POLI 330N Week 4 Assignment: Electoral College- Good or Bad - Download Document For A Pass

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Electoral College: Good or Bad? The Electoral College: The Origins ► Our Leaders aren’t elected by us directly… ► The Electoral College originated as a midway point – the meeting of ... a congressional vote and popular vote by all U.S. citizens for electing the next President ► Originated and formed in writing of the Constitution as a means of protection, mob rule ► Electoral College forms ever 4 years solely for purpose of election Differences in popular vote and electoral college vote ► Popular vote vs. Electoral College vote: When individuals cast ballots in the general election, they are choosing electors and telling them which candidate they think the elector should vote for in the Electoral College. The "national popular vote" is the sum of all the votes cast in the general election, nationwide (Whitman Cobb, 2019) …But what does “should vote for” mean? ► When electing who we think the electoral college should vote for – what does should mean in this context? Can they vote for just anyone, whether or not their party agrees with this? ► Short answer: YES. ► The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and an absolute majority of at least 270 electoral votes is required to win the election How legitimate is this process? ► Possible influence from outside parties, collusion ► More room for fraudulent election activity, buying votes, than in a popular vote – middle man ► Arguments of a classist, elitist system that has been outdated as the country can no longer be properly represented by an electoral college vote built upon the Three-Fifths rule – southern states were to discount their numbers by 3/5 as slaves could not vote Can the Electoral vote differ from the Popular vote? ► Five occasions where the electoral college has differed from popular vote: #1- 1824: Andrew Jackson won popular vote over John Quincy Adams #2 - 1876: Samuel Tilden won popular vote over Rutherford Hayes #3 - 1888: Grover Cleveland won popular vote by less than one percentage point, but Benjamin Harrison won the presidency with 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168 #4 - 2000: Al Gore won popular vote over George W. Bush by about half a million votes, but (after a razor-thin victory in Florida, contested all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court) Bush won a narrow Electoral College majority #5 – 2016: Donald Trump garnered 2.8 million fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton, but won a decisive victory, 304 to 227, in the Electoral College. (Whitman Cobb, 2019), (Guelzo, A., Luce, H., Drutman, L., & Bhidé, A) 2016 Election: Criticism of the Electoral College reignites ► The outcome of the 2016 election ignited a series of complaints about the system that last circulated a decade and a half prior ► Though this was the fifth total time this has occurred, this was the second time ever that the electoral college voted differently than popular vote in a two major candidate election ► Newly elected president went from businessman with no political presence to leader of our country ► Rumors have circulated since of collusion and voting fraud in addition to criticism of a system that doesn’t align with what the citizens want (Guelzo, A., Luce, H., Drutman, L., & Bhidé, A) In Defense of the Electoral College ► The electoral college was deliberately designed to protect the nation from “the worst human impulses” and the dangers of a democracy ► The electoral college is the only party mentioned in the Constitution for electing the president ► Embedded in the idea that we are a federal republic (Guelzo, A., Luce, H., Drutman, L., & Bhidé, A) Decision: Dump the Electoral College ► Founded on now unnecessary need to protect the country and its citizens from mob rule, the system is outdated and unjust ► Founded on a conventional party built on systemic racism, and discounted human life and political representation by a dated 3/5 rule - devalues the lives of those we are working to fairly represent ► Potential solution: redetermining number of parties per state based on current population, an asterisk clause for overrule by popular vote should it be by x% to prevent fraudulent electoral voting References ► Guelzo, A., Luce, H., Drutman, L., & Bhidé, A. (n.d.). In Defense of the Electoral College. Retrieved June 01, 2020, from https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/in-defense-of- the-electoral-college ► Presidential Election Process. (n.d.). Retrieved June 01, 2020, from https://www.usa.gov/electionThe House Explained. (2019). Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.house.gov/the-house- explained ► Rifkin, J. (2020). Members of Congress | Ohio. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/OH ► Whitman Cobb, W. N. (2020). Political science today (1st ed.). Washington, DC: Sage, CQ Press. [Show More]

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