No More Electoral College | Teen Ink

No More Electoral College

February 10, 2010
By Writer24 SILVER, Acton, Massachusetts
Writer24 SILVER, Acton, Massachusetts
5 articles 0 photos 41 comments

I feel strongly that the Electoral College in the voting process of the presidential elections should be eliminated. It is not good to divide up the Nation and give higher populated states more votes based on the popular vote of the state. Take for instance, the 2000 election. George Bush beat out Al Gore with Electoral College but not by popular vote. He stayed in the White House for eight years, and not many Americans liked the outcome of his presidency. With Electoral College, the actual votes of the states get ignored and it is only the outcome of each state's "election" that counts. Every person wants to believe that their vote counts, and really it doesn't beyond their own state. Without Electoral College everyone's vote would count equally. Now, with Electoral College in place, if you live in a state where you're political party choice is a minority, your vote almost never counts. For example, if you live in Texas but you're a democrat, Republicans will almost always win in Texas, and you're vote will never do anything. Therefore, to some extent, elections are partially predictable in that the majority of each state with the exception of a few will always be the same. I want every person to have an equal say in the election not dependant on what state they live in and what party is favored there. To support my argument, if you had a state that Republicans had approximately 4,000,000 votes versus the Democrats who only had 2,500,000, then if the Democrats had had up to 3,000,000 votes it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the election currently. But in the overall election, maybe 500,000 votes plus all the other lost votes from other states might’ve made the difference. I think it makes it a fairer election to have the election be based on popular vote entirely.


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This article has 4 comments.


on Jun. 12 2011 at 6:20 pm
CarrieAnn13 GOLD, Goodsoil, Other
12 articles 10 photos 1646 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.&quot; --Douglas Adams<br /> <br /> &quot;The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.&quot; --Marcus Aurelius

The American election system is very confusing (I'm Canadian, eh?), but you have helped me understand it a bit more.  Why can't elections be simple?  If it was up to me, people would vote for a candidate and the candidate with the most votes would win.  Plain and simple.

Markus SILVER said...
on Jan. 7 2011 at 8:50 pm
Markus SILVER, Boulder, Colorado
6 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;He who is not willing to die for something is not fit to live&quot; MLK

I agree that the electoral college is unfair, but the problem with abolishing it is that none of the less populated states will get any attention. If we did things entirely by popular vote, only big cities and big states would get attention, because only those places have a lot of people easy to get to. 

KK2013 GOLD said...
on Jul. 3 2010 at 3:37 pm
KK2013 GOLD, Solon, Ohio
10 articles 2 photos 161 comments

Favorite Quote:
Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.-J. K. Rowling

I mostly agree! I have thought this many times, Like that everyone should be able to vote DIRECTLY for some things, and have the Electoral College vote on the less important things, like the seat belt law :P  . 

on May. 8 2010 at 9:14 pm
AubreyTRieder PLATINUM, Clark, New Jersey
29 articles 0 photos 84 comments

though i may not agree, great points! you backed up your reasons with real examples, not just fake ones. it had a real flow.

good job! :D