Five times in American history, a presidential candidate has won the popular vote (the vote by the people), but lost the Electoral College and was, therefore, not elected. The 2016 election of President Donald Trump was one. This begs the question, why do we have the Electoral College at all?
The concept of the Electoral College was conceived by our Founding Fathers during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. They argued for some time on whether the election should be decided upon by the people of the United States or Congress. Their compromise was the Electoral College.
But you may be wondering, what really is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is made up of a group of electors who meet every four years, a few weeks after the election (this year on December 14th), to determine the presidency. Technically, the people of America are not the ones electing the president at all, the Electoral College is. Each state receives a certain number of electoral votes, roughly based on population. Each state gets as many electoral votes as they have legislators in Congress. California has the most Electoral College votes, 55, but there are states with only 3. There are 538 electoral votes in total, and a candidate must earn 270 to win the presidential race. In this past election, US President-elect, Joe Biden, secured 306 electoral votes in his win.
Customarily, a state will award all of its electoral votes to the candidate who won the popular vote. So, if a candidate won 50.9% of the popular vote in Pennsylvania, they would gain all 20 of its electoral votes. Even if the candidate wins by a much larger margin, they still get the same number of electoral votes. The only exception to this is the states Maine and Nebraska who split their electoral votes among the congressional districts, but still give out electoral votes statewide.
Why do people think the Electoral College is unfair?
Well, the United States of America is a democracy. That means that people have a right to choose their government leaders. So, when the people’s vote doesn’t technically count toward the election, it is wrong. A president could be elected for winning by less than a percentage in many states, having gained all of their electoral votes, and making it to 270 without securing the popular vote. They did not win the popular vote because their opponent won in states with bigger populations. In 2016, Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in the popular vote by 3,000,000 votes. That means 3,000,000 more people voted for her than President Trump, and he was still elected. In 2000, Al Gore won by more than half a million votes, and George Bush was elected because he won the electoral college. This instance has occurred three other times. As you can see, our election is not really even up to us.
So, do you think we should fight to abolish the Electoral College and give a voice back to the people, or do you believe that the Electoral College is a system that works for and benefits all?
Commentaires