Today, opinions on the future of the Electoral College range from protecting it as the basis of American democracy to abolishing it completely as an ineffective and obsolete system that may not accurately reflect the will of the people. All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. In 2016, for instance, Democrat Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump in the presidential election, after racking up more lopsided wins in big states like New York and California. What are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College? Many of these states dont participate in campaign visits or get televised ads. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The itineraries of presidential candidates in battleground states (and their allocation of other campaign resources) demonstrate what every gubernatorial or senatorial candidate in every state already knows namely that when every vote matters, the campaign must be run in every part of the state. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. Certain penalties exist in other states. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. Here are the essential pros and cons of popular vote elections to examine. According to the Constitution, the Electoral College is a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens (National Archives). A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. In the 2016 election, "swing states" that might vote Republican or Democrat like Wisconsin were targets of candidates Donald J. Trump and Hillary R. Clinton. cons of the national popular vote planproperty management without a license in texas aot 4, 2022 12:34 . This four-part series, hosted in partnership with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, will explore key topics in election administration such as funding, voter registration list maintenance, post-election audits and voting technology in conversations with each of the agency's four commissioners. 7. When you talk about the Electoral College shaping the election, it shapes the election all the time because it puts the focus on certain states and not others, said Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard University. A candidate may not have to concentrate anymore, but they may have to move their attention to states such as Texas, New York, California, and Alaska. In contrast, other issues related to the federal government are not exclusively entrusted to the states, and therefore the states lack the power to alter them. (2021, Jun 14). That could lead to a very bad situation where, instead of the people voting in November to determine who the next president is, one or two states could effectively decide who becomes the next president simply by joining or withdrawing from the NPV Compact and changing the rules on how the votes for president are counted in the next election. Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. After all, the Electoral College makes it possible that a candidate who wins the majority of the votes could still lose the election. In 2016, for instance, Democrat Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump in the presidential election, after racking up more lopsided wins in big states like New York and California. Analyzes how william j.d. The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. https://www.nytimes.com/article/the-electoral-college.html. Gives too few states too much electoral power. The Compact ensures that every vote, in every state, will matter in every presidential election. Students share their findings. If some of the 50 states and DC cannot certify their popular votes by the December deadline that could create a constitutional crisis where we would not have all of the state Electoral College votes certified by the time the Electoral College is required to vote according to the Constitution. States boyd, william j.d., "electoral college system challenged." national civic review 55.9 (1966): 519-23. 2. ; Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. If you need 321 electoral votes to win, and you can get 102 by winning the national 354 popular plurality, you need only 219 of the state electoral votes. 8. But if we set politics aside and focus on what is really best for democracy in our country in the long run I believe that the advantages of using the NPV compact to elect our president outweigh the disadvantages and the best way to elect our president in the 21st century is by direct popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. Find the most comprehensive and complete 50-state information in NCSL's searchable bill tracking databases. Reduces voter participation by creating a my vote doesnt matter feeling. Currently, Republicans control 26 state delegations, while Democrats control 22. The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. 6. That created a voter value of 2.85. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. One such movement, the National Popular Vote plan would ensure that the winner of the popular vote would also win at least enough Electoral College votes to be elected president. The idea has public support, but faces a partisan divide, since Republicans currently benefit from the electoral clout of less populous, rural states. Each states electoral votes are tallied by Congress in the House chamber by House and Senate representatives on the 6th day of January following the Presidential election. In a stark example, sparsely populated Wyoming has three votes and a population of about 580,000, giving its individual voters far more clout in the election than their millions of counterparts in densely populated states like Florida, California and New York. A faithless elector in the United States is someone who casts an electoral ballot for someone other than the individuals to whom they are pledged. 5. SUPPORTED BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral College. On Dec. 14, as electors gathered across the country to cast their ballots, Joseph R. Biden Jr. had earned 306 electoral votes, 36 more than needed to win. Consequently, they decided that using the proxy votes of the well-informed electors would lessen the risk of tyranny of the majority, in which the voices of the minority are drowned out by those of the masses. Prevents disputed outcomes ensuring a peaceful transition of power Reduces the costs of national presidential campaigns. The amendment requires that any change to the rate of compensation for members of Congress can only take effect after a subsequent election in the House of Representatives. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. Have your students learn more about the results of one of the following 19th century presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1836, 1872, 1876, or 1888. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. The National Popular Vote Plan is an alternative system that would still use electors to cast their votes but instead it would give each state's votes to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote. The National Popular Vote; States in the National Popular Vote Compact; Voter Trends in 2016; Public Opinion on the Electoral College; What Congress Is Doing on the Electoral College; Pros & Cons of Ending Surprise Medical Billing; Pros & Cons of Mail-In Voting; Pros & Cons of Ending Surprise Medical Billing; PROs. That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. Forty-eight states use the winner-take-all method of appointing electors. This outdated institution creates unnecessary . Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Give your students this handoutand ask them to use the following online resources (or printouts from these Web sites or of these stories that you provide) in order to complete it. 9. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that are not affected by this approach. Because of how the system is set up, it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and another to win the electoral vote. Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. If the presidential election were switched to the popular vote, then it would only take about 35% of the vote for a candidate to win. The House of Representatives picked Adams over Andrew Jackson, who won the popular vote but only a plurality of the Electoral College. Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. In the early 19th century, many states ratified an approach that would allow the candidate with the most votes in that state to be the winner. When you vote for a presidential candidate, you are actually voting for a group of electors from your state who have all pledged to vote for your candidate. Some states list electors names on the general election ballot. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. PBS: What does voter turnout tell us about the 2016 election. It would require an Amendment in the U.S. for presidential elections. After students have completed their handouts, have them debate the pros and cons of the Electoral College. 5 terms. More than 74 million votes had been counted for Mr. Trump. Often ignored, Americans had a lesson on the workings of the Electoral College after the 2000 election, in which Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush became president. