Dandashli 1

Ida Dandashli
Professor Sotirakopulos
English 1102-116
13 May 2016
Every Vote Matters

Ever since the establishment of the Electoral College in 1787, the United States has been
electing presidents by following a very particular set of rules. The founding fathers established
this system in the Constitution as an accommodation between electing the President by
Congressional vote and by the popular vote of licensed citizens. Most states elect presidential
candidates by a winner-take-all system in which all electoral votes are given to the winner of
that state. As an American citizen and licensed voter, I do not view this system to be a
representative way of electing the leader of the nation. Academic journalists such as Carolyn
Jefferson-Jenkins, William C. Kimberling, and Norman R. Williams also believe that time to
eliminate this system and consider other methods of selecting the president has arrived. I believe
that presidents in the United States should be elected by a direct popular vote rather than by a
winner-take-all system to ensure that every vote submitted for a particular nominee is present
and accounted for by the end of the election.
To begin with, the Electoral College is a voting system that has been used to select
candidates in the United States for over 200 years. Rather than by the people, presidents and
vice presidents are elected by Electors that are appointed by each state, which together form the
Electoral College. Norman R. Williams from the Georgetown Law Journal mentions that the
Framers of the Constitution chose to adopt this indirect system of voting to provide the
President with a degree of independence from Congress. Were the President selected by

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Congressthe Framers feared that he would be too dependent on Congress and that potential
candidates for the office would seek congressional support by making undesirable, if not
downright corrupt, promises in return for such support (Williams 180). In order to bypass this
dependency, the Framers specified that each state is to receive a number of Electors that are
equal to the number of its Representatives and Senators in Congress.
The process of the Electoral College includes the appointment of 538 electors
nationwide, the gathering of the electors to vote for the President and Vice President, and then
finally, the counting of the total number of electoral votes by Congress. A majority of 270
electoral votes is mandatory to appoint a particular president. The number of electoral votes
given to each state depends on that states size and population. The larger the state, the more
Representatives it possess in Congress and therefore the more electoral votes it is able to award
the winning presidential candidate of that particular state.
Throughout the course of American history, there have been many different takes on the
Electoral College system on both ends of the scale. The controversy between whether or not the
system is a representative way of distributing American citizens votes continues to be a popular
topic of discussion. Though the system has been enacted for over 200 years, many people believe
that the time to eliminate the practice has arrived. When asked the fairest method for determining
a president, my field research conducted with 13 of my English Composition 1102 classmates
indicated that 15.38% answered a winner-take-all system and 84.62% answered a direct
popular vote. These results, though they do not represent the American society as a whole,
demonstrate that more and more individuals view the winner-take-all method of election as
unfair and would prefer a direct election. However, there are still defenders of the system who
believe it should continue to be enforced. The Electoral College is not a fair system to use when

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selecting the ruler of the nation. Presidents should be elected by a direct popular vote to ensure
that no votes get tossed out and that they all equally contribute to the final decision.
Individuals who object to the Electoral College system and prefer a direct method of
electing the president typically do so for several reasons. According to William C. Kimberling
from the Federal Election Commission, the opposers of the Electoral College may do so for the
following four reasons: the possibility of electing a minority president, the risk of so-called
"faithless" Electors, the possible role of the Electoral College in depressing voter turnout, and its
failure to accurately reflect the national popular will (12). Electing a candidate who did not
receive the popular vote does not accurately portray what the voters as a whole desired for the
country. For instance, the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 would have had
a different turn out if presidents were elected based on the national popular vote. If that were the
case, Al Gore would have won the presidential nomination that year by more than 500,000
popular votes, which may have completely altered the history of the United States since 2000.
The Electoral College tends to exaggerate the popular vote such that the smaller states are
favored more than the larger states. Every state and its population should be viewed as equal and
should follow the reasonable concept of one person, one vote.
Continuing on, being established in the eighteenth century, the original intent of the
Electoral College is no longer appropriate in todays society. When the system was first set in
place in the late 1700s, democracy was comprehensively different from what it currently
represents. During those times, women, African Americans, and people who did not own
property were not eligible to vote. The Framers of the Constitution were completely against the
concept of popular opinion and therefore set up the Electoral College believing that only specific
groups of men could be trusted with selecting the president. According to Carolyn Jefferson-

