Electoral College pros and Cons New York Times
Professor Kollman will provide an historical and analytical analysis of the Electoral College, an institution that was created through the U.S. Constitution. He will review the origins of this curious institution, and will discuss the pros and cons of its continued use. Show Professor Kollman’s research focuses on political parties and organizations, elections, lobbying, and federal systems. He has published numerous articles and books in a variety of fields. His recent book, “Perils of Centralization”, includes research on the European Union, Roman Catholic Church, General Motors Corporation, and United States government. His popular American government textbook is now in its third edition, and the New York Times and Washington Post have published his essays. He also co-founded and is co-principal investigator of the Constituency-Level Election Archive (CLEA), the world’s largest repository of elections results data. This is the third in a six-lecture series. The subject is Voting in America: Perennial Issues, Current Developments. The next lecture will be November 21, 2019. The title is: Making Voting More Convenient: Implementing Michigan’s Proposal 3 (Promote the Vote). Purchase a PDFPurchase this article for $51.00 USD. How does it work?
journal article The Electoral College: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and GoneThe Black Scholar Vol. 37, No. 3, BLACK SOCIAL AGENDA (FALL 2007) , pp. 28-41 (14 pages) Published By: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41069888 Read and download Log in through your school or library Purchase article $51.00 - Download now and later Journal Information Founded in 1969 and hailed by The New York Times as “a journal in which the writings of many of today’s finest black thinkers may be viewed,” THE BLACK SCHOLAR has firmly established itself as the leading journal of black cultural and political thought in the United States and remains under the editorship of Robert Chrisman, Editor-In-Chief, Robert Allen, Senior Editor, and Maize Woodford, Executive Editor. In its pages African American studies intellectuals, community activists, and national and international political leaders come to grips with basic issues confronting black America and Africa. Publisher Information Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Quotes on the Electoral College"…every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal." Robert Dahl, leading democratic theorist "…for two centuries supporters of the Electoral College have built their arguments on a series of faulty premises. The Electoral College is a gross violation of the cherished value of political equality. At the same time, it does not protect the interests of small states or racial minorities, nor does it serve as a bastion of federalism. Instead the Electoral College distorts the presidential campaign so that candidates ignore most small states – and many large ones – and pay little attention to minorities." George C. Edwards III, leading scholar of the
U.S. presidency "…arguing that our endurance as a democratic republic is tied to the Electoral College would be tantamount to having claimed in 1915 that our stability was dependent on continuing to deny women the right to vote and to have state legislatures select U.S. Senators." Rob Richie, Executive Director, FairVote - The Center for Voting & Democracy "The majority does not rule and every vote is not equal - those are reasons enough for scrapping the system. But there are other consequences as well. This election has been making clear how the Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns. A few swing states take on oversized importance, leading the candidates to focus their attention, money and promises on a small slice of the electorate." The New York Times "Every citizen’s vote should count in America, not just the votes of partisan insiders in the Electoral College. The Electoral College was necessary when communications were poor, literacy was low and voters lacked information about out-of-state figures, which is clearly no longer the case." Rep. Gene Green, (D-TX) "I wrote in defense of the Electoral College in 2000, but George Edwards III, a political scientist at Texas A&M University, has forced me to reconsider. Upon reconsideration, I think the critics have the better argument. If the Electoral College didn't exist, no one would invent it. It violates the central principle of our election system -- that every vote should count equally and that victory should go to the person with the most votes. And it produces no obvious compensating benefit." Steve
Chapman "The current system 'violates the one-person, one-vote rule. It's essential to representative government to get it changed.'" Kay Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters. "All-or-nothing systems disenfranchise millions of voters and prompt campaigns to focus solely on closely contested states. This year, the candidates are ignoring two-thirds of the states because all of the electoral votes in each appear safely in one or the other's camp. So certain an outcome discourages turnout in those states as well. Though the system dates back to the 19th century under laws adopted by each state, it doesn't have to be that way. Certainly, the U.S. Constitution doesn't require it." USA Today "We've said it before, and we'll say it again - the American Electoral College system sucks. All told, the Bush and Kerry campaigns have spent well over $200 million by now, sending tens of thousands of advertising spots to Iowa television stations. We merit this attention because, simply put, we are special, or at least our state is…This makes us worthy of the kind of time investment you don't normally see unless somebody is building a rain forest next door." The Daily Iowan "When a presidential election falls in the same year as a census, the apportionment of a full decade earlier governs the allocation of electoral votes. In the election of 