This has been talked about before, but when I tried to bring the thread up again through search I could not find it. In any case, it’s been a few years. I understand the Electoral College and how it works; I just don’t understand why it’s still present. Some instructors teaching US Government present the Electoral College as a system that was put in place to assure everyone could vote. Since transportation was limited, they only way an entire town could vote was to conduct a voting process within the town. The candidate with the highest votes would be the one the town’s representative would vote for.
From the limited historical research I have done, the primary reason was the founding fathers did not want a true democracy. They felt a popular vote would be too reckless, and instead created the representative republic we have today.
I still don’t fully understand how the popular vote fully comes into play in these present times. US history shows that the Electoral College can go one way while the popular votes go the other. That’s a bad situation IMO. In other scenarios after the electoral vote has been tallied focus went to the popular vote in a way it counted. Obviously, the presidency came down to counting popular votes in Florida with Bush vs. Gore.
Is the Electoral College being outdated? I have heard the arguments that 5 cities would determine the outcome of the entire election. If you imagined a big black pot that could be passed around from state to state and everyone put their votes in it, how would five cities have power over any other? A person’s vote is their vote. Isn’t it as simple as that? What stops an electorate from being lobbied, threatened, or manipulated into voting a certain way? It seems there is too much displaced power there.
I was shocked to learn that Russia’s current election process is one direct count of the popular vote. It would appear they are currently more of a democracy that the United States. What is a good argument for continuing to use the present system?
As for the count- simplify it with easy to read names on paper. Have three individuals per counting team, one to count- two to verify, and televise the entire process. The current multifaceted system of entry and the count conducted privately behind closed doors by private companies provides too much opportunity for corruptive actions to occur. It would take longer, but money and resources are wasted on worse.
For more info:
U. S. Electoral College