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Jenkins from the University of Vermont, The idea that the people aren't qualified to choose their
president directly does not hold up. The course of American history has been inexorably
[moving] toward greater fairness, uniformity, and inclusiveness in our democracy. Yet the system
for electing the most important representative of the American people is stuck in a time warp
(PP 4). In order to fairly represent the American people, the president should be directly elected
with respect to the popular vote. The direct method of election is not only more civil but also
strengthens the amount of voter participation by providing voters with a direct and equal
opportunity in electing the president.
While there are many who oppose the Electoral College and believe it should be
eliminated, there still remain those who continue to favor the winner-take-all system of
election. According to Kimberling, supporters of the Electoral College system normally defend it
for reasons such as that it contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a
distribution of popular support to be elected president, enhances the status of minority interests,
contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system, and
maintains a federal system of government and representation (15). Ethnic minority groups of
the United States are most heavily populated in the states with the most electoral votes and
therefore supply a substantial amount of votes toward certain candidates. Supporters of the
Electoral College believe that converting to a direct method of election would damage the
significance of minority groups since their votes would be overruled by a national popular
majority. However, a states electoral vote does not exactly correlate to the number of active
voters within that state. Even if a limited number of citizens vote at the polls, all of that states
electoral votes get casted. A direct election would not damage the significance of minority
groups because it abides by the concept of one person, one vote; regardless of ethnic origin.

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Before the United States could convert to a direct method of election, should it decide to
do so, certain events would have to take place. Firstly, American citizens can always legally
protest against the Electoral College outside of government buildings. With enough people
protesting against a constitutionally related issue, awareness to the problem becomes apparent in
society and may lead to changes; especially if observed by officials high in the United States
government. Citizens may also write to their states elected officials requesting the Electoral
College be replaced with a direct election. If protesting and contacting elected officials is
successful, it will lead to a vote to amend the Constitution. In order to change a Constitutional
amendment, two-thirds of the House and Senate must approve a given proposal. If allowed, the
proposal is then sent to the states, where it must receive at least a seventy-five percent approval
rate. Though the process of amending the Constitution is rather gradual, it is the most logical
approach to eliminating the Electoral College and establishing a direct election based merely on
the national popular vote.
Presidents in the United States should be elected by a direct popular vote rather than by
a winner-take-all system to ensure that every vote submitted for a particular nominee is present
and accounted for by the end of the election. The Electoral College is the current voting system
in the United States for over two centuries. Rather than by the people, presidents and vice
presidents are elected by Electors that are appointed by each state, which together form the
Electoral College. The dispute between whether or not the system is a representative way of
conveying the votes of American citizens has been unsettled for quite some time. The Electoral
College is not a fair system to use when selecting the ruler of the nation because it tosses out
the votes of a states losing candidate since all the electoral votes are awarded to that states
winning candidate; therefore not properly representing those votes by the end of the election.

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Presidents should be elected by a direct popular vote to ensure that all votes casted for a
certain candidate equally contribute towards the final decision.

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Works Cited
What is the Electoral College?. National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 10 April
2016.
Dandashli, Ida. Do You Think The Electoral College is Fair? Survey. Survey Monkey. 23 April
2016. Web. 30 April 2016.
Jefferson-Jenkins, Carolyn. Who Should Elect the President?. National Civic Review. Volume
90. Page 173. Summer 2001. Web. 13 April 2016.
Kimberling, William C. The Electoral College. Federal Election Commission. May 1992. Web.
11 April 2016.
Williams, Norman R. Reforming the Electoral College: Federalism, Majoritarianism, and the
Perils of Subconstitutional Change. The Georgetown Law Journal. 2011. Web. 10 April
2016.