Is the electoral college a piece of crap?

Question

Why don't we just poll from the american people instead?
With the electoral college, many american votes do not count in my opinion. The electors votes are what counts. Evidence of this is the 2000 elections where Al gore won the votes of majority of the americans yet because Bush won the electoral votes. He was appointed as our fearless leader. I believe that the electoral college should be taken out becauee it wastes time and many. we have to poll the american people any way in both cases. We might as well do it directly,

Answer 1

As a matter of fairness, the electoral college gives a little more weight to small states. In effect each state gets so many votes based on its population (about one electoral vote for every 667,000 people), plus two votes for being a state. The population-based votes are like the allocation of Congressmen among the states, based on population. The extra two votes are like the allocation of Senators (two per state), which gives each state equal representation in the Senate. So the distribution of electoral votes is as fair as the distribution of seats in the two houses of Congress (and I don't hear anyone suggesting we change that).

As a practical matter the electoral college can save a LOT of expense in the case of a close election. In 2000, there were multiple recounts of the votes in Florida, since the outcome was uncertain. But if we had simply tallied the popular vote for the entire U.S. and the outcome had been uncertain, then there would have had to be a recount of every precinct in the entire nation (at significant expense). That would likely have led to endless lawsuits and questions of propriety (at even greater expense).

You can criticize the system, but there are reasons for keeping the system, and it does have its advantages over the "obvious" alternative.

Answer 2

I vote against the electoral college! Let the people rule. If the masses are that ignorant, why do we let them vote? Why don't we just throw out democracy and create a dictatorship? Either the people know what they want or they don't. Let the people decide or don't call America a democracy.

Answer 3

Most people feel the same way. At the time the electoral college was introduced it was a great improvement over the system that existed. Research when Thomas Jefferson was elected president and please explain to me how the system worked.

Answer 4

It's in the Constitution. BTW Gore did not get a majority, only a plurality.

Answer 5

It helps to curb voter fraud and the ignorance of the masses