Electoral College Advantages

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Advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College The Electoral College system in the US is used to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. The President and Vice President are not elected directly by popular vote by the US citizens; instead, they are elected by State electors. The number of electors each State has is equal to the number of members of Congress the state has. In most states, (except 2) the electors are elected on a winner-take-all, where all the electors for the state are pledged to the presidential candidate that wins the popular vote in the state. A major advantage of the Electoral College is that it prevents the candidates from solely focusing on areas that are densely populated in order to win the total US popular vote. With the Electoral College, the candidates are required to campaign in more areas of the country. The Electoral College system encourages candidates to seek a coalition of States, from various regions of the country, to achieve the necessary majority electoral votes to win the election. This unifying mechanism attempts to ensure that the elected President truly represents the country. Currently, to receive the necessary 270 electoral votes to be elected president, the…show more content…
This means that the elected president did not receive the majority vote by the voting citizens of the country. This contradicts the voting principles citizens in the US are raised to believe regarding the democratic way to handle political disputes. From a very early age most Americans are taught to handle group disputes by taking a vote, and the majority vote wins. However, in US presidential elections, this rule does not apply. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush won the electoral vote with 271 votes, compared to 266 for Al Gore. Bush also won 30 states. However, Gore won the popular
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