Is the Electoral College a good thing? A Majority would say no and that it is a non democratic method of selecting a president. Many believe this system should be changed, as it is not really an accurate way to show what the majority wants, and that the president of the united states should be chosen through the popular vote. What if there is a tie in the electoral vote? In the case of a tie the election would be given to the house of represenatives. Given that many voters vote one party for president and another for congress, this isn't really and accurate reflection of the will of the people.

The electoral college is a system that has voters vote for a slate of electors, not the president. If you lived in california, for example, and voted democrat, you actually voted for a slate of Democratic electors pledged to the Democratic party. These electors, if they won the statewide election, would then go to congress and the Democrat candidate would recieve the vote of these electors. Anyone not holding public office can be an elector. And it depends on the state on how they are picked. Sometimes the presidential candidates themselves choose who the electors are. Voters can't always control who the electors end up voting for.

Of course the electoral college method has its upsides. Being that with this system in place the outcome of the election is more certain. Of Course a dispute over the outcome is possible, it did happen in 2000, but it's less likely than a dispute over the popular vote. However, it can be argued that this method can turn off potential voters for a candidate who has no hope of carrying their state, Democrats in Texas for example, or Republicans in California. These voters, knowing their vote will have little to no effect, would have less incentive to pay attention to the campaign than they would if the president was chosen through the popular vote.

At the most basic level, the electoral college is unfair to voters. Most states have a winner-take-all system in place. Which means that they award the winning presidential candidate all of the electors votes. Because of this candidates dont spend time in states they have no chance of winning. They choose to mainly focus on the undecided states. In some cases, states don't get to see the candidates at all during the campaign, or even a single campaign ad.

In short, Does the electoral college work? In some ways yes but in many ways no. The electoral college is unfair, outdated, and irrational. The electoral college should be abolished, and the decision of who becomes  president should be left to the popular vote; seeing as it is a more accurate representation of the collective will of the people.