What is Wrong With the Electoral College

What is Wrong With the Electoral College?

Two men enter an election. The majority of votes are cast for one man, yet the other man wins. One may ask how this could be. The Electoral College is what makes this scenario possible.

Many doubts have been raised on the effectiveness of the Electoral College. In fact, since its inception in 1788, over 700 proposals to reform or abolish the Electoral College have been introduced to Congress. (http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll/faq.html) Nevertheless it has endured as the only mechanism in producing a presidential victor for over 200 years. The Electoral College has not survived unscathed and has gone through several changes, in which amendments to the constitution have been made to alter the system.

The Electoral College is the system, implemented by the fore fathers of the United States of America, in which the president is chosen. Rather than electing a president by a tabulation of votes nation wide, the electoral college uses a system of points (electoral votes) that are counted state by state.

Votes in the Electoral College, 1824.

Population per Elector allocated to each of the 50...

English: Cartogram for Electoral College votes by ...

Political parties choose electors in each state to represent their presidential candidate. Voters are in essence not voting directly for the president, but voting for the electors of their state, who will in turn vote for the presidential candidate they represent.

The number of electors each state has is in direct relation to the number of Senators and House Representatives that it holds in Congress. Each state has two electoral votes for the number of senators and one vote for each member it holds in the House of Representatives. More populous states have a greater number of votes compared to smaller states, including the District of Columbia, which may have a minimum of three votes. For example, California and New York have 54 and 33 electoral...