Why do we still have an electoral college. If we truly live in a democracy and every vote counts.?

Question

In all other elections the person with the most votes win. The electoral college seems to be like a point spread in sports. Therefore the fix is in!

The point I am trying to make is there are no longer just 13 colonies. The "PEOPLE" are suppose to determine whom governs them not the "government." I guess terms like: "United States of America" "For the People by the People" and "All Men Are Created Equal" are oxymorons!

Answer 1

Well first off we don't live in a true democracy. We have a Federal Republic. The electoral process is designed to give individual states more power in the election process.

Answer 2

Funny, I always understood we had a Representative Republic as our form of government. Without the electoral college all but a few areas could just not bother to go to the polls. Each election would be decided by the largest population localities such as New York City, Miami, Chicago, LA and the like, and all the votes of about 45 of the states would be for nothing.

It might be a good idea to read up on exactly how and why we have an electoral college.

John Kennedy became president because of the electoral college too. Richard Nixon had the most popular votes. It's happened several times. It allows a majority of the states to be represented rather than just a majority of the people.

Answer 3

We live in a Republic - not a direct democracy, because we pick people to represent us rather than voting on every law directly. But that doesn't answer the question, of why every person's vote shouldn't be treated equally. In state elections for governor, no state gives extra votes to the voters in the rural part of the state.

In theory, the electoral college gives more power to the small low population states, and some people think that is a good thing. - but in practice, both small and large states are ignored after the primaries, unless they are swing states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The candidates pay no attention to California after the primaries because they know it is going to go Democratic; nor do the candidates pay any attention to the small state of Utah or the large state of Texas after the primaries, because they know both states will cast all of their electoral votes for the Republican candidate. If you don't live in a swing state, you are just a spectator in the general election.

On the other hand, the candidates pay a lot of attention to the swing state of Florida both before and after the primaries. - - In Florida, there are a lot of Cubans who hate Castro. - and the candidates from both parties don't want to offend them. That is why Americans can't even visit Cuba, while we trade with Communist China, despite its human rights abuses.

The great evil of the Electoral College is the all or nothing way the states cast their electoral votes.

However, there is a way to make the Electoral College irrelevant without a constitutional amendment.

See www.nationalpopularvote.com

Answer 4

The electoral college was established by the founding fathers for a reason. The idea is to preserve the federal character of the union by allowing states to vote as a unit, rather than collecting percentages from the people without regard to the region of the country that they come from.

The electoral college recognizes the nature of our government. Remember: the american states do not have a pure national form of government. We have a federal form. It is a federation of states, each of which retains its own government. Under these circumstances, the electoral college is the most rational means of allowing a state to preserve its voice on the federal level. States take a ballot internally, and whichever candidate the majority of the state's residents select is the candidate to which all of that state's electoral votes may go. It ensures that the state has the loudest possible voice on the federal stage, by preventing that state's voice from being diluted. It votes as a bloc.

Why is this desirable? Why must states preserve their voices on the federal level? One need only look to the truly regional character of our country to answer this question: there are vastly different concerns and customs in different parts of the US. Consequently, different laws exist in different parts of the country. That is how we have survived as a nation. For example, if the same gun control laws that we have here in Massachusetts were forced upon people in Arizona, there would be an insurrection!! The electoral college recognizes this, and recognizes that the geographical unity of voting patterns must be preserved in order to allow individual regions to have a real voice. This is the same reason is why when electing to the US House, each district votes for a candidate to represent that district, and the particular concerns of that district.

If all political candidates were elected "at large" then the densely populated regions of the country, on the coasts for example, would always determine the elections, and more sparsely populated regions of the country, such as the mid-west, would never have any voice at all. The electoral college effectively dilutes the votes of large population centers, requiring candidates to appeal to the legitimate concerns of all americans, not just those in densely populated regions of the country.

That is the crux of the issue. The founding fathers believed in the local control of democracy. This is not only logical, it is practical. If the regional voices of less densely populated areas were not maintained, the residents of these states would rightly become highly disillusioned with the political process, and knowing that they could never influence the system by voting, would be more liable to turn to other means of making their voices heard, such as violence. It has already happened several times before, and it is thanks to the electoral college that regional conflicts have not occured more often.