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. For instance, if you have a score of 659 and are borrowing 75% of the home's value, you'll pay a fee equal to 1.5% of the loan balance whereas you'd pay no fee if you had a 780+ credit score. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. This is a situation that has caused controversy in the election years of of 1800, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016 when the elected president won the Electoral College and the presidency but did not win the popular vote. But theres a separate movement that calls for a compact of states to allocate all their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, regardless of how those individual states opted in an election. It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. 3. Thats the way it has been in this country for a long time. The nations founders hoped to quell the formation of powerful factions and political parties, and they wanted a mechanism that did not rely solely on popular majorities or Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could determine the ability of state law enforcement agencies to use civil asset forfeiture, a practice that four states have abolished entirely. Electoral College Pros and Cons. Today, electors meet in their respective states on the first Monday after the second Wednesday of December Dec. 14 this year to cast separate ballots for president and vice president, with the candidates who receive a majority of votes being elected. It has been enacted by twelve states, which include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California. If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. Because of the state Winner-Take-All rules, which arent even part of the Constitution, they can lead to presidential elections where the winner of the election doesnt have the most popular votes. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Copyright 2023 NewsHour Production LLC. (2021, February 17). The same thing happened in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral college vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Our experts will write for you an essay on any topic, with any deadline and requirements from scratch, Electoral College and National Popular Vote Pros and Cons. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. Retrieved from https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Should the Electoral College Be Abolished, Pros for The Electoral College in the United States, Electoral College is Undemocratic but We Have no Better System, The Electoral College Should Be Terminated, The Electoral College Annotated Bibliography. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This move would ensure that the Presidency would be given to the candidate that received the most popular votes all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. That important decision ultimately falls to the Electoral College. Due to some states being heavily populated in comparison to others, that may help a candidate quickly obtain a win. Voters in spectator states, including five of the nations 10 most populous states (California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey), and 12 of the 13 least populous states (all but New Hampshire) have no real incentive to go to the polls as their votes do not affect the outcome of the election. Two exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which rely on congressional districts to divvy up electoral votes. Longley, Robert. 3. Inside Ohio or Florida, to pick two examples, the big cities do not receive all the attention, and they certainly do not control the outcome. Individual states agree to pledge their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, provided that enough other states follow suit. If the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact becomes law it would be an excellent first step to help get a future amendment to the Constitution to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect the president with a national popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. BY . The decision on vice president goes to the newly elected Senate, with each senator casting a vote. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. In all states but Maine and Nebraska, the winner of each state will take all of that state's electoral votes. What would happen during a switch to the popular vote would be unknown. Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. Congress broke the tie, and Jefferson became president and Burr became vice president. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clintons 227 electoral votes. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. I will explain that in another blog post. Cleveland ran again four years later and won back the White House. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. The Electoral College also inspires many what-if scenarios, some of them more likely than others. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. The states that join the NPV Compact will not be able to certify their Electoral College Votes until all 50 states and DC certify their state popular votes and any mandated/requested recounts since the Compact state ECVs are dependent on the winner of the national popular vote and not just their own state popular votes. 5. If the National Popular Vote bill was secured within the American government, it would protect every vote and would allow those votes to equally matter in the presidential election. Reduces voter participation by creating a "my vote doesn't matter" feeling. Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. 4 terms. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. For years there have been debates about abolishing the Electoral College entirely, with the 2016 election bringing the debate back to the surface. The NPV is a multi-state agreement that, when active, would ensure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally also wins in the Electoral College. Candidates feel these states need a little bit more of their attention and apply pressure to supply these states with solutions to their problems in order to gain their vote. The winner of the states popular vote gets two electoral votes, and one vote is awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district. (The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.). The Electoral College system was established by Article II of the U.S. Constitution in 1788. The Founders believed that most common citizens of the day were poorly educated and uninformed on political issues. Fellows will focus on important federal legislation, and find ways they can improve their state's child welfare program. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. There are currently 538 electors, and to be elected, a candidate must get the votes of at least 270 electors. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. 3. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. For example, if a state used NPV and voted for candidate A, but candidate B received the most votes nationwide, the state would allocate its presidential electors to candidate B. The one-vote approach does not align with the way the electoral votes operates. This unique system of electing presidents is a big reason why Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. You can use essay samples to find ideas and inspiration for your paper. During a popular vote, a candidate who withdraws from the race or dies before the election can be held could still be on the ballot. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. Lastly, some Americans believe that there would be an increase in voter turn-out if people felt that their vote was viewed as a significant asset to their country. Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. Fifteen states and DC have already enacted it into law, for a total of 196 electoral votes. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. The total number of electoral votes assigned to each state varies depending on population, but each state has at least three, and the District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961. 5. President Trump had earned 232 electoral . Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. [ 1] Although this may limit the amount of diversity that occurs in office, and may generate extra financial costs, the argument could be made that these risks outweigh the results of an election where a majority of states, not a majority of people, put someone into office. A special commission named by the House chose Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden, after 20 electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina were disputed. For more information on this topic, use this form to reach NCSL staff. The Electoral College system, long a source of controversy, came under especially heavy criticism after the 2016 presidential election when Republican Donald Trump lost the nationwide popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by over 2.8 million votes but won the Electoral Collegeand thus the presidencyby 74 electoral votes.
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