ProCon.org. Indeed, just two decades ago, the Supreme Court plainly acknowledged this important deliberative role of Congress. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. And even when that doesn't happen, Wegman sees another problem with the Electoral College system. Yet our friends have overlooked a critical, first principle. What other voting reforms would you make? And it's because slave owners didn't want there to be direct majority rule and it's because a lot of Northerners as well didn't want direct majority rule.". The pros and cons of the felon voting debate include arguments about the social contract, voting while in prison, and paying debts. Since the number of electoral votes was determined by the size of a state's population, southern states had more influence in electing a president than a direct public vote would have given them. What information do we collect from this quiz? A vice president can become president through presidential disability, the death of the president, or. b. [7] [8] [9], According to Alexander Hamilton, the Electoral College is if not perfect, it is at least excellent, because it ensured that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. [7], Democratic Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak vetoed a measure in 2019 that would add the state to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would have obligated the states electors to vote for the popular vote winner. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than one million votes, yet still lost the election on electoral votes. In discussing what it terms "the Imperial Presidency," the text identifies all of the following as sources of presidential power except. In 1876 Samuel Tilden earned a majority of popular votes, but Rutherford B. Hayes won by a single electoral vote. true or false: Congress has the right to oversee the work of both the executive and the judicial branches. On Jan. 6, 2017, a joint session of the US Congress met to certify the election results and Vice President Joe Biden, presiding as President of the Senate, read the certified vote tally. It also happened in 2000, whenDemocrat Al Gore defeated Republican George W. Bush in the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes, but Bush secured enough electoral college votes to win the presidency (more on Gore's Florida challenge later). The only states that do things differently areNebraska and Maine, where two electors vote based on the results of the state's popular vote, and the others are determined based on the popular results in each congressional district within the state. Each state is equally represented in the electoral college. For example, if a candidate wins 50.1% of the vote in Texas, they are awarded all of the state's 38 electoral votes. Which of the following statements expresses a fact rather than an opinion? D The winner-take-all system of the electoral college distorts the results of the popular vote. On December 10, 2020, we filed an amicus briefin the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 126 Members of Congress (linkedhere), in which we urged the Court to immediately address the fact that four battleground states (Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) violated the plain language of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution in their selection of presidential electors. As for what constitutes a competitive state, Levine said the balance between urban and rural areasis a strong determining factor. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes. "The fact that in presidential elections people in Wyoming have [nearly four] times the power of people in California is antithetical at the most basic level to what we say we stand for as a democracy," he said. And for Republicans, the system, with all its minoritarian features the Electoral College, the U.S. Senate, the filibuster, partisan gerrymandering is, at least for now, working in their favor. Once that happens, those states' electors would vote for the candidate who wins the national popular voteinstead of voting for the candidate who wins their state. So, the framers of the constitution created the electoral college, with each state choosing electors. D.C., while not a state,is allocated three electors. Nebraska and Maine are the only states that do not automatically award all of their electors to the winner of the state popular vote. Article 1 of the Constitution determined that members of the Senate and House of Representatives would both be elected directly by popular vote. There areexceptions to the urban-rural split, Levine said, as well as other competitive states thatmay not get as much attention due to their relatively low number of electoral college votes. (PA-13), Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03), Markwayne Mullin (OK-02), Gregory F. Murphy, M.D. The electoral college has determined the winner of every U.S. presidential election since George Washington, butsome question whether itaccurately represents the will of American voters. PepsiCos financial statements are presented in Appendix B. We share these grave concerns. Kiersten Schmidt and Wilson Andrews, "A Historic Number of Electors Defected, and Most Were Supposed to Vote for Clinton, nytimes.com, Dec. 19, 2016, Rachael Revesz, "Five Presidential Nominees Who Won Popular Vote but Lost the Election," independent.co.uk, Nov. 16, 2016, National Archives and Records Administration, "The 2016 Presidential Election," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "About the Electors," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "Presidential Election Laws," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), National Archives and Records Administration, "What Is the Electoral College?," archives.gov (accessed Nov. 16, 2016), Alexander Hamilton, "The Federalist Papers: No. The election of 2000 was one of the closest in American history. "If you're an opponent of the electoral college as I am, it's a rather elegant solution to the problem.". when nominated by the political party. after the president is impeached. ), and are invalid on their face. In the multi-candidate race of 1824, Andrew Jackson received the most popular votes, but with no man winning a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams to be president. What key aspect of the Constitution relates to voting? National polls indicate a large percentage of Americans now have serious doubts about not just the outcome of the current presidential contest, but also the future reliability of our election system itself. How the Electoral College Was Nearly Abolished in 1970, https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-electoral-college, 8 Surprising Facts About the Electoral College. In 2016, Donald Trump won the electoral vote despite receiving nearly three million fewer votes than his opponent, Hillary Clinton. It is possible for candidates to be the most popular candidate among voters nationally, but still fail to win enough states to gain 270 electoral votes. answer choices. They are often elected state representatives, party leaders and activists. was established under Chief Justice John Marshall. Thus, electors meet in individual state capitals to vote. All content of site and practice tests copyright 2017 Max. Very few people thought that way. due process is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. "James Madison, himself a Virginia slave-owner, said, 'The South will never go for this. [11], This happened with President Nixon in 1968 and President Clinton in 1992, when both men won the most electoral votes while receiving just 43% of the popular vote. true or false: Former presidents receive the benefit of a pension. The Constitution and federal law do not require electors to abide by the results of the popular vote in their states, so occasionally faithless electors go rogue and cast ballots for candidates other than the one to whom they are pledged. Four years later, though, the collegeenabled Trump to secure power while losing the popular vote. "Even