Electoral College Votes example essay topic

When Americans vote, each and every vote is not counted, they are voting for the 538 individuals who make up the Electoral College. Most states award their electoral vote to the candidate who has won the popular vote. Let me emphasize, "Most". The campaign for 2004 that was directed towards my generation was "Vote or Die" (MTV 2004), with words as strong as those, a person like myself, would assume my vote actually counted.

But, as I learn more about politics, and the whole Electoral College process, I am stunned and quite aggravated. Honestly I would have probably not ran out and registered to vote, and voted for the first time in my life, if I had known that my vote really didn't matter. They do "claim" that every vote counts, but once again I must emphasize, most states award the electoral vote to the candidate that has won the popular vote. To me this means that even if all the votes of a particular state point to one candidate, it isn't guaranteed that the candidate that should plainly win the state actually will. I really do not support the Electoral College, I do believe if we allow a Constitutional Amendment to be passed to completely abolish the Electoral College; it will open the doors to other requests that may challenge to abolish any one of our rights. Although I do believe there is something that can be done to make the Electoral College a little bit fairer where all of our voices can be heard.

The Electoral College system is said to be the subject of persistent criticism, and there has been many proposals of reform. There are several plans in which to change and even abolish the Electoral College. The Direct Election Plan: Under the Direct Election Plan, the Electoral College would be completely abolished. This means that the President and Vice President would be elected directly by the popular vote.

The major advantage of this plan is that every vote would carry equal weight. The said disadvantage to this plan is that it would require a full Constitutional Amendment, which is very unlikely. I personally feel this plan is a long shot because in order to build a new Amendment the individuals that would be voting on it, are the same ones that would have to relinquish there voting rights in order to abolish the Electoral College. The District Plan: This plan would preserve the Electoral College and the basic method of electing the President and Vice President. It would eliminate the "winner takes all" aspect of today's Electoral College. The advantages to the District Plan are that it would better represent the voter in every state and district.

Also, it would not require a full Constitutional Amendment. This plan would also be effective even if only adopted in a limited number of states. The main disadvantage is that this plan does require initiatives in every state. I think this plan is beneficial because I don't think there would be much resistance from the Electoral College supporters. The Proportional Method: This option would reform the process to allocate the Electors based on the statewide vote. One variation of this plan is requiring a certain percentage threshold to receive the Electoral votes.

This option has not been studied as much as the previous options, but there are a few advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that this plan would ensure third party candidates receive Electoral College votes. The disadvantage is that they would encounter strong major party resistance in every state. Coming from my point of view, which to be honest I have never been very into politics, it is time for a change. I did mention earlier that I did not believe abolishing the Electoral College would be the right way to go, but there are several reform plans out there. I know that some people may argue that it is part of our Constitution, and it is the way the framers intended it to be.

I don't find that to be very legitimate, there has been Amendments since the framers built our Constitution, and this subject, like others that have been amended, needs some attention. Times have changed; back when the framers sat down at the Convention, I am sure they never could have believed that women would vote, or even that anyone of the age of 18 could vote. So times do change, and there are demands that show there face. I think our demand today should be that everyone's voice is heard!

Bibliography

. Paige Whitaker, Legislative Attorney-American Law Division, Thomas H. Neale, Government and Finance Division CRS Report for Congress The Electoral College; An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals 2, 4-9, 20-31 Retrieved May 10, 2005 from Fpc. state. gov / documents /organization/38002. pdf.