Electoral College

Cagri Merdan

Mrs. Workman

Sophomore English

January 11, 2001

Dear Editor,

I have heard and read a lot about the Electoral College system and its problems, especially in the last few weeks. In my opinion this system might have some advantages, but the present disadvantages are too much and important to continue the Electoral College system. The last presidential election also influences my opinion, which became a disaster.

The reason why the framers of the Constitution introduced this system was that people did not have any kind of media to inform themselves about the candidates in the up-coming election. This has changed, because in today’s world, there are many different ways, such as the newspaper, radio, TV, and Internet, to find out whether I agree or disagree with the candidate and his party. That means if you lived 200 years ago, this kind of election was a good solution for former day’s conditions.

The other problem is that the people do not elect their American President, but about 500 selected electors. This fact is the opposite of the idea of a democracy based on human rights. Although people have the right to vote, they do not elect the President; they elect electors to vote for them. There are many examples of election showing that a candidate can win the presidency even if he does not have more popular vote than his opponent does. That was the case when Rutherford Hayes won the election. He had 4, 034, 311 votes more and won the election. Another example was the presidential election in 1988; President Grover Cleveland won 5, 534, 488 popular votes, 90, 596 more than his Republican opponent Benjamin Harrison did. However, Harrison received 233 electoral votes to Cleveland’s 168, and so became the 23^rd President.

In any presidential election, it is possible that the House of Representatives decides the content. This happened only twice, but in several other elections, especially in 1912, 1924, 1948, and 1968, a strong third-party bid had threatened to make it impossible for either party candidate to win a majority in the Electoral College. In addition, a third party with a majority would make it more difficult to pass laws in the U.S. Congress.

I think popular vote is much closer to the idea of what the Founding Fathers tried to achieve in former times than the Electoral College. That system needs a change and replacement by popular vote. I do not say that it was senseless in the past. However if conditions change, we must go with them.

Sincerely

Cagri Merdan