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Article two, Section one of the United States Constitution states that a president can be elected by means of an electoral college. The Electoral College is a group of electors who technically choose the president and vice president of the United States. This group is made up of electors from all of the states that are selected by the general voters in the elections. Each state is allowed a certain number of electors that is directly related to the number of senators and representatives that the state sends to congress. Therefore, each state has at least three electors.
When this Electoral College was originally developed, its intentions were to resolve arguments between states about the elections and the voting power that certain states possessed. It also was intended to prevent the public, or the uneducated masses, from having direct power in the elections. While all of these reasons seemed logical, no one thought about how it would affect the future generations of Americans. Due to the problems America has seen with the Electoral College, such as the deprivation of the people to have a full say in the elections, and the unfairness towards the third party candidates, the Electoral College should be abolished. If the Electoral College continues to exist, America will face numerous hazardous effects on its politics and government. The first and foremost problem is that it deprives American citizens a full voice in choosing their leaders.
Because the state legislations give electoral votes on a winner takes all basis, all individual votes become worthless. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes, but in the election itself, individual votes are not even counted. In addition, each vote is not counted equally. The number of electors is based on the states representation in congress, but since each state has two senators and at least on representative, the votes of the citizens in a smaller state (in terms of population) is worth more than somebody's in a bigger state.
Another problem with the College is that it is extremely unfair to the third party candidates. About twenty third parties exist in the United States, most of which a large portion of the United States voters have not even heard of. Although they do exist, these parties have never seriously competed with the Republicans or Democrats in the elections. Even the most prominent third party candidates have not been very close to being elected. In 1992, Ross Perot, a Reform Party candidate won almost twelve percent of the popular vote (the vote of the public), but the percentage of votes that he won in the official counts was zero.
Even though he was significantly victorious in the popular votes, he did not win a majority of a state and therefore did not receive any electoral votes. There is only one solution to the problems that America has faced with the Electoral College; abolition. The only way that the people will finally have a direct say in the elections, and have every vote count, is to do away with the system entirely. Once the Electoral College is gone, a new voting system should be introduced, where each party nominates a candidate, and the citizens of the United States are responsible for voting for them thereafter.
If no one candidate wins, then a second election should take place between the two candidates who received the most votes in the first election. Until this happens, American democracy is at stake. Americans have seen too many mishaps within the elections that were a direct result of the Electoral College to just sit back and take it all in. Something needs to be done, and that something is the abolition of the Electoral College. This would ensure that the United States government is truly just and that the citizens would have more say in how their country is run. A new voting system would provide all Americans with a voice, and all candidates with an equal chance at winning, which has never before been achieved in the history of the United States.
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Research essay sample on Third Party Candidates Electoral Votes
