By Adith Gopal It has been over a year since the 2016 presidential election took place and Republican candidate Donald J. Trump beat Hillary Clinton, garnering 306 electoral votes while Clinton gained 222 electoral votes. However, Clinton won the popular vote by over three million votes, which stirs up the question, should we continue to have the electoral college? Without a doubt, we need to keep the electoral college. The electoral college system was made by the founding fathers during the creation of the Constitution. It was created in order to foster a buffer between the population and the Presidential election, meaning that more power was given to smaller states. It was also created in order to prevent a tyrant manipulating the American people into electing him into office. By creating the electoral college, the founding fathers were able to combine parts of both democratic and republican governments. It allowed states of less power to gain more power. This is also the reason why the US is considered a republic: because the popular vote isn’t the only prerequisite to being elected President. The electoral college needs to stay because of another big reason: overrepresentation and underrepresentation. If the electoral college was taken away, then the popular vote would be counted to determine who is elected President. This means that candidates would only campaign in areas with lots of people, such as big cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas, Chicago and Philadelphia. Candidates would only represent those big cities and have policies that benefit them getting votes. The votes of people in small areas, such as North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana would not be represented at all. Many of those people need more job opportunities and want tax cuts but wouldn’t get the help they need if the electoral college is gone, mainly because they wouldn’t be represented. They would be underrepresented just due to the fact that there are less people in an area. If you truly believe in equality and justice, then you should trust in the electoral college. The electoral college gives everybody in America a say and forces politicians to have policies that benefit almost all of the US, or they will lose the election. Just imagine if your opinion didn’t matter to people that will impact your life significantly. Photos Courtesy Of: pixabay.com; Wikimedia Commons
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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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