Hobson

Casey Hobson
Sean M. George
English 1010D-03
Nov, 22 2015

The Relic of the Electoral College

Election day. It is a day where those who voted for the democratic candidate hope they
will be elected and those who voted for the republican candidate hope they will be elected. It is a
day of anticipation, and anxiety. It is a day of watching the news to keep track of the percentage
of votes for each candidate. A thought that maybe doesnt cross the minds of many on that day is
that the votes cast by each individual doesnt count like the way they would like to think it does.
The founding fathers had many different beliefs about who could and who should vote for
their president. A lot has changed since those early days of our country. Women now have the
privilege to vote for their leaders in government. African Americans have the gained the
privilege to vote as well. A question maybe not asked, or even considered, by many is in the end
of the voting cycle do the votes cast by each individual count?
The Electoral College is a system that was produced by the Founding Fathers of America.
The Electoral College is a process that happens every presidential election and is also a group of
people that are so named Electors. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) says, The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes
is required to elect the president. Your states entitled allotment of electors equals the number of
members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives

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plus two for your senators. (United States). When a vote is cast by a normal US citizen for a
president, it is actually being cast for that presidents representative, or elector and those electors
in turn cast the formal or final vote.
Some may think that if it was implemented by these wonderful men, and is part of our
constitution why would we need to change it? They studied systems of government in many
different civilizations that had long since come and gone, and those that were also in current
existence. Although they were such incredibly intelligent men there are many things that have
been introduced to the world since then, that at that time would have been inconceivable; such as
the internet, transportation modes, globalization. It is a system that was used to avoid conflict
among states and is a system that may have worked well in the past but is outdated in our current
modern society.
The system of the Electoral College should undergo change to be a popular vote system
where each individual vote counts. Reasons for this are that the electoral college is confusing and
misleading for voters, the electors in 25 states are not obligated to represent the majority of votes
of their state, and that the Electoral College gives an unfair advantage to states where less people
live, like Wyoming. A system of equal representation and value of an individuals vote is a better
fit for our modern society.

The Electoral College is confusing and most of all it is misleading for voters. Voters are lead
to believe that their vote will be counted and it is something respectable. The voter will get a
sticker that says, I voted as a sign of being a concerned and contributing American. It is all a
distraction and redirection of thought just like when a child gets a colorful Band-Aid and sucker
after getting a shot. The big but of it all is that the votes of the individual voters will not be

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valued like the electoral vote will be valued. Not only will it not be valued in the same way but if
an individuals vote in a state where less people lived was compared to an individuals vote in a
state where more people lived it would not be held as equal, as far as the Electoral College is
concerned anyways.
In his article titled Re-examining The Constitution. Kenneth Jost lists several statistics and
facts about the electoral college such as polls that were taken since 1940 till 2011 show that over
60% of voters would prefer a popular vote system (Jost). 60% of voters is a lot of voters. It
would clearly be a simpler form of election. Through a popular vote system all votes would be
equal, all votes would count, and it would encourage more voters to register and vote each year.

The system of the Electoral College is an unfair system where the actual electors do not have
to represent the vote of the people they represent. This fact that the electors are actually the ones
who cast the votes for the president is not something that is mentioned often. Who is to say that
in our current system of government, one that has been known to house some corrupted officials,
the electors are not being bought out to vote for a certain president? In 24 states the electors are
not required to represent the votes of the voters in that state (truTV).
Since 1796, there have been so called deadlocks in presidential elections because of the
Electoral College system. The most recent and fresh being between Bush and Gore. (Jost) In the
2004 elections Gore won the popular vote but Bush ended up winning because of the majority of
the electoral vote. If there were a system of popular vote this would be completely avoided.
There would be no more worry for a deadlock, there would be no swing states, it would only
be a straight and steady election. The term swing states would be forgotten along with the
unfair advantage that the electoral college gives to smaller states.

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The System of the Electoral College gives an unfair advantage in the election to states like
Wyoming, where less people live. Imagine how different the elections would be if every vote
counted rather than a winner takes all system where one candidate can take all 55 votes from
California even if there were a very high amount of voters who voted differently. On a YouTube
channel from College Humor there is a segment called Adam Ruins Everything. In the
segment on the electoral college he explains that even though states such as California are in
most recent elections democratic, if the votes were to be equally represented 16 of the 55 votes
would have gone the republican candidate rather than the winner takes all system we currently
have (truTV). Not only is it unfair that a large amount of votes can be wasted, but the electoral
college gives a huge advantage to states such as Wyoming where there are 3 electoral votes or 1
vote for every 135K voters; whereas in California they have 55 electoral votes or 1 vote for
every 411K voters. It takes 3 Californian voters to equal the one voter in Wyoming giving
Wyoming an unfair advantage in the electoral college (truTV). In her article on the Electoral
College, Tara Ross lists a recent happening in the 2000 elections that there were 2.5 million votes
of Texans in the 2000 elections that were for Al Gore werent counted because George W. Bush
won the electoral vote (Ross). One of the many positive outcomes of reforming or abolishing the
electoral college would be the fact that many more voters would turn out to cast their vote,
especially when they knew that their vote counted for something, rather than being overrun by
the electoral vote, where it really didnt matter what they had to say or think. Despite the
evidence and over 60% of voters wishing things were different, there are those who think it
should remain.

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Those who are for the electoral college often repeat the original idea of the founding fathers
being that the electoral college protects smaller states from being overlooked in the election
process. While it does prove a point that smaller states where less individuals live would not hold
as much weight in the election as larger states with more people it doesnt mean that their votes
wont be counted. The votes in Wyoming will be just as equal as the votes in California, as
opposed to how it is now in our current system.
Another reason why some are for the Electoral College remaining untouched was stated as
so: Such a form of government, the Founders believed, would allow them to achieve two
potentially conflicting objectives: avoiding the "tyranny of the majority" inherent in pure
democratic systems, while allowing the "sense of the people" to be reflected in the new
American government. (Ross) It is clear to see why this would be a common concern among
many Americans. Tyranny and corruption are destroyers of freedom and liberty and other ideals
sought after by so many Americans and citizens of every country across the globe. In the early
days of America, it is clear why the founding fathers would also share these concerns. There
have been a lot of wonderful changes since then, among the which were the voting laws being
changed to where all adult citizens of the U.S. can legally vote regardless of race, or gender. A
change to the popular vote system would not solve world issues such as tyranny, or corruption of
those in power but it would give the members of our society greater power in electing those
officials.

The Electoral College was a marvelous and wonderful system when it was implemented in
the colonial days of America but is a system that is outdated and is in need, and in want of over
60% of voters, of reformation to a system of a popular voting system. Such is the need of a

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democracy. In so doing, voting will become a fairer system for all and will encourage many more
individuals, particularly the younger generations, to vote because they will know that their votes
are actually being counted and valued. Although this system, too, may have its flaws and may
present questions it is a better fit for our modern society.

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Works Cited
Jost, Kenneth. "Re-examining the Constitution." CQ Researcher 7 Sept. 2012: 741-64. Web. 2
Dec. 2015.
Ross, Tara. "The Electoral College Should Not Be Abolished." Democracy. Ed. Mike Wilson.
Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Electoral
College: Enlightened Democracy." Legal Memorandum. 2004. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
truTV. Adam Ruins Everything Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy. Video.
YouTube. Nov. 9, 2015. Web. Dec. 7, 2015.
United States. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Office of the Federal
Register. What is the Electoral College? Washington D.C.: U.S. National Archives and
Records Administration. Web. Dec. 13, 2015.