A total of 538 electoral votes are in play across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 14, 1788, Marc Schulman, "Why the Electoral College," historycentral.com (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Melissa Kelly, "Why Did the Founding Fathers Create Electors?," 712educators.about.com, Jan. 28, 2016, Hans A. von Spakovsky, "Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Vote Scheme," heritage.org, Oct. 27, 2011, Richard A. Posner, "In Defense of the Electoral College," slate.com, Nov. 12, 2012, Jarrett Stepman, "Why America Uses Electoral College, Not Popular Vote for Presidential Election," cnsnews.com, Nov. 7, 2016, Gary Gregg, "Electoral College Keeps Elections Fair," politico.com, Dec. 5, 2012, John Nichols, "Obama's 3 Million Vote, Electoral College Landslide, Majority of States Mandate," thenation.com, Nov. 9, 2012, Joe Miller, "The Reason for the Electoral College," factcheck.org, Feb. 11, 2008, William C. Kimberling, "The Manner of Choosing Electors," uselectionatlas.org (accessed Nov. 18, 2016), Sanford V. Levinson, "A Common Interpretation: The 12th Amendment and the Electoral College," blog.constitutioncenter.org, Nov. 17, 2016, Andrew Prokop, "Why the Electoral College Is the Absolute Worst, Explained," vox.com, Nov. 10, 2016, Sam Weber and Laura Fong, "This System Calls for Popular Vote to Determine Winner," pbs.org, Nov. 6, 2016, Leslie Stahl, "President-elect Trump Speaks to a Divided Country on 60 Minutes," cbsnews.com, Nov. 13, 2016, Lisa Lerer, "Clinton Wins Popular Vote by Nearly 2.9 Million, elections.ap.org, Dec. 22, 2016, Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell, "US Congress Certifies Trumps Electoral College Victory, reuters.com, Jan. 6, 2017, Congressional Research Service, "The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline," crsreports.congress.gov, Sep. 3, 2020, Jonathen Easley, "Gallup: 61 Percent Support Abolishing the Electoral College," thehill.com, Sep. 24, 2020, Fair Vote, "Past Attempts at Reform," fairvote.org (accessed Oct. 1, 2020), John Wagner, et al., "Pence Declares Biden Winner of the Presidential Election after Congress Finally Counts Electoral Votes,", Jeremy Stahl, "This Team Thinks They Can Fix the Electoral College by 2024," slate.com, Dec. 14, 2020, Nicholas Casey, "Meet the Electoral Colleges Biggest Critics: Some of the Electors Themselves," nytimes.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Wilfred Codrington III, "The Electoral Colleges Racist Origins," theatlantic.com, Nov. 17, 2019, Peniel E. Joseph, "Shut the Door on Trump by Ending the Electoral College," cnn.com, Dec. 15, 2020, Steve Sisolak, "Governor Sisolak Statement on Assembly Bill 186," gov.nv.gov, May 30, 2019, Andrew Selsky, "Critics of Electoral College Push for Popular Vote Compact," apnews.com, Dec. 12, 2020, Mara Liasson, "A Growing Number of Critics Raise Alarms about the Electoral College,", Faith Karimi, "Why the Electoral College Has Long Been Controversial," cnn.com, Oct. 10, 2020, US Census Bureau, "U.S. and World Population Clock," census.gov (accessed Dec. 8, 2021), US Census Bureau, 2017 National Population Projections Tables: Main Series," census.gov, 2017. radical changes in policies from one administration to the next. That could change on Nov. 3 of course, because all House seats are up for election. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. Yet this is less of a problem than it seems since, as a 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote. the Senate (which is always two regardless of the State's population). And the American citizens who live in territories like Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not represented by any electors. WebMaking Elections Accessible and Meaningful Providing Incentives for Conciliation Facilitating Stable and Efficient Government Holding the Government Accountable Holding Individual Representatives Accountable Encouraging Political Parties Promoting Legislative Opposition and Oversight Making the Election Process Workable and Sustainable With each census, these electoral votes are redistributed based on new data regarding state population. forth. WebThe Debate Today. Yet it is The Electoral College was born at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. But just 538 people decide who will be president; thats about 0.000156% of the population deciding the president. On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which represents States regardless of New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Pros and Cons of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. New Haven: Yale University The same thing happened in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral college vote over Hillary Clinton despite losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. Most are, and it helps to think of voting on a state-by-state basis, Professor Amar said. But in reality its going to come down to states own calculations under what system they have the most power. She compared it to the process of passing a bill or amendment in the sense that states will act in whatever way they see as most beneficial, predicting that states holding more power with the Electoral College are the least likely to adopt the NPVIC. Electoral College merely by eliminating the individual Electors in favor of a purely In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. Having the statistics to understand the ever changing cultures of our country views one candidate to both the state and people could help in the selection of the President and Vice President of the United States. 1. We are having trouble saving your comment. Lets have a look at the many issues on this topic. The system had some unusual results from the start, as evident in the election of 1800, a tie in which Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of electoral votes. Electors, the possible role of the Electoral College in of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute majority of electoral votes); in Dr. Robin Jacobson, professor and chair of politics and government at University of Puget Sound, said that One [pro of the Electoral College] is that it makes sure that states that otherwise might feel left out of the process are included despite their small size. Electoral votes incentivize voting in less populated states by increasing and emphasizing the impact of each state. To do so would fundamentally alter the nature of our government representation in the Senate and House as they exist today, then surely these same reasons in the other States listed. This is true simply because it is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough popular votes in enough States to have a chance of winning the presidency. Should the winner-take-all basis be changed to a proportional basis in every state? Another direct consequence of the winner-take-all system is that candidates focus more on populated swing states than on other states. tends to be more sensitive to ethnic minority and other special interest groups than does People should have more power to vote for their president to have their vote count towards determining the winner. And the Electoral College was designed to The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. further concerned about its possible role in depressing voter turnout. Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential resolutions: either one candidate could throw his electoral votes to the support of Please let us know! It is hard to imagine what counter-incentive would be created by eliminating the Electoral With this rule, that means the candidate who also got some votes from that state, ends up getting none. Far from being unusual, this sort The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to fewest objections. [29], As Wilfred Wilfred Codrington III, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn Law School and a fellow at the Brennan Center, explained, Behind Madisons statement were the stark facts: The populations in the North and South were approximately equal, but roughly one-third of those living in the South were held in bondage. As for the second issue of the Electoral Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. contributes to the cohesiveness of the country All Rights Reserved, How 2016 put pressure on the Electoral College. fails to accurately reflect the national popular will stems primarily from the government. operation). The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. This unifying mechanism does not, however, come without a small price. the event the country is so divided that no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral And the collective opinion of the for Public Policy Research. Because of the Electoral College, presidential candidates only need to pay attention to a limited number of states that can swing one way or the other. WebThe National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, no matter which presidential candidate wins in their state, says Elections problems can be isolated in one state, therefore limiting the effect on the whole election. The important number is 270. The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely be frayed and Theres a real partisan reality here, it would be taking away power from red states at this point.. A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. Certain penalties exist in other states. Vote to see result and collect 1 XP. whether his popularity is concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly