Electoral College System Pros and Cons

Every four years in November, millions of American citizens participate in the U.S election, where they vote for a specific candidate with the hope that their chosen candidate will make the future of America more bright. However, a presidential candidate is not chosen just based on the popular vote of American citizens because the U.S election process includes a system known as the Electoral College, which decides who wins the race of Presidency. The Electoral College was created by the founding fathers of the U.S because the founding fathers believed that choosing a president through popular vote or by the Congress vote was an ineffective approach to choose a president. 

The Electoral College system includes a group of electors from each state who are chosen based on the total number of representatives of each state in Congress. Also, each state in the U.S receives electoral votes based on population size. Moreover, a candidate who wins the popular vote of a specific state, then that candidate receives all the electoral college votes of that particular state. There are a total of 538 electoral votes, and the candidate who receives nearly half or 270 electoral college votes wins the presidential race. However, many experts believe that the electoral college system is an ineffective way of choosing a president because it seems that the will of American citizens is completely ignored in the U.S election. Currently, in modern society, many political experts are debating over the most controversial topic of politics, which is that whether the electoral college system should be abolished from the U.S election or not. For example, many experts around the globe support the idea of keeping the electoral college system because they believe that this system determines the most credible outcome of the U.S election. Hence various strengths and weaknesses of the electoral college system have been discussed throughout the paper.

One great advantage of keeping the electoral vote system in the United States is that during election days, this system forces each candidate to conduct their campaigns in smaller parts of the United States. For example, in the 2016 election, many American people saw that Trump was conducting his campaigns more in the midwestern region because he wanted to take advantage of all those regions in the 2016 election. After all, he knew the fact that even if he receives fewer popular votes compared to Hillary Clinton, there is a still high chance he could win the election because he will receive more electoral college votes from the midwestern part. Another positive aspect of keeping the electoral college system is that it avoids voter fraud. As an example, the electoral college system makes it impossible for individuals to predict which states are important, and therefore no one has the idea of which votes they need to steal in order to change the outcome of the election. Besides this, the electoral college system keeps the principle of federalism alive. Federalism involves the distribution of powers among the state, federal, and local governments rather than the creation of a strong centralized government. Furthermore, Trent England, a political expert believes that the electoral college vote system should be kept in the U.S election because it protects against uneducated voters. Ultimately, the electoral college system puts the final decision of the election in the hands of those electors who are highly educated, and this prevents the uneducated voters from electing a weak president. Therefore, one best solution for keeping the electoral college system alive in the future is to expand the members of the House of representatives because the members of the house are significantly important for the Electoral college system as every state gets one electoral vote per house district, including two senators.

While there are many positive reasons to keep the electoral college system in the election, there is a dark side of it where many individuals believe that the electoral vote system should be abolished from the American election. One major reason to get rid of the electoral college system is due to the problem of a winner-take-all method that is used in the election. In addition, the electoral college system is flawed because this system uses the winner-take-all method, which results in the wastage of votes of millions of American citizens. For instance, when millions of votes are wasted in an election, it has a negative impact on campaigns because battlegrounds such as Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Georgia, etc., experience more federal rejections and disaster declarations. Although, the winner-take-all method ensures that a popular presidential candidate wins the election, but certainly this system does not represent the minority group of people. Thus, this becomes a major issue during election days in the U.S because many American people want to have a feeling that their voice or vote is also involved in the election process.

 Besides this, during the time of income inequality and geographical disparities across different states, it is more likely that the electoral college will effectively overrepresent the views of a small group of people as a result of the structure of the electoral college system. Many opponents argue that the electoral college system violates the basic democratic principles because this system makes the vote of one American citizen more worth than the vote of a different individual. Consequently, if we get rid of the electoral college system, then the vote of every American citizen will be equally important as it should be. Based upon different researchers and studies over the controversial topic of the electoral college system, the main question that can be asked from this research is that are there any other best alternatives that can be implemented or used to solve the problem of the electoral college system dispute? Well, the one best alternative that can be used to get rid of the electoral college system is amending the constitution itself. In general, to make this alternative reality into the American society, this process would nearly require an affirmation from both the House and Senate and nearly approval from 38 states out of 50.

In conclusion, the debate between many political experts over the topic of keeping the electoral college system will continue in future generations. After completing my research on this topic, I strongly believe that it is now time to get rid of the electoral college system from the U.S election because this system makes it very difficult to hear the importance of voice and vote of the American citizens in the election process. Throughout many years, we have seen that the Electoral college system has shown us its both negative and positive side of it in the U.S election. Hence, it is understandable that no system remains perfect forever, and as a nation develops day by day, it is important to build a new system, which has a positive impact on different communities and societies. American society has developed in many different ways, and have handled a variety of situations through the use of modern technology. Therefore, there is no doubt that if the United States creates a new form of the voting system, it will benefit the American citizens in many different ways.