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Andrew Khan
Mr. Hawkins
U.S. Government 2nd Period
3/9/15
DBQ Essay:
The Electoral College is an outdated system that has overstayed its welcome in
American politics, due in part to how the Electoral College favors the two-party system,
unevenly represents Americas population, and strays from the very ideas this nation was
founded upon. Its effectiveness has only deteriorated with time and remains an inaccurate way
to represent the voters. Why it still is used in modern America is beyond explanation as it was
created to, as many have noted, represent the uninformed voters in a time before mass media
and public broadcasting.
First, the Electoral College clearly favors the dominant parties. This is evident
in that only ten of our forty-four presidents to date have not been a republican or
democratic candidate, all of which served before the twentieth century. Since
Franklin Peirce took office in 1853, there has not been a successful presidential
campaign by any third party despite a number of candidates receiving a notable
percentage of the popular vote. Despite this, Electors refuse to give as much as a
single vote towards these campaigns in recent years or as Michael Medved has
stated as of late 2011 The last time a third party candidate registered any Electoral

College support came 44 years ago. This suggests that Electors dont adequately
represent the publics
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decisions and adamantly deny third party candidates a chance, even when they are
already disadvantaged and as noted by the authors of Third World Traveler they
make voting for a third party an act requiring unusual energy, persistence, or
desperation.

This brings us to another of the Electoral Colleges major flaws, unequal

representation. Each state is given a base amount of three votes no matter its population density.
This effectively gives the states with the fewest inhabitants much more representation and voting
power than they should have. Meaning each citizen of the smaller states has a more individual
impact on how their Elector votes. This is exemplified when an anonymous columnist observes
that each individual vote in Wyoming counts nearly four times as much in the Electoral College
as each individual vote in Texas. However, Electors arent obligated to vote according to
popular vote anyway, meaning Electors can entirely ignore what the majority they represent
wants. This by nature contradicts the popular vote or as writer for New Republic Timothy Noah
calls it an affront to most contemporary notions of democracy.
Perhaps the biggest problem with the Electoral College is that it is undemocratic
and takes almost all actual power in the decision-making process of who is to be President
from the people. The Electors are chosen by the people of each state to represent what they
want, which are given authority to overrule what the people had chosen and choose to act on his
or her own behalf instead of on the behalf of the people. This is entirely counterintuitive and

leaves open opportunity for the electoral vote to stray away from the popular vote, which it
should not. To date, four candidates have lost the presidency despite having the popular vote.

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The Electoral College serves only as an unnecessary obstruction between the citizens and the
candidates that leaves room for error.
To summarize, the Electoral College was made for America as a temporary system that
has been treated as a permanent one despite a number of obvious failures. While it is an
established, traditional format to our elections, it wouldnt be very difficult to base future
elections on popular vote, at least until a more relevant format can be implemented. The
Electoral College is long past its prime and has subsequently lacked in how it manages a
changing nation.