By Taylor Schutt This election is a perfect reason to discuss whether America should or should not keep the Electoral College. A little background: the Electoral College was established by the founding fathers and was written into the Constitution. It has served as a compromise between election of the President by a vote from Congress and the popular vote. There are 538 total electors in the Electoral College and a majority of 270 votes is required to elect the President. The Electoral College does not vote for the “right” person sometimes, meaning that the group goes against the popular vote. The most outrageous election upsets were during the 2016 election and the 2000 election. Both Hillary Clinton and Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote. When the Electoral College was put into place, America was still a new country. It was created at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The Constitution gave each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of its membership in the Senate and its delegation in the House of Representatives. The electors are chosen by the states. The only qualifications for the office are expansive: the only people that are not allowed to serve are Representatives, Senators, or anyone else holding an office position. In the 1700s, most citizens were very uneducated, so they did not know who to vote for or what their policies were. The Electoral College was the only barrier between the people and the President. In 2017, the Electoral College seems very outdated. Most people know what they want when it comes to their President-elect. During this election, the Electoral College acted as a barrier between the U.S. people and the Presidential nominee most of the people wanted. If the Electoral College was abolished, the only way America would decide the President would be a strict direct national election. If the states directly vote for their governor, why not vote for the President? The fact that none of the fifty states use the Electoral College for its governors show that the arguments for the electoral college are false. The states would probably take this direct voting plan and make it into their own thing. Some states might make same-day voting registration a possibility or make election day a holiday. Some states already agree with this idea. Ten states, as well as D.C., created the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This compact is an agreement among a group of states and the District of Columbia to award all of their respective electoral votes to whoever wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and D.C. I firmly believe that the Electoral College could be abolished, despite some of the hiccups down the road. The states would have the power and the popular vote would be the end-all, be-all. The other forty states would have to agree with the first ten, but I’m sure that the majority could win and the electoral college would finally be abolished. This would finally end the disconnect between the people and the Presidential nominee.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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