The Importance Of The Electoral College

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More than 200 years ago, our founding fathers decided on the Electoral College format as a way of choosing the president. The Electoral College was imperfect then and is imperfect now. The system involves the popular vote of the American people and the votes of 538 Senators and House of Representatives. A candidate must have 270 congressional votes to win the presidential election. Many believe they are voting for the candidate they want as their president. Instead, they are really voting for the party of Senators and House of Representatives in their state. Then, the Senators and House of Representatives vote separately for the president and vice president. The U.S. should look to change the Electoral College as a way of choosing the president because the Electoral College format has the following three major flaws: not every American citizen can vote, Congress can vote for whomever they please, and third-party candidates can impact the election. In an Electoral College system, each state is worth a certain number of electoral votes. Each state is given three electoral votes, no matter the population or size of a state. The other votes are based on the population of the state. The U.S. Electoral College system does not allow voting in U.S. Territories, yet the residents are American citizens. According to Maria Murriel:…show more content…
A third-party can make the election process difficult by winning enough votes and by preventing either major-parties from winning 270 electoral votes. In his editorial, George C. Edwards III says, “If a third-party nominee won enough states to prevent either major-party candidate from winning the 270 electoral votes needed for a majority, the House of Representatives would decide the outcome”. Third-party candidates can easily manipulate the Electoral College by receiving enough votes. One can conclude that this is another flaw in the Electoral College
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