The Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

500 Words2 Pages
Every fourth year, American adults across the country venture to the polls to vote for the person that they think is best fit for the job of president. Voters contemplate the candidates’ experience and character, as well as their stance on things like immigration and gun control, to base their final decision off of. Anyone who has taken a Civics class however, knows that the submission of that ballot does not go directly to the election of the next president of the United States, but contributes to their state’s electoral votes. The existing process, known as the Electoral College, was developed by our Founding Fathers and is much more complicated than a simple “majority wins.” It has been used in every election since the beginning of the country but now it…show more content…
The current Electoral College that decides the presidential election is an outdated system and is no longer necessary for choosing the best candidate; it should be retired and replaced by direct popular vote instead. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787 several methods of electing the president were considered, including selection by Congress, by the governors of the states, and by direct popular vote. Delegates ultimately decided against popular vote because states were barely connected by transportation or communication at the time, making national campaigns an impractical idea, and leaving Americans eligible to vote with insufficient information on the candidates. Late in the convention, the matter was referred to as the Committee of Eleven on Postponed Matters, which devised the electoral college system. (“Election”) In Article Two of the U.S. Constitution it was resolved that each state will appoint a number of presidential electors equal to the combined total of its Senators and Representatives in the House. Electors are usually chosen by each candidate’s political party at the State party conventions, with the only qualifications being the person is not a member of
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