Opinion: Electoral College's outdated system needs to be abolished ...

Opinion: Electoral College’s outdated system needs to be abolished
When voting for the U.S. president, the public does not vote directly — instead, its votes are represented by individuals at a higher level who make up the Electoral College.
The Electoral College is a board of electors equal to the number of representatives in Congress who votes for the president on behalf of their constituents.
For example, if the majority of a state’s population votes for a Democratic candidate, then all of said state’s electors would vote for the same candidate. While a good theoretical concept, the Electoral College’s existence has multiple problems, and it should be eliminated altogether.
The Electoral College was designed to limit the power of the people. According to History.com, the Founding Fathers were concerned that Congress voting for president could lead to government corruption, but a straight popular vote could lead to a mass of uninformed voters electing a president with dangerous amounts of populist power. A compromise was made, where electors equal the number of Congress representatives — 538 — vote on behalf of the people.
But this system is problematic. Although a person can win the popular vote, the 538 electors could vote a different way. In the 2016 presidential election, even though Hillary Clinton won 48% of the popular vote and Donald Trump received 46%, the latter still won the presidency because of the Electoral College.
Today’s Americans are more educated than when the Electoral College was created. The concern that the general public were not educated or politically informed enough to vote for America’s highest office has become outdated.
From 1960 to 2020, the U.S. high school graduation rate had increased from 41% to 91%, and the college graduation rate from 7.7% to 37.9%.
Americans are now more educated and deserve the right to vote directly for their president.
Americans also favor abolishing the Electoral College. In a study published in August, 63% of Americans supported its abolishment, an increase from 55% in January 2021, according to the Pew Research Center. Eliminating the Electoral College would lead to a simple majority electing the U.S. President, something most Americans seem to have agreed with.
Those believe in a more traditional approach to the government have a good point in that the Electoral College forces presidential hopefuls to represent everyone rather than those in large urban centers. This means voters in Lincoln, Nebraska, would have the same power as voters in Los Angeles, California.
However, having the number of Electoral College members be tied to the number of U.S. Representatives in each state creates the same problem regardless. In the 2020 election, California had 55 Electoral College members and Texas had 38, while Delaware had four and Wyoming had three.
The Electoral College minimizes the role of the American voter, and its outdated nature shows that it should be abolished. The average American is more educated and politically active now than when the Electoral College was created, so its existence is no longer needed in the modern American system.
Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.