In the United States, the Electoral College should be abolished.

Introduction ------------------ I will be arguing against the abolishing of the Electoral College as it is too important to give up. 1. The Electoral College Gives More Counties/ States A Voice Half of the US populates 146 counties out of the 3000 that exist in the country [1]. With the Electoral College, every state has at least 3 electors [2]. This means that presidential candidates who tend to the needs of more counties/ states than just the ones with the highest population will more likely get elected, then reelected again. If the most probable alternative to the Electoral College was to be in place, which is victory by popular vote, then a handful of states could essentially decide the election which clearly would not be fair to the other states who may have different views and needs than the most populated states. Therefore, the Electoral College gives more counties and states a voice than the likely alternative. The United States of America includes the word "United" for a reason. If a handful of states had an overwhelming amount of voting power with regards to a presidential election compared to the vast majority of states then that would cause resentment and divide the country up in a horrendous way. Since the Electoral College keeps things more fair and balanced than its most likely alternative, and would enforce what the "United" States of America stands for, then this section clearly paints a picture as to why we should not abolish the Electoral College. 2. Errors Remain Local In 2000 the presidential election was absolutely terrible as it involved a recount in one state which took multiple weeks to settle [3]. If we needed a nationwide recount due to errors pertaining to a popular vote nationwide then this would drag out an election unnecessarily. 3. Abolishing The Electoral College Would Be A Waste Of Time And Resources This reason ties in to the last one. It would be very difficult to amend the constitution in a way that gets rid of the Electoral College, just as it would be very difficult to amend the constitution in a way which makes it so citizens don't have the right to bear arms. To get a constitutional amendment one would need a 2/3 vote in the Senate and The House/ 38 states need to be on board [4]. To abolish the Electoral College one would have to change the constitution dramatically to this point would cost an asinine amount of time and money to campaign and pander to the right people. Since such a task would require a massive amount of resources and precious time that would be better spent elsewhere (such as fixing the economy or combating pollution). Abolishinng the Electoral College in favor of something like a popular vote would not be a good idea; the ends do not justify the means (especially considering the fact that the popular vote usually matches up with the winner decided by the Electoral College anyway; there have only been 2 instances where this hasn't been the case since 1888 [5]). 4. Abolishing The Electoral College In The US Is Philosophically Unsound Abolishing the Electoral College in favour of a win by popular vote would make no sense, as there are State laws as well as Federal laws. This necessitates a deeply rooted fact that the US isn't just a hunk of land with a bunch of people living in it governed by only one set of rules. If that was the case then an argument for a popular vote to elect the president may be able to get off the ground. However, at the end of the day, the US is 50 states which are significantly independent of one another. In California for example, marijuana is legal [6], in Texas you can end up in jail for even a small amount [7]. The point being is that it would make no sense to get rid of the Electoral College in the US because the Electoral College is based on a state by state race, which makes sense as each state is significantly independent of another. Even though they exist under one umbrella, there is not sufficient integration as certain state laws differ from others so dramatically. However, if the presidential election was won by popular vote then it completely disregards the fact that there are states. This makes no sense based on what the United States of America actually is. So even if it could be argued that victory by popular vote is better than the Electoral College in general, or with regards to other countries, it would be make no sense to argue that this is true for the United States specifically. The Electoral College acknowledges the sovereignty of each state, and gives all states involved in the election more of a fighting chance (which ties into my first reason to keep the Electoral College). 5. An Obvious Victor In elections where the votes are too close to call the Electoral College makes it so there is an obvious victor. John F. Kennedy defeated Richard M. Nixon on November 8, 1960 in one of the tightest elections in which 68 million voters went to the polls. Both sides accused the other of fraudulent acts but because Kennedy had more Electoral votes then he was the clear victor and a national recount was avoided [8]. 6. Abolishing The Electoral College Would Tear Apart Federalism The Electoral College represents Federalism [9], so if we get rid of it then we might as well get rid of the Senate. In fact, there might as well not be any states at all. That is not what the forefathers intended. 7. The Electoral College Aided In The End Of Slavery As Allen Guelzo and James Hulme, a Civil War professor and Attorney write: "... It was the Electoral College that made it possible to end slavery, since Abraham Lincoln only earned 39% of the popular vote in the election of 1860, but won a crushing victory in the Electoral College. This, in large measure, was why Southern slave owners stampeded into succession in 1860-61. They could do the numbers as well as anyone, and realized that the Electoral College would only produce more anti-slavery Northern presidents." [10] [11] Something that was so instrumental in abolishing something as awful as slavery clearly has its usefulness, and should not be abolished. This ties back to my "An Obvious Victor" section, because when the popular vote is so close the Electoral College will decide the clear winner without wasting any more valuable time. 8. The Electoral College Removes Incentive For Candidates To Rig Elections If you have an overwhelmingly blue state and overwhelmingly red state the incentive to try to rig the election decreases as as the state-wide winner is what counts, not the popular vote over all, and we basically know how things will turn out anyway in certain states. However, if a popular vote was implemented, the incentive would strongly remain in these scenarios to stuff ballot boxes. In Conclusion -------------------- I have presented 8 powerful reasons showing that we should not abolish the Electoral College, and look forward to rebutting my opponent's arguments. Sources ------------ [1] http://www.businessinsider.com... [2] https://www.archives.gov... [3] https://www.google.ca... [4] http://www.lexisnexis.com... [5] http://www.history.com... [6] http://statelaws.findlaw.com... [7] http://statelaws.findlaw.com... [8] http://www.sciencebuzz.org... [9] http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu... [10] https://www.britannica.com... [11] https://www.google.ca...