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Should the Electoral College Be Reformed?

In: Other Topics

Submitted By Carolinchen
Words 2453
Pages 10
. Introduction
The method of electing the President and the Vice President of the United States of America is the Electoral College – an indirect voting system and not a national popular vote. This system was implemented by the Founding Fathers about 200 years ago (Shea 2005, 4-6)
In recent times the debate about whether the Electoral College is still an effective system considering the circumstances the United States has to face now, is arising more and more. “American society is highly polarized in its perception of the existing election system” (Belenky 2012, ix).
This paper has the aim to contrast the arguments against and in favor of the Electoral College and to demonstrate possible alternatives. In the conclusion an answer to the question
“Should the Electoral College be reformed?” will be given.

2. How it works
The Electoral College, as it is outlined in the 12th Amendment, is a body of electors chosen to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. In Article II of the Constitution the electing procedure is written down. Each state delegates a specific number of electors to the Electoral College, dependent on its representation in Congress (House of Representatives & Senate). According to the fact that each state has two Senators and at least one Representative (dependent on the size of the population in the state), each state has three electors at the minimum (for example Alaska). With 55 electors, California has the largest number at the moment (see illustration 1) (Electoral-vote.com 2013).

Figure 1: Blank map of the U.S. with electoral vote

Each presidential candidate has his or her own group of electors in every state. Generally the electors are chosen by the respective political party, but there are many differences among the states concerning the selection process of the electors.
The election of the President is held

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