Answer 5

No the fix is not in. We live in a Republic by the way. The Electoral college is the only thing we have going that ensures that all of our votes count. Since Cal, NY, and Texas make up over 25% of the population, they would be the ones that would be deciding all of the candidates. The electoral college makes sure that there in an even playing field. I was like you until I did my homework to understand the electoral college.

Answer 6

Cool metaphor (Electoral college is like a point spread). The reason we still have the electoral college is because there is no major initiative or party interested in abandoning it. For a historical analogy, when Jackson lost his first run for the Presidency it was largely because of the "corrupt bargain" by Clay and Adams. In that situation he lost eventhough he had a larger amount of both electors and popular vote. He then went on a tear through states reforming the situation so that electors were no longer selected by state legislatures but directly by the people.

In the case of Andrew Jackson, he lost due to the system and thus went on reforming the system into something more democratic. There unfortunately is no one that is taking the reigns and actively proposing this. Think about it, not Gore, nor any other Democratic lead candidate has even mentioned this. The only Republican who has even discussed the possibility of it is Schwartzenegger and that was a brief mention in a interview a few years ago. It doesn't make any sense to me either, but someone who is big needs to at least discuss the issue.

Answer 7

No. The 'electoral college' was intended to be part of the check system, to make sure the vote would be validated.

1) A governor is elected, (D) or (R) with our 2 party system.
1a) He selects a set of delegates from his party most times to vote in the presidential elections, and too, the are selected to vote in the next governor as well.

2) Those delegates are summoned from the central committees that you can join in your local community all day long.
2a) Other delegates are summon from the state legislative branches and sometimes other parts of the local governments within the state - state dignitaries if you will.

3) The popular vote, usually you and I, are called 'constituents', we vote at the polls or silently at home if you choose, none the less our vote is tallied and the governor of each state takes that into consideration when he calls for the delegates or electors to join in a secret place to cast their votes. An honest govern would have two sets of delegates for the 2 major parties in the system.d
3a) When the popular vote is substantial the governor gives the state to the candidate that prevailed the landslide, however, sometimes an unfair governor will give the vote to his party no matter what.

What do you think Arnie is going to do in California? The Republicans pretty much have it, unless it brings forth an incredible landslide for the Democrat Candidate for president, and Hillary can't do that, Obama for sure can do it, without a doubt, hook or crook, it is in the cards. (smile)

And so on and so on for each state it goes.

Answer 8

We still have that archaic way to elect politicians because they know how to manipulate it so the person they want to win the presidency, actually wins the presidency and the gullible American people don't understand this... so they THINK they have free and fair elections.

I would be willing to bet that 99 percent of the people on Yahoo Answers have never even HEARD of the Electoral College... let alone how it works.

Where the ability to manipulate the election results comes about is, the delegates to the Electoral College are only bound to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote IN JUST THE FIRST VOTE... if as majority vote is not reached on the first vote, then the Electors can vote ANY WAY THEY WISH on subsequent votes... and NO president has EVER been elected on the first vote.

OH... the Electors are NOT ELECTED by the people... they are NOMINATED by the politicians of each State... so it's entirely possible for a Democratic politician to nominate a Republican to the Electoral College.

I have lived in 2 states when the Electoral Vote was different from the popular vote and I wondered why... and the above explanation is what I learned when I looked into this political smoke and mirrors.

Answer 9

Probably because if we didn't have the electoral college no one outside of California and New York would even need to vote. If that happens what are the people in the other 48 states supposed to do? They wouldn't bother voting and their interests would never be represented in the White House.

Answer 10

I guess the Constitution means little anymore. It can only be changed by a Constitutional Amendment, which requires 2/3 of Congress and 3/4 of the states to pass it. Given that that means that 67 Senators and 38 states would have to pass it, many of those from small states which are benefitted by the Electoral College, it isn't happening, as there aren't that many people dumb enough to give more power to California.