looking at it from a narrow partisan lens, this process or that objection was potentially imperiling the Electoral College," said Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer, one of the Republicans who signed the letter. When the machine arrived they had trouble wiring it, so instead of going off to college that morning for an orientation, I spent several days at the theater fixing my light/sound equipment. The objective was to preserve the power of the independent states within a national government, saidJason Opal, chair of the history and classical studies department at McGillUniversity in Montreal. "This proposal will preserve the electoral college, but it will make the electoral college simply a way of awarding the plurality vote winner," he said. "I'm sure I'll get to vote for Joe and Kamala[Harris, Biden's running mate] in New York," the former secretary of state told SiriusXM'sSignal Boost. the number of terms a president can serve. As the statement said: "We will be delegitimizing the very system that led Donald Trump to victory in 2016, and that could provide the only path to victory in 2024.". It needs to be updated for modern times. That usurpation of the legislatures sole authority, delegated by the Constitution, was a primary reason why the election of 2020 became riddled with an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities. Because the Framers of our Constitution recognized elections were susceptible to corruption, they created the Electoral College as a safeguard and expressly empowered state legislatures to ensure the integrity of our unique election system. Electors are allocated based on the number of representatives a state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, which is determined by population, plus the number of senators two per state. He has also worked as a senior writer with CBCNews.ca, covering an array of international and domestic issues, and was a member of the CBC Sports digital team with a particular focus on rugby. Three of Nebraskas five electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the popular vote in each of its three congressional districts, with the other two given to the statewide winner of the popular vote. [3] [4] [5] [6], The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only. Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? It needs to be updated for modern times, c.) It should be replaced with popular elections. ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. Here's a look at how the electoral college process works, how it came to be engrained in U.S. presidential elections and its influence on the future of politics in the country. This has happened only once, when in 1824 four candidates split the electoral vote, denying any one of them a majority. In 2016, Donald Trump had almost three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, but won the presidency because the electoral college gave him a majority. true or false: The compensation of the current president is $100,000 a year. Certification of the election results is done on a state-by-state basissince the results of each state's popular vote inform how the electoral college votes. Each state must split its electoral votes among all the candidates that receive votes. The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy. There are only two states (Maine and Nebraska) which divide up their electoral college votes according to the proportion of votes each candidate receives. "They keep losing the aggregated popular vote," he said. "Vote suppression is one way of doing that subtracting voters from the electorate who you think won't vote for your preferred candidates," she said. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. . 30 seconds. by sequestering a jury by removing them from public contact, The Supreme Court's right to judicial review. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. Should the Voting Age Be Lowered to 16? Proponents say teens are knowledgeable enough to vote. Instead, Trump asked Congress to throw out the electoral votes from just a handful of battleground states. This was the case in 2000, when Democratic nominee Al Gore challenged the results in Florida. 29, 1961). 68 (The Mode of Electing the President)," congress.gov, Mar. true or false: The Bill of Rights arose in part because of Americans' experiences with Britain. Even though slaves didn't vote, they were counted in the US census (as three-fifths of a person). Republican state lawmakers in places like Georgia and Texas have advanced bills that would give new powers to legislatures to fire election officials and overturn elections. Governor Sisolak stated, the compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevadas electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose. [31], Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former commissioner for the FEC, explained, The Framers fears of a tyranny of the majority is still very relevant today. Among our most fundamental institutions is the system of free and fair elections we rely upon, and any erosion in that foundation jeopardizes the stability of our republic. [11], Richard A. Posner, judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, further explained, There is pressure for runoff elections when no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast; that pressure, which would greatly complicate the presidential election process, is reduced by the Electoral College, which invariably produces a clear winner. [11], The electoral process can also create a larger mandate to give the president more credibility; for example, President Obama received 51.3% of the popular vote in 2012 but 61.7% of the electoral votes. Republicans tend to win votes in small towns and rural areas," he said. But Smith, a Republican, says the battleground is diverse. Opponents say kids arent mature enough to vote. Should People Who Have Completed Felony Sentences Be Allowed to Vote? Last modified on December 9, 2021. Opponents say would disadvantage low-income and blue collar workers. We reserve the right to close comments at any time. The existence of the Electoral College precluded calls for recounts or demands for run-off elections. . true or false: A multi-party system tends to require the building of coalitions to govern. Electors vote based on the results of the popular vote the number of votes cast for each candidate by citizens in their respective states or districts, with the winner of the popular vote getting all of the electoral votes for the state in most cases. annual reports of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, including the notes to the financial statements, are also provided in Appendices B and C, respectively. The signers then implored their colleagues not to vote to reject the electors from battleground states, as Trump was asking them to do. Every state they win gets them closer to the 270 electoral college votes they need. Our extraordinary republic has endured for nearly two and a half centuries based on the consent of the governed. Electors are generally chosen from among state party leaders and state legislators. Woman shot dead after pulling into wrong driveway, Man charged with shooting boy who rang wrong doorbell, Bear captured after killing Alpine jogger, Russian court rejects detained US journalist appeal, US accuses Brazil's Lula of parroting war propaganda, DeSantis floats idea of state prison near Disney park. They have the votes to pass ballot restrictions, and in some cases they have never held public hearings. Democrats don't have the votes in the states or in Congress to stop these laws, so Democrats are trying to build public pressure against them. It's about one person, one vote everybody's vote counting equally," he said. Should the Electoral College be modified? "I mean, the fact that you could have the entire outcome of the election ride on 45,000 votes in three random states is, you know, just a huge, glaring vulnerability for any republic.". 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