The Electoral College is a system that determines how the President of the United States is elected. It was created to ensure a balance between state and federal power, but is now seen by many as outdated and in need of reform. This article will provide an overview of its history and purpose, the current function of the Electoral College, and various criticisms and proposed reforms.
The history and purpose of the Electoral College dates back to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. At the time, there were two primary concerns that motivated the creation of the electoral system. The first was the fear that individual citizens would not be adequately informed about candidates from other states. The second was the fact that smaller states feared that larger states would have an unfair advantage in the selection of a president. The Founders believed that an Electoral College would provide a compromise by giving each state the same number of votes in the election and thus providing smaller states with the same influence as larger states.
The basic purpose of the Electoral College is to select the President and Vice President of the United States. Each US state is assigned a certain number of electors who are responsible for casting their state’s votes in the election. The number of electors per state is roughly proportionate to the population size of the state, although this differs slightly with the District of Columbia having three, regardless of population size. After all votes are tallied, the candidate who receives an absolute majority of the electoral votes is elected president.
The indirect method by which the Electoral College functions has both its proponents and detractors. Many argue that the Electoral College maintains an important balance between the small states and the large states and protects individual citizens from the influence of a few large states. Others argue that the Electoral College is an obsolete system that disenfranchises many Americans and puts too much emphasis on swing states.
The current function of the Electoral College is to serve as an intermediary between citizens and the election of a president. Each state is given a certain number of electoral votes which are awarded on the basis of the number of congressional and Senate representatives from that state. Every four years, when presidential elections take place, citizens from each state vote for the president they would like to see in office. However, it is the Electoral College that ultimately decides who the president will be by tallying the votes and awarding the electoral votes to the candidate with the most support. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, and the total number of electoral votes is equal to the combined total of the state’s congressional district and senators. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive at least 270 electoral votes.
The purpose of the Electoral College is to provide an additional layer of representation to American citizens. It serves to protect the minority opinions of those living in less populous states by giving them a certain amount of influence in elections that otherwise may have gone unnoticed. Additionally, it prevents candidates from winning the election based only on votes from large, densely populated states. With the Electoral College, all citizens are represented in the election process, regardless of their population size.
One primary criticism of the Electoral College is that it can result in an election outcome that is contrary to the will of the people. This is possible because the people are voting for electors, not the candidate directly. This means that a candidate can win the popular vote, but still not be elected based on the votes of the electors. This outcome happened most recently in the 2016 election, when Hilary Clinton won the popular vote but Donald Trump was elected President due to the Electoral College.
Reform proposals have been made to try and address the perceived issues with the Electoral College system. One proposed reform is a national popular vote. Under this system, whichever candidate wins the overall national popular vote would be elected President no matter which states they win or lose. Another proposal is for states to make agreements about casting their electoral votes for whoever wins the national popular vote, instead of the popular vote within their own state. This would help ensure that whichever candidate won the national popular vote would also be elected President.
Finally, other proposals focus on changing the distribution of electors instead of replacing the Electoral College altogether. One example of this is giving Congressional districts more power in the decision making process, similar to the system used in Maine and Nebraska. This would mean that the state’s electoral votes are distributed depending on how their districts voted, instead of one state-wide vote determining the entire electoral outcome.