The United States has used the Electoral College system since the making of its constitution. Although this system seemed to work for the people who lived in the late 1700’s, the system used in today’s society is now considered to be flawed and outdated.
Today’s society is much different than the society that the founding fathers were living in; therefore, the United States of America ought to replace the Electoral College system with a direct national popular vote. As previously stated, the Electoral College system is flawed and outdated. When the constitution was written, there were only seventeen states. In the 18th century, most of the population in the south consisted of slaves, which could not vote, so the Electoral College was essential during this time to ensure that the southern votes were not outweighed by the northern votes. Today there are fifty states and with the United States’ most populous states, it would only take twelve to win an election.
A minority president can win an election without having the majority votes. Thomas Jefferson stated in The Declaration of Independence that, “…all men are created equal..
.”(Jefferson 1776). How can this idea be held true if only twelve states are essential to win an election, leaving the citizens’ votes in the other thirty eight states virtually useless and making them unequal to the other citizens? Also, candidates today focus their campaigning on the larger and more populous states while ignoring the smaller and less populous states because they know that they have a greater chance to win the election if they sway the populous areas rather than the smaller areas of the U.
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S. This decreases the citizens’ motivation to go out and vote, which is a common issue in many states.A direct national popular vote will not only increase voter motivation, but it will also increase voter participation in elections. A smaller state like Rhode Island only has three or four votes in an election, so a citizen living in this state will be demoralized from voting because his or her vote will have little effect on the election. If a direct national vote is put into place, every single vote counts.
There are also Electoral College members called faithless electors. A faithless elector is an Electoral College member that decides to vote against a state’s majority vote. This can also decrease voter participation because of the possibility that even if the majority of the state votes one candidate, the other can be chosen by a faithless elector rendering the majority’s votes useless. Seven electors were found to be faithless in the most recent presidential election.
Also, several elections have been won based on electoral votes even though they lost according to majority votes, including the most recent election.Some people may argue that the Electoral College is written in the constitution, therefore, making it right. This argument is invalid because as stated by Thomas Jefferson in The Declaration of Independence, “…when a long train of abuses and usurpations… reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government…”(Jefferson 1776). As previously stated, the Electoral College system is flawed and outdated and does not support equality, so according to the quote, the people have the right to overthrow this idea.
This makes it clear that the previously stated argument is highly invalid. The constitution has been changed twenty seven times. This is exactly what amendments are for, to change what the constitution says in order to agree with modern society. The Electoral College ought to be replaced with a direct national popular vote for the following reasons: it is flawed and outdated and it does not support the United States’ democratic values.
If the Electoral College is not replaced with a direct national popular vote, it should at least be replaced with a system that is more modern and equal. In conclusion, in order to satisfy the wants and needs of the American people, the Electoral College should be replaced.