2000, for example, the allocation of electoral votes actually reflected the population distribution of 1990, a decade earlier… Because of this process, the apportionment of electoral votes ALWAYS overrepresents some states and underrepresents others." George C. Edwards III, leading scholar of the U.S. presidency "The Gallup Poll reported in 2001, ‘There is little question that the American public would prefer to dismantle the Electoral College system, and go to a direct popular vote for the presidency. In Gallup polls that stretch back more than fifty years, a majority of Americans have continually expressed support for the notion of an official amendment of the U.S. Constitution that would allow for direct election of the president.’" George C. Edwards III, leading scholar of the U.S. Presidency "I have ever considered the constitutional mode of election…as the most dangerous blot on our constitution, and one which some unlucky chance will some day hit." Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, after surviving the first contingent election. 1823. "The present rule of voting for President…is so great a departure from the Republican principle of numerical equality…and is so pregnant also with a mischievous tendency in practice, that an amendment of the Constitution on this point is justly called for by all its considerate and best friends." James Madison to George Hay. 1823. Writings 9:147--55 "Can we forget for whom we are forming a government? Is it for men, or for the imaginary beings called States?" James Wilson, author of U.S. Constitution. 30 June 1787. "It's a ridiculous setup, which thwarts the will of the majority, distorts presidential campaigning and has the potential to produce a true constitutional crisis…The majority does not rule, and every vote is not equal — those are reasons enough for scrapping the system." The New York Times "The collision between the electoral vote and the popular vote is no longer just a historical curiosity. It’s time to abolish the Electoral College and to count the votes of all Americans in presidential elections... This is about far more than any one candidate or the outcome of a particular election. At stake is public confidence in our electoral system." Rep. William Delahunt,
(D-MA) "I suspect this whole electoral college issue is due for serious debate in the next Congress." David S. Broder. "My view is that we need to change the system. And that means amending the Constitution. Because we have this winner take all system...as the campaign progresses, and [as] more states move into an almost certain Democratic, or almost certain Republican category, the candidates are driven to go to those states that could go either way." Thomas Mann, senior fellow in American governance, Brookings Institute. "...let's remember, the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one." CBS News "The Electoral College is a political wisdom tooth - a historical relic that stays largely out of sight yet causes no small pain when it pops up." Matthew Daneman "From the time I was small, I learned that every vote counted, that we actually chose the president directly. They build up your patriotism by saying we can elect whoever we want, and then you find out later it doesn't work that way. I think it's wrong to tell kids it's one person, one vote. It's a huge lie." Philip Dale, 13, studying the Electoral College in his eighth-grade class. "In an election featuring voter equality, the number of potential voters who actually cast a vote matters, because votes are aggregated across the electorate and all votes count equally. In the Electoral College, however, it does not matter whether one person or all eligible persons go to the polls. Because each states has a predetermined number of electoral votes, the actual vote total in a state has no relevance to its electoral votes. The state casts its electoral votes even if only one person actually votes." George C. Edwards III, leading scholar of the U.S. presidency "Why is it that the people of Afghanistan can vote directly for the Afghanistan president, unlike Americans, who cannot vote directly for the American president? Why is it that Iraqis can vote for their president, but Americans cannot vote for the American president? If the Electoral College is so important in America, then shouldn't Afghanistan have an Electoral College? Shouldn't Iraq have an Electoral College? The answer is that they don't because it's not relevant." Anthony Medina "The ramifications of the trend toward battleground-only campaigns shake the foundation of our democracy. As long as the Electoral College system remains unchanged, the citizens who live in the Red and the Blue states will never be engaged by either party. The alarming apathy of our population will only continue to grow." Ben Hughes What are 3 major flaws in the Electoral College quizlet?is plagued by three major defects: (1) the winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the presidency; (2) electors are not required to vote in accord with the popular vote; and (3) any election might have to be decided in the House of Representatives.
What are the cons of the Electoral College quizlet?Terms in this set (4). OUTDATED. ... . FAITHLESS ELECTORS. ... . OVER-REPRESENTS SMALL STATES. ... . MINORITY PRESIDENT COULD BE ELECTED.. Why do we need the Electoral College?The Electoral College is how we refer to the process by which the United States elects the President, even though that term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. In this process, the States (which includes the District of Columbia just for this process) elect the President and Vice President.
What did Alexander Hamilton think about the Electoral College?Hamilton viewed the system as superior to direct popular election. First, he recognized, the "sense of the people should operate in the choice", and believed it would through the election of the electors to the Electoral College.
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