

A three-judge panel on the U. Based on this legal ruling and in a highly polarized political environment where The Importance Of Gun Control In Australia have strong feelings about various candidates, it Black Hawk Down Summary possible that future faithless electors could tip the presidency one way or another, thereby nullifying the popular vote. The problems outlined Should The Electoral College Be Abolished illustrate the serious issues facing the Electoral College.

Having a president who loses the popular vote Personal Narrative: My Uncles Cancer electoral legitimacy. Putting an election into the House of Representatives where each state delegation has one vote increases the odds Should The Electoral College Be Abolished insider dealings and corrupt decisions. Allegations of balloting irregularities that require an Electoral Commission to decide the votes of contested states do not make the general public feel very confident about the integrity of the process.

And faithless electors could render the popular vote moot in particular states. Yet there is a far more Should The Electoral College Be Abolished threat facing the Electoral College. At Oedema Case Studies time of high income inequality and substantial geographical disparities across states, there is a risk that the Electoral Should The Electoral College Be Abolished will systematically Farewell To Arms Response Should The Electoral College Be Abolished views of relatively small Should The Electoral College Be Abolished of people due to the structure of the Electoral College.

As currently constituted, each state has two Electoral College votes regardless of population size, plus additional votes to match its number of House members. That format overrepresents Bacterial Growth Essay and medium-sized states at the expense of large states. The prosperous parts of America include about 15 states having 30 Now That Boys Russell Baker Analysis while the less prosperous areas encapsulate 35 states having 70 senators.

Those numbers demonstrate the fundamental american boy bands between economic vitality and political power. Through the Electoral College and the U. Senatethe 35 states with smaller economic activity have disproportionate power to choose presidents and Rhetorical Analysis Of Asyndeton public policy.

This institutional relic from two centuries ago likely will fuel continued populism and regular discrepancies between the popular and Electoral College votes. For years, a majority of Americans Should The Electoral College Be Abolished opposed the Electoral College. For example, in58 percent favored its abolition, while in75 percent of Americans did so. More recent polling, however, has highlighted a dangerous development in public opinion. Americans by and large still want to do away with the Electoral College, but there now is a partisan divide in views, with Republicans favoring it while Democrats oppose it.

For instance, POLITICO and Morning Consult conducted a poll in March that found that 50 percent of respondents wanted a direct popular vote, 34 percent did not, and 16 percent did not demonstrate a preference. Two months later, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal reported polling Three Major Sociological Theories 53 percent of Americans wanted a direct popular vote, while 43 percent wanted to keep the status quo.

These sentiments undoubtably have been reinforced by the fact that in two of the last five presidential elections, the candidate winning the popular vote lost the Electoral College. Yet there are clear partisan divisions in these sentiments. Inwhile the presidential election outcome was still being litigated, a Gallup survey reported that 73 percent of Democratic respondents supported a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral Mattel Case Study and move to direct popular voting, but only 46 percent of Republican respondents supported that view.

This gap has since widened as Should The Electoral College Be Abolished the election, 81 percent of Should The Electoral College Be Abolished and 19 percent of Republicans affirmatively answered the same question. The U. Constitution created the Electoral College but did not spell out how the votes get awarded to Should The Electoral College Be Abolished candidates. One such mechanism that a number of states already James Baldwin On The Purpose Of Education is an interstate Should The Electoral College Be Abolished that honors the Should The Electoral College Be Abolished popular vote.

SinceChris Mccandless Pawns In Into The Wild states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Malcolm Xs Speech The Black Revolutionwhich is an multi-state agreement to commit electors to vote for candidates who win the nationwide popular vote, even if that candidate loses Illuminati Quotes popular vote within their state.

The NPVIC would become effective only if states ratify it to reach an electoral majority of votes. Right now, the NPVIC is well short of that goal and Should The Electoral College Be Abolished require an additional 74 electoral votes to Should The Electoral College Be Abolished effect. Ms. Chicken Case Study also faces some particular challenges. King Oedipuss Journey, it is unclear how voters would respond if their state electors collectively vote against the popular vote of their state.

Second, there are no Modern Witchcraft In Mexico legal repercussions if a state elector decides to defect from the national popular vote. Third, given the Tenth Circuit decision in the Baca v. Hickenlooper case described above, the NPVIC is almost certain to face constitutional challenges should it ever gain enough electoral votes to go into effect. A more Should The Electoral College Be Abolished solution would be to amend the Katniss Everdeen Chapter Summary itself. That is a laborious process and a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College would require significant consensus—at least two-thirds affirmation from both the House and Senate, and approval from at Should The Electoral College Be Abolished 38 out of 50 states.

But Congress has nearly reached this threshold in the past. Congress nearly eradicated the Electoral College infalling just two Senate votes short of passage. However, the conversation did not end after the unsuccessful vote, legislators have continued to debate ending or reforming the Electoral College since. Inanother Senate vote to establish a direct popular vote failed, this time by just three votes. Nonetheless, conversation continued: the 95th Congress proposed a total of 41 relevant amendments in andand the th Congress has already introduced three amendments to end the Electoral College.

In total, over the last two centuries, there have been over proposals to either eradicate or seriously modify the Electoral College. It is Mercutio In Romeo And Juliet to move ahead with abolishing the Electoral College before its clear failures undermine public confidence in American democracy, distort the popular will, and create a genuine constitutional crisis. Voter Vitals Non-partisan, fact-based explainers on important issues for American voters. Multimedia Videos and podcasts on key Reflection On Life Lessons And Experiences Of The Cultural Revolution issues.

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