Sep 30, 2004
Top Three Reasons Why The Electoral College is Bad For America
Remeber four years ago, when the presidential candidate supported by the majority of Americans lost the election? Remember how there was a lot of noise about electoral reform? Remember how the noise was just that, noise, and nothing ever got done? Here we are, four years later, with the same flawed system. The electoral college is outdated and bad for America. Here’s why.
Reason One: My vote doesn’t count.
In case you don’t know, here’s how the electoral college works.
Let’s pretend that I have my own state, and that my state has a population of 100,000 registered voters. Let’s also pretend that we have two senators and eight representatives. Okay, time for election day. My state is generally pretty liberal, so 60,000 people vote for the Democratic candidate. 30,000 more vote for the Republican candidate, and the other 10,000 vote for the candidates of various third parties. You can see that my state is chock full of civic responsibility. Everyone votes!
Because my state has two senators (as does every state) and eight representatives, we get to choose ten electors (8+2=10). Electors are the people whose votes technically elect the president. They vote according to the majority opinion in the state they represent. So, since 60% (a majority) of my state voted Democrat, my state’s ten electors all vote for the Democratic candidate. Only Maine and Nebraska (and possibly Colorado this year) have their electors vote proportionally. If I was using one of those states as an example, there would have been 6 Democratic, 3 Republican, and one third party vote from the electors in my state. Then I would have less to complain about and wouldn’t be writing this entry.
Anyway, my state’s ten electors vote for the Democratic candidate. The problem is that only 60% of my state’s opinion was represented in this election. There would be exactly identical results if 50,001 people voted Democrat, or 100,000. Obeying the will of the majority is democratic and correct, but the electoral college effectively ignores everyone else. That means that if you live in a state that traditionally favors one party (like my real-life state, Massachusetts) , your vote won’t count for much. Unless you vote with the majority, your vote is thrown away. It just doesn’t matter, except in abstract ways, like how other people knowing you voted a certain way may make them more likely to do the same, and so on, until enough people are voting that way that it may change the majority.
So, in essence, the electoral college is bad for America because it disregards a large percentage of votes.
Reason Two: Ignorance is empowered
Originally, the electoral college system was put into place so that educated people were responsible for selecting the president, instead of the task being placed in the hands of the mostly ignorant American people. Though I don’t agree with the idea, it had its merits. Before the days of television and radio, it was difficult for the average citizen to be informed about the presidential candidiates. It made sense, to a point, to choose educated people who would vote for the president. They were guided by the opinions of the people in their state, but their votes were their own to do what they pleased with.
Now, however, the college serves the opposite purpose. Instead of placing the responsibility in the hands of a few learned, thoughtful people, we are surrendering our power to the majority. It seems to be a widely-held belief that the majority of Americans are fairly ignorant about the candidates and their positions. They fall for tricks like “Fuzzy math! Fuzzy math!” and let politicians lead them to whatever conclusion is best for their party. Most people don’t actually think about the candidates and issues, and try to do research on their own. It is these people that the candidates talk to when they make speeches- they appeal to the lowest common denominator of society. Because if they can get enough votes for a majority of a state, that’s all that matters. They don’t have to work to get the rest.
The electoral college is bad for America because it puts the decision-making in the hands of the ignorant majority.
Reason Three: There will be no third party. Ever.
If this country continues to use the electoral college system, we will never have more than two parties. As things stand, to even get a single electoral vote, a third party has to be supported by more than half of a state. Since third parties are usually seen as fringe groups whose ideas aren’t actually practical, this is very unlikely. The only way a third party could come into power is by gaining popularity a little at a time, and right now this is almost impossible. Voting for a third party is almost like throwing your vote away. Since there’s almost no chance that that party will get a majority of your state, your vote won’t count. If the president was elected directly, with every person getting a vote, there would be much more reason to vote for a third party. The votes from your state would combine with the votes from all the other states, and, gradually, a force would build up.
With a two party system, America will flounder. How many more years can we take with the same two parties, election after election? Eventually the two will be so scared of controversy that there’ll be no real difference between them. The two party system issue is a whole other entry, though, so I’ll stop here.
I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on this. Does anyone have arguments for the electoral college system?
