It’s Time To Abolish The U.S. Electoral College
Darrell Williams
September 19, 2007
In 2000, the Electoral College and a meddling U.S. Supreme Court gave the United States a president that many consider to be the worst in our nation’s history. In the 2000 presidential election, Bush received 50,456,002 popular votes or 47.87%. Gore received 50,999,897 popular votes or 48.38%. Gore received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush. The American people elected Al Gore to be the next president. The Electoral College elected George W. Bush to be the next president. The ill effects of this disastrous choice are now clearly evident to our nation and particularly to the wrecked nation of Iraq.
In four presidential elections, 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000, the candidates receiving the majority of popular votes did not become president. The Electoral College elected the candidate with less than the majority of popular votes. In each of these elections the will of the people was denied.
There have been many reasons and excuses for the establishment of the Electoral College system of electing the president and vice president. When our nation was first established, the state legislatures did not trust the people to choose the president. The few people who ran the early state governments were often more educated and more knowledgeable of the individuals running for office, their qualifications and the issues facing the state and national government. In our early nation only a small percent of the population was allowed to vote. The women, slaves, felons, most minorities, rural residents who lived too far away from the cities and many states also had religious restrictions. Communications between each of the states often took days. Those in the governments of each state thought that the general public was not informed enough to make good decisions about important issues. In general, this was probably partially true at that time. Because of this, the legislators created the Electoral College system to retain for themselves complete control of the election of the president. Many states did not even have presidential elections. The legislators simply choose electors to vote without any election or representation by the general public
This system was not intended to be a democratic system. It was always intended to be a republican system which allows a few state legislators to determine who becomes president.
One of the fundamental reasons for this system is no longer valid. This is the excuse that the general public is not informed enough about the issues or the candidates to make a wise choice. The many present forms of communications did not exist at the beginning of our nation. What once took days for messages to travel from one colony to another, now takes seconds. Radio, cable TV, internet, computers, and news satellites now provide instant worldwide information about events and people. This creates a public that is extremely well informed and capable of making excellent judgments when they are given truthful information.
There is no longer any reason to allow a few legislators in each state to choose the electors who in turn choose a president. In the present system the electors have no responsibility to represent the people. The electors are not elected by the people and have no constitutional obligation to vote for the candidate the people favor.
It’s time to abolish the antiquated U.S. Electoral College system and elect the president and vice president by direct popular vote. This would be completely democratic. It would fulfill the wishes of the people.
(Statistics from infoplease.com)
In four presidential elections, 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000, the candidates receiving the majority of popular votes did not become president. The Electoral College elected the candidate with less than the majority of popular votes. In each of these elections the will of the people was denied.
There have been many reasons and excuses for the establishment of the Electoral College system of electing the president and vice president. When our nation was first established, the state legislatures did not trust the people to choose the president. The few people who ran the early state governments were often more educated and more knowledgeable of the individuals running for office, their qualifications and the issues facing the state and national government. In our early nation only a small percent of the population was allowed to vote. The women, slaves, felons, most minorities, rural residents who lived too far away from the cities and many states also had religious restrictions. Communications between each of the states often took days. Those in the governments of each state thought that the general public was not informed enough to make good decisions about important issues. In general, this was probably partially true at that time. Because of this, the legislators created the Electoral College system to retain for themselves complete control of the election of the president. Many states did not even have presidential elections. The legislators simply choose electors to vote without any election or representation by the general public
This system was not intended to be a democratic system. It was always intended to be a republican system which allows a few state legislators to determine who becomes president.
One of the fundamental reasons for this system is no longer valid. This is the excuse that the general public is not informed enough about the issues or the candidates to make a wise choice. The many present forms of communications did not exist at the beginning of our nation. What once took days for messages to travel from one colony to another, now takes seconds. Radio, cable TV, internet, computers, and news satellites now provide instant worldwide information about events and people. This creates a public that is extremely well informed and capable of making excellent judgments when they are given truthful information.
There is no longer any reason to allow a few legislators in each state to choose the electors who in turn choose a president. In the present system the electors have no responsibility to represent the people. The electors are not elected by the people and have no constitutional obligation to vote for the candidate the people favor.
It’s time to abolish the antiquated U.S. Electoral College system and elect the president and vice president by direct popular vote. This would be completely democratic. It would fulfill the wishes of the people.
(Statistics from infoplease.com)
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