Majority Of Electoral Votes example essay topic

The Electoral College is the system established by the Founding Fathers to select the President of the United States. It is important that Americans have a fundamental knowledge of this system, and the obstacles overcame in its development. There were many obstacles faced by the Founding Fathers while constructing the government. America was comprised of 13 states that wanted to protect their individual rights and leery of a strong centralized government.

The nation's population lay across a vast area with limited communication capabilities. In addition, the Founders believed that a true gentleman should not campaign for office. "The office should seek the man, the man should not seek the office" was the saying. They challenged themselves with overcoming these and other obstacles in order to produce a system that would provide a stable and powerful executive branch of government. The Constitutional Congress set out to develop a way to select the president.

One idea proposed was to have Congress elect the president. Some felt that this procedure would invite political bargaining and corruption. They felt the president might feel obligated to aid Congress in passing legislation by not vetoing. Others felt this system would upset the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.

In spite of its drawbacks, this system was brought to a vote on four separate occasions (Peirce 39). A second idea was to have the president elected by a direct vote system. Many people did not believe in this type of system, however three very prominent figures did: James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and James Madison (Peirce 41). They believed that the duty of the president was to protect the people from the legislature, and that the people should be allowed to their protector. However, most of the Founders believed that the average citizen would not have enough knowledge of the candidates to make an educated choice. They believed that the people were generally misinformed and easily misled (Peirce 41).

The direct vote system also favored the larger more populated states with little regard for the people of the smaller ones. This system was voted down twice, but aided in recognizing the drawbacks of the Congress electing the president (Peirce 41). A third idea was to have the state legislatures select the president. This idea was also rejected due to the fear of political bargaining and corruption. They felt this system could possibly undermine the authority of the centralized government. The possibility also existed of the each state legislature voting for only one of their state's "favorite sons".

This could lead to no single candidate winning a majority, thus no president selected. Finally, an indirect election of the president through a College of Electors was proposed. The original idea was to have the most informed individuals from each state select the president. They were to base their decision solely on merit without regard to state of origin or political party of the candidates. The elector system was voted down twice, once as the electors to be chosen by each state legislature and the other as the electors to be chosen by direct vote. It passed under a compromise that granted the individual states the power to decide how to choose their electors (Peirce 44).

Initially, different states adopted different methods for choosing their electors. Some states decided to have the state legislatures select the electors. Other states chose the district system, where the people of each congressional district select the electors. States also used the general ticket system where the winner of the popular vote for that state received all of the electoral votes (Glennon 12).

Due to problems associated with the other systems, the general ticket system emerged as the dominating method for elector selection (Glennon 13). Today, all states choose their electors by the general ticket system except Maine and Nebraska. The general ticket system has turned the electors into "mere mandarin toys that nod when set in motion", according to Professor Lucius Wilmer ding (Glennon 13). Electors were chosen from a single list of eligible candidates.

Federal government employees were ineligible to become an elector in order to maintain the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. Each state was allowed a number of electors equal to the number of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives for their respective states. This compromise allowed the smaller states an equal voice by ensuring they received a minimum of three electoral votes. The first design of the Electoral College required each elector to cast two votes for president, one of which had to be for someone outside their own state. This prevented them from voting one of their state's "favorite sons". Each state's electors were required to meet in their own state, normally the state capital, rather than collectively as a group.

This was to eliminate the possibility of corruption. The candidate that received the most votes became the president and the runner up became the vice-president. The first design of the Electoral College only lasted for four presidential elections. The second design was established by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. It required the electors to cast one vote for president and one for vice-president rather than cast two votes for president. The Twelfth Amendment also states that the president must win a majority of electoral votes.

If no one candidate wins a majority, the House of Representatives will select the president from the top three contenders. In the House, each state is allowed to cast only one vote collectively. This applies to the election of vice president also. In addition, either the presidential or the vice presidential candidate voted for by the elector has to be from outside that elector's own state. The Electoral College has been used as the system to select the President of the United States for over two hundred years. The system was devised by the Founding Fathers to ensure that the selected president would receive the support of all the states.

The system helped to maintain a strong centralized government and union. The Electoral College has been used to maintain a fair presidential selection system with little room for corruption or favoritism. It has been a part of our system of checks and balances by maintaining a clearly defined separation of the legislative and executive branches. There have been some bumps along the way, however the Electoral College is still an essential part of our elections system.

Bibliography

Glennon, Michael J. When No Majority Rules. Washington: Congressional Quarterly Inc, 1992.
Peirce, Neal R. The People's President. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.