A Case for Direct Presidential Elections
The Electoral College is a potentially problematic system that should be amended in favor of a direct election of the President of the United States. As the Democratic Representative of the 5th district of Georgia, I would vote for the amendment to move to a direct election to decide the presidency for several reasons. First, according to some polling data, there is a favorable attitude towards such an amendment, second, the Electoral College allows for the possibility of a president to be elected without the majority, or at least plurality, of votes, third the College gives disproportionate weight to different size states, and fourth, it has the potential to decrease voter turnout. By convincingly arguing these points, and refuting some of the claims of my opponents, the constituents of my district would understand my decision and in turn also vote in favor of the amendment.
Barnard College, 1913 (LOC)
November 2: George W. Bush re-elected President
Graphic showing how the popular vote winner can lo...The polling data from my district shows that a majority of my constituents want the Constitution amended to make presidential elections direct. These data show that I probably have some support to begin collecting the votes needed to pass the amendment in Georgia. It would be unwise however to take the polling numbers at face value for a few reasons: first, the sample is only of 865 people, which is not quite up to the level of 1000, making the data slightly less reliable; second, the methodology does not state explicitly that only "likely voters" were sampled; third, the polls are out of date, especially the poll from 1980 which leaves out many people now living in my district who were not eligible to be part of that pole, meaning that sentiments are potentially very different; fourth, the first question seems like it would draw biased answers from...