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Allison Kile
Mr. Hawkins
American Government, Period 5
8 October 2015
Should the Electoral College be abolished?
Americans today normally dont question known systems in our
government, because of the simple fact that they are already established,
but what about the Electoral College? The Electoral College is the system in
which both the vice president and the president are chosen indirectly. Not by
popular vote. This system is familiar to so many voters today, which is why
many dont question the system, but others find it not only undemocratic but
also unfair and believe it should be abolished. To give the system credit, it is
a workable approach for our federal system, but it is also extremely flawed.
At some point we need to terminate the inefficient system that is leaving so
many people unhappy and feeling like their political equality is being
violated. It is not a system worth preserving. The Electoral College should
be abolished because it is simply unfair; it steals peoples political
equality, does not always reflect the popular votes, and gives more
power to some states over others.

The Electoral College is a system that many have become

accustomed to because it is a system everyone has known for so
long, but many dont take into account how the Electoral College
violates political equality. Equality is a word used to describe the
government
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system, but yet it still brings favor towards some citizens but not others.
While comparing population and electoral votes it was proven that Illinois,
whose population is 12,500,722, has 20 electoral votes, while 12 states
(including D.C) total 12,500,722 has 44 electoral votes. This is not the
democratic system we all believe we are following. (Document D) Citizen
votes in smaller states have more effect on the Electoral Voting rather than a
citizen voting in a bigger state, like Illinois, or California. Someone who was
to vote in the state of Wyoming, who represents only 500,000 voters, would
have as much to say as 55 citizens in the state of California, who represents
35 million voters. (Document F) How is this plausible? This is not only
political inequality, but undemocratic.
When voting for president and vice president, citizens would like to
think that their votes actually make a difference, if they didnt, nobody would
vote. Sadly, the Electoral College makes voter participation hardly
necessary in todays system. There have been multiple circumstances
where popular vote has not affected the Electoral voting at all. This is not an

issue that has just come to pass, it has been an issue for centuries, and
continues to be today. In the elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 those
who received the most popular votes did not receive the most electoral
votes, therefore they did not win the elections. (Document G) This is an
example of how the Electoral College system undermines the basic principles
of representative government; one person gets one vote. In just 2000, Gore
won the popular vote by 543,895 votes, and still lost the electoral vote
against G.W Bush by 65 votes. (Document G) The peoples votes are almost
seen as irrelevant. The Electoral College system gives power to a
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few individuals to decide the merits of our entire country. This power should
be put in the peoples hands; those who are going to be affected by the
decision.
While there are many flaws in the Electoral College system,
many believe that it is the best system for our democracy, and it
has worked for so long. The biggest fear that comes with the abolition of
the Electoral College is that it would speed up of the disintegration of the
already weakened two-party system. (Document E) This is a valid fear,
because it could affect the major-party candidates who so often win the
popular vote. Another positive of the Electoral College system is that it gives
power to all the states, including the smaller states, which so often lose
power to the larger states, like California and Texas. Statistics from the

elections in both 1980 and 1992 show how the popular vote, does in fact
affect the Electoral vote. Ronald Reagan, who won 50.7% of the popular vote,
also won the electoral vote by 91%. (Document B). In fact, there is only a
5% failure rate of this system, which seems like a small number. Is a system
with a 5% failure rate a system worth following? That is a decision left to
voters.
Overall, the Electoral System is a flawed one and should be abolished
because it is simply unfair. be abolished because it is simply unfair; it steals
peoples political equality, does not always reflect the popular votes, and
gives more power to some states over others. The system the people have
used for so long needs to change, not only because it is just unfair, but also
because it is undemocratic. Yet another generation should not have to live
through a system where their opinion doesnt matter. The peoples votes
should make a difference, and right now, they dont. This flawed system that
has become known needs to be abolished.