Opinion: Is the electoral college really the best way to represent the American people?
Carrie Henderson, Assistant Editor
Photo credit: unsplash.com
The recent riots after Donald Trump won the election by electoral vote while winning fewer popular votes than Hilary Clinton has reopened the question: Is the electoral college really the best way to represent the American people?
Each state is guaranteed at least three electoral seats, two for each seat in the Senate and at least one for each seat in the House of Representatives, said Mark Roeder, assistant professor of political science at North Greenville University. The rest are allocated according to the population of each state.
The popular vote of each state determines which slate of the state’s electors casts the vote for the new president. Basically, a presidential election is several state elections, Roeder said.
“Theoretically, that slate of electors could vote for whomever they wanted, but traditionally, it has been for the party’s candidate,” Roeder said.
One reason the founding fathers set up the electoral college was because they believed it would be wiser for someone who was closer to the candidates to choose, Roeder said. Although today we do not have the issue of not being able to educate people about the candidates, often people still cannot answer basic questions about the candidates.
The electoral college also protects smaller states. According to cnsnews.com, “If it were pure popular vote, the voice of most of the states would not be heard. In fact, without the [e]lectoral College several cities would only have a voice. . . In fact, urban areas would be the only ones that would matter to presidential candidates.”
Some of the controversy surrounding the electoral college is based on two issues. For one, is it fair that the all the electoral votes for states with extremely close election results go to the candidate with slightly more votes? Also, if a candidate receives more popular votes, why would he or she still lose the election?
A proposed alternative is the district method, which is practiced in Maine and Nebraska. According to 270towin.com, “These states allocate two [e]lectoral [v]otes to the popular vote winner, and then one each to the popular vote winner in each Congressional district . . . in their state.”
However, this method could cause similar problems as the popular vote, with the presidential candidates only campaigning to certain parts of the country or within certain parts of different states to get votes.
Despite opposition, the electoral college is still the best way to both give Americans a say in choosing our leader and ensuring as well as possible that the country has leaders who will respect our rights.
To read more about the electoral college, click here.
The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are solely those of the original author(s). These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Vision website or North Greenville University.
