The Electoral College Is Undemocratic

There are common ideals that many Americans share. These principles, chosen by the founding fathers, establish many of the fundamental rights guaranteed by our constitution.  I personally think it would be difficult to find someone who would knowingly forfeit these rights, especially when choosing a president. Therefore, by using historical examples, common sense and statistical evidence, it will become clear that the Electoral College is undemocratic. Justice, equality and the importance of promoting the common good are ideals that clearly conflict with the electoral process. In my essay, I will contrast these ideals with facts from past elections and through the demystification of the Electoral College, the necessity of reform will appear. The Electoral College fails to reflect the national will of the people. It discriminates geographical areas based on population size, favoring more rural states. This gives more voting power to some voters compared to others. Where is the equality or justice? In addition, there have been instances where the elector that has been chosen to vote, breaks from the votes of the people and casts his personal vote. This is known as a “faithless” elector and there are various examples of these “faithless” in history. Although states have recently put in penalties for disobedient electors, so far not a single faithless elector has been persecuted. This system also politicizes the distribution of electors in each state, which should be a completely objective process. This redistribution has become increasingly difficult due to rising amount of interstate travel and greatly increases the margin for error. It also provides an incentive to illegally divide geographic regions in order to garner more support. This is known as gerrymandering. The source I plan to use for these points of argument come from the National Archives and Records Administration. Secondly, the Electoral College prevents third parties from coming to power. It ensures a two party system, and many have argued that it will stay this way because of the security that it gives to the two political parties currently in power. Lastly, evidence from four different elections where outcomes would have been different, had there been a direct vote instead of the Electoral College system are presented to the reader. Currently there have been four minority presidents put in office, the most recent being George W. Bush.  The purpose of this paper is not to give an alternative to the Electoral College. I only hope to show its undemocratic nature and the necessity of change in our election process.

I cite additional information from a document written by the deputy director of the Federal Elections Commission and I use quotes from a professor at Calif. Berkeley who researched the statistical margin for error within the Electoral College.