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ELECTORAL COLLEGE and its importance in the election process


The election of the president of the United States is mediated by the Electoral College. It exists on the basis of the constitution and consists of 538 electors. Each state is free to select electors and their number equals the number of congressmen elected from a state. Under the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia received 3 electoral votes. Electoral College gives more importance to states that are less populated, so that candidates must gain wide support and not focus on the largest urban centers.

However, there are many critics of this solution. They are concentrated mainly in the democratic party which has already been wronged by this system several times,. This happened in 2016 when Hilary Clinton received over 2% (2.87 million) more votes from Donald Trump and still lost the vote at Electoral College by 304-227 votes. In 2000, Democratic candidate Al Gore received over 0.5 million more votes than his competitor George W. Bush and lost 271-266 at Electoral College. The result of the election in 2000 was one of the most controversial in history, because the electoral system in practice decided about 537 votes that Bush won all the electoral votes in Florida.

Electoral college, despite its disadvantages, is the basis of the US federal system, and its removal would be quite against the will of the founding fathers and the American tradition.


Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/electoral-college

https://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/

https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx

Komentarze

  1. Traditions do change (otherwise we would still be wearing animal skins and worshiping the Sun) and it seems like this one should be done away with as soon as possible.
    Please stick to the word limit!

    OdpowiedzUsuń

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