The Electoral College - Is It Really the Best?

The elections of 1824, 1876, 2000, and 2016 were all elections when the Electoral College chose the winner of the United States Presidency, not the people. The Electoral College is a body of roughly 538 people, who formally cast votes for the roles of the President and Vice President. However, some citizens are starting to believe there is a better option of electing a President: the popular vote. The popular vote is when citizens vote for a specific Presidential candidate, but the votes do not count towards the election. If the US replaced the Electoral College with the popular vote, the candidate with the most votes would win the election. Although the founding fathers decided the President to be elected by the Electoral College, the US President should be elected based on the popular vote because the Electoral College is an indirect method of election, creates the possibility of a tie vote, and it causes distortion in the campaign.

The United States should do away with the Electoral College because it is an indirect method of electing a President. Voters do not get a true say when voting because of the Electoral College. Chip Brown, a teaching associate in department of politics at Coastal Carolina University, states, “By constitutional design, the voters do not have final word on whom the president will be; a group of electors does. For this reason, the Electoral College should be abolished, or failing that, a process needs to be adopted to ensure that the national popular vote is the sole determining factor in who becomes President.” This quote shows significance because it is stating that the national popular vote is a reflection of the true voice of the voters. Chip Brown also states, “The winner-take-all system in all but one state means that Republican voters in solidly blue states and Democratic voters in solidly red states might as well not show up to the polls since their votes do not count in awarding electoral votes-thus they do not count in determining who is to become president.” This statement exemplifies how the candidates and their campaigns only focus on certain states due to the Electoral College and how the electoral votes are not equal amongst the states. Does it make sense when America votes for one candidate, and the Electoral College awards the election to another? Despite strong public support for direct popular election, formally modifying the Constitution is a laborious process so little movement has been made to change. This indirect method of determining the next president continues to take place.

The United States should remove the Electoral College because it can result in a tie vote. One significant occurrence that could happen in result of a tie vote is it would take an extended amount of time to solve the issue and the United States would not have a President by Inauguration Day. Eric Black, senior writer, explains, “in almost every recent election there has been a relatively credible scenario for such an outcome.” This describes how in recent elections the possibility of a tie is increasing and an act should be done to prevent an issue like this from occurring. In the result of a tie, the vote is headed to the House of Representatives and the Senate where further action is done to have a compromise. This causes the Vice President to continue working and not having a new President can result in several other difficulties. Robert Longley, municipal government writer for 26 years, states, “if the House has failed to select a new president by Jan. 20, the vice president-elect serves as acting president until the deadlock is resolved. In other words, the House keeps voting until the tie is broken.” The process of having the House continue voting until a tie is broken takes a prolonged amount of time and is not beneficial to the country. If the United States used the popular vote method to elect the President, the outcome of having a tie is nearly impossible. Thus, the United States should find a replacement method of electing a President because the Electoral College can result in a tie vote.

The Electoral College also distorts the Presidential campaign. The Electoral College incentives the political parties