What are pros and cons of the Electoral College?

Answer 1

The electoral college came about because the small states like Delaware and Rhode Island protested that the large states like Pennsylvania and Virginia would have more say in the Presidential election than they would if done by popular vote only.

The members of the electoral college equal the number of representatives in Congress. A state with 2 Senators and only 1 house member has 3 electoral votes. California currently has 54 electoral votes because of 2 Senators and 52 House members. So while California still dominates the electoral college a single district such as very populated LA has one vote just like a less densly populated area such as one in the Central Valley who may have quite different views on issues. One urban the other rural. If enough small states can work together they can counter the electoral votes of the big states. Those small states together with medium states can definately create a balance against a big state. That is the theory behind the electoral college. Today, however much of the regionalism that existed then has greatly diminished. With mass communications that instantly can beam information anywhere the electoral college may be less relevant.

It certainly would be worth a study to see what might have happened in several of the last elections, consider demographics etc., had we not the electoral college. How did the small states vote? If Rhode Island and Alaska voted the same as California than one could argue that the electoral college is useless. However if they voted differently than California maybe there is still some validity to the electoral college system.

By the way the electoral college is appointed by the legislatures of each state and are pledged to vote for a particular candidate depending on who wins the most votes in that state. Winner take all.

Answer 2

The Electoral College makes individual votes count more, and increases the "power" of smaller states. Those are two pros.

The major con, if it really is a con, is that the results will not necessarily be in line with the "popular" vote. That is what happened in 2000 election. Gore won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college.

The reason I say it may not be a real con is simple. If we went by the popular vote, then the election would be settled by the 15 most populous states and the other 35 would have no say at all.

Answer 3

The pros are it allows use to break the country down for any mistakes and recounts that have been made. We all saw how long it took to recount a few counties in Florida during the 2000 election imagine if we had to recount the whole country, it would take years. Also it insures that extremely populous states such as New York, California, and Texas don't decide the elections for the whole country. A con is also like the 2000 election it is possible for a candidate to win without receiving the popular vote.

Answer 4

The major Pro is that the less populated states votes count. This way we don't have just states like NY, TX, and CA deciding all of our elections. The Cons is that too many people do not understand the Pros's.

Answer 5

don't need it anymore it's to corrupt , the American people should be the ones to elect the president .

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College#Arguments_for_and_against_the_current_system