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The Advantages of Popular Vote

  • On July 4th, 1776 the 13 Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain.
  • With the declaration of independence came the responsibility of creating a government for the new country.
  • It was decided that the new government of the United States would be a democratic republic.
  • In 1787, delegates from the individual states of the United States met in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention
  • In this convention they discussed various issues that were plaguing the United States, and one of them was how small states would have the same representation as large states in elections within the United States

After much discussion, a compromise was reached between the debating delegates.

The Idea was to create a group of "Electors" from each state, so that smaller states would have equal representation. The idea was:

Each State would have a number of "Electors" that would cast their votes for their state's choice for president and vice president

The number of "Electors" was to be decided by how many seats the state held in congress.

The "Electors" would then cast their votes for the candidate the received the majority of the popular vote on a "Winner-take-all" basis

If no candidate receives the majority of votes, then the election is decided by congress.

This is how the Electoral College that we know today came to be. It gave some smaller states an advantage over bigger states, but as time passed, a few problems were found with the system of the Electoral College.

  • It made presidential candidates focus their attention on populated states.
  • It often didn't represent the votes of the citizens of those states due to the winner-take-all system
  • A presidential candidate only had to win the electoral vote, not the popular vote, in order to win the election.
  • Presidential candidates also didn't have to pay attention to concerns of voters in the states in which they had a comfortable lead.

Since the creation of the Electoral college, there has been 4 times in which the presidential candidate did not win the popular vote but still became president because he won the electoral vote.

  • In 1824, John Quincy Adams became president after having won the Electoral Vote
  • In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes became president after having won the Electoral Vote
  • In 1888 Benjamin Harrison became president after winning the Electoral vote
  • In 2000 George Bush became president after having won the Electoral Vote

Because of elections such as these, citizens have started to doubt the idea of having an Electoral College and some have attempted to make movements that would change that system

The movement that has gained the most momentum is the "National Popular Vote" movement, their plan is to:

  • Pass a "National Popular Vote Bill" in each state that would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire United States
  • So far, 9 states have passed this bill, giving the movement 132 electoral votes,49% of the 270 that they need for the movement to take effect in the elections
  • A popular vote does not force the presidential candidate to focus only on a few states and citizens.
  • It allows citizens to give a more specified opinion about who they want to vote for
  • It makes the individual vote of a citizen count more.
  • It makes a presidential candidate listen to the concerns of all citizens and not just those in the states that they need in order to win the election

Overall, a popular vote allows the voice and opinion of all citizens to be heard, and it also puts the interests of citizens in the minds of the presidential candidates. Making it an essential part of a democracy, such as the one that the United States has.

Sources

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html

http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Learn.shtml

Why is having a system that favours the popular vote more better?

By Alejandro Enriquez

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