POLI 330N Week 4 Assignment: Electoral College – Good or Bad?
Electoral College – Good or Bad?
27 Mar 2021
Electoral College
- The purpose of electoral college
- The president is NOT chosen by popular vote
- Electors pledge to vote for specific candidates
- Winner takes all except Maine & Nebraska
Presidential Election of 2000 – Background
- Bill Clinton, the incumbent President, was vacating
- American presidential election held on Nov. 7, 2000
- Ten candidates competed in the election
- There were 538 members of the Electoral College
- 270 was the majority number
- Hanging chads’ and butterfly ballots created controversy
Presidential Election of 2000 – Results
The Popular Vote
Al Gore 50,996,039
George W. Bush 50,456,141
The Electoral Vote
George W. Bush 271
Al Gore 267
Why the debate?
- The result of 2016 presidential election highlight the issue with electoral college
- Is the Electoral College method JUST?
- Is the Electoral College RELEVANT now?
- It acts as a PRAGMATIC METHOD to just compromise
- EC has backfired and continues to backfire
The issues with EC
- It is no longer relevant
- Some states have more power especially swing states
- No proper distribution of votes based on population and demographics
- Unfairness, because individuals’ votes are not equally weighted
The issues with EC
- Rogue electors
- Capitol hill incident indicate irresponsible demagogues in office
- Will of people will be ignored
Reform for Electoral College
- Weightage for votes should be included to limit representatives from voting for self benefit
- All votes should be equally counted
- Distribution of electoral votes among states should be optimized
- Eliminate electors but still count electoral votes
POLI 330N Week 4 Assignment: Electoral College – Good or Bad?
Reform Plans for Electoral College
- The Proportional Plan
- The Automatic Plan
- The District Plan
- Choose the president by direct popular election
References
- Aldrich, J., Reifler, J., & Munger, M. (2015). Sophisticated and myopic? Citizen preferences for Electoral College reform. Public Choice, 158(3-4), 541-558. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0056-z
- Bugh, G. (2016). Electoral college reform (2nd ed.). Routledge.
- Edwards, G. (2019). Why the Electoral College is bad for America (3rd ed.). Yale University Press.
- Paige, L., & Neale, T. (2018). The Electoral College: an overview and analysis of reform proposals. Everycrsreport.com. Retrieved 25 March 2021, from https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL30804.html.
- Virgin, S. (2017). Competing loyalties in electoral reform: An analysis of the U.S. electoral college. Electoral Studies, 49, 38-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.07